A while back I posted a short, hopefully jocular, note about the machine learning algorithm for catching card counters at blackjack. Here is a more substantial article about the system. I wonder if systems like these will find use outside of gambling: anywhere an employee performs a repeated physical task (think a grocery store clerk?) and the company want to catch the errors. Boy those jobs are going to stink it up kind of rotten: “Johnny, if you make one more computer detected error tomorrow at the check stand, we’re going to have to let you go!” Is it better to be fired by a computer or by a human?
In Praise of Junk – Or Where's My Quantum Computer
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. – Thomas Edison
As a theorist who was in the second generation of quantum computing graduate students (the first generation of graduate students arose following Shor’s 1994 invention: prior generations of graduate students are negative generations a.k.a. bloody brave pioneers) one of the most fru
We are stardust. We Are Bacon.
Katherine passes along an amusing article about Bacon:
As America’s bacon-frenzy illustrates, when culture, technology and economy allow mankind the option of unlimited bacon — for bacon to fill every moment and aspect of its life — Mankind will hit the “Bacon Me” button like an unhinged mandrill. In David Lynch’s Dune, when Kyle gnomically insisted: “The spice is the worm! The worm is the spice!” we can see, now, that both worm and spice were, in fact, bacon. Bacon is the Dark Matter that holds together the Universe. Richard Bacon has just taken over from Simon Mayo on BBC 5 Live*. We are stardust. We are bacon.
About the UBC Talk
About that talk at UBC which I posted about on Sunday…
Q: How’d the talk in Vancouver go Monday, Dave?
D: The slides were awesome and the animations dazzling.
Q: So the talk went well?
D: Don’t know. I didn’t give the talk.
Q: Didn’t give the talk? Why not?
D: Well at the time I was supposed to be giving the talk I was on the US / Canada border.
Q: Oh so you were late for your talk …due to being stuck at the border crossing?
D: Actually I was heading back into the US at the time.
Q: Huh? Why were you heading the wrong direction?
D: Well because the fireman called.
Q: The fireman? Why did the fireman call you?!?
D: Well he called me to tell me I needed to call my wife.
Q: Why in earth would the fireman call you to tell you to call your wife?
D: Well he called to tell me to pick up my wife’s call. Oh and he called on account of the mess in the bathroom.
Q: Mess what mess?
D: Oh well the mess was from the boy.
Q: Boy? Your little boy made a mess in the bathroom and the fireman had to call you?
D: Well the boy himself really didn’t make a mess, because well he wasn’t quite mobile at the time.
Q: Not mobile? But how was he involved in the mess?
D: Well he was the one who made my wife call the fireman on account of deciding to be born today.
Q: Born today! Well I’ll be…. So the talk went well?
Mrs. Pontiff and Baby Bacon are both doing well and soon we will be heading home from the hospital (bringing home the Bacon, so to speak.) This sleep deprivation brings back fond memories of handing in my homework(s!) after an all nighter at Caltech. But at Caltech only a few of my fellow techers spit up quite this much.
Talk at UBC Monday
Late notice, but I’m giving the theory seminar at UBC tomorrow, January 4, 2010 at noon:
Title: Adiabatic Cluster State Quantum Computing
Location: Hennings 318
Abstract:
Models of quantum computation are important because they change the physical requirements for achieving universal quantum computation. For example, one-way quantum computing requires the preparation of an entangled state followed by adaptive measurement on this state, a set of requirements which is different from the standard quantum circuit model. Here we introduce a model based on one-way quantum computing but without measurements (except for the final readout), instead using adiabatic deformation of a Hamiltonian whose initial ground state is the cluster state. This opens the possibility to use the copious results from one-way quantum computing to build more feasible adiabatic schemes. In this talk I will discuss this and other new adiabatic quantum computing protocols. This is joint work with Steve Flammia (Perimeter Institute).
Always great to visit Vancouver, let’s just hope this time I come back with my passport!
Quacks always say the cutest things. Today I shall attempt my best impersonation.
All of computational complexity is based on a model that is, without question, wrong.
Happy New Year!
May the teens be even better than the naughties!
Put Them Together & Then You've Got a Party
Bacon or Beer Can?
Merry Chistmas Eve!
In Defense of D-wave
The Optimizer has gotten tired of everyone asking him about D-wave and gone and written a tirade about the subject. Like all of the optimizer’s stuff it’s a fun read. But, and of course I’m about to get tomatoes thrown on me for saying this, I have to say that I disagree with Scott’s assessment of the situation. (**Ducks** Mmm, tomato goo.) Further while I agree that people should stop bothering Scott about D-wave (I mean the dudes an assistant professor at an institution known for devouring these beasts for breakfast), I personally think the question of whether or not D-wave will succeed is one of the most important and interesting questions in quantum computing. The fact that we interface with this black box of a company via press releases, an occasional paper, and blog posts at rose blog, for me, makes it all the funner! Plus my father was a lawyer, so if you can’t argue the other side of the argument, well you’re not having any fun! So, in defense of D-wave…
Continue reading “In Defense of D-wave”
Deck the Halls with Bacon
Yep, Bacon Christmas tree ornaments at etsy. Better not show this one to the Mrs. Pontiff.