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Is computing speed set to make a quantum leap?
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May 19, 2013, 8:14:32 PM5/19/13
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Is computing speed set to make a quantum leap?
Quantum mechanics research could hold the key to a new
generation of super-fast computers
By John Naughton
The Observer
May 18, 2013
The Large Hadron Collider was built in the pursuit of
pure science, but research into quantum mechanics might
soon yield enormous benefits for computing. Photograph:
Rex Features
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost," wrote
Richard Feynman, the greatest physicist of his day, "not,
as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really
there, but just to comprehend those things that are
there." Which is another way of saying that physics is
weird. And particle physics � or quantum mechanics, to
give it its posh title � is weird to the power of n,
where n is a very large integer.
Consider some of the things that particle physicists
believe. They accept without batting an eyelid, for
example, that one particular subatomic particle, the
neutrino, can pass right through the Earth without
stopping. They believe that a subatomic particle can be
in two different states at the same time. And that two
particles can be "entangled" in such a way that they can
co-ordinate their properties regardless of the distance
in space and time that separates them (an idea that even
Einstein found "spooky"). And that whenever we look at
subatomic particles they are altered by the act of
inspection so that, in a sense, we can never see them as
they are.
For a long time, the world looked upon quantum physicists
with a kind of bemused affection. Sure, they might be
wacky, but boy, were they smart! And western governments
stumped up large quantities of dosh to enable them to
build the experimental kit they needed for their
investigations. A huge underground doughnut was excavated
in the suburbs of Geneva, for example, and filled with
unconscionable amounts of heavy machinery in the hope
that it would enable the quark-hunters to find the Higgs
boson, or at any rate its shadowy tracks.
All of this was in furtherance of the purest of pure
science � curiosity-driven research. The idea that this
stuff might have any practical application seemed, well,
preposterous to most of us. But here and there, there
were people who thought otherwise (among them, as it
happens, Richard Feynman). In particular, these
visionaries wondered about the potential of harnessing
the strange properties of subatomic particles for
computational purposes. After all, if a particle can be
in two different states at the same time (in contrast to
a humdrum digital bit, which can only be a one or a
zero), then maybe we could use that for speeded-up
computing. And so on.
Thus was born the idea of the "quantum computer". At its
heart is the idea of a quantum bit or qubit. The bits
that conventional computers use are implemented by
transistors that can either be on (1) or off (0). Qubits,
in contrast, can be both on and off at the same time,
which implies that they could be used to carry out two or
more calculations simultaneously. In principle,
therefore, quantum computers should run much faster than
conventional, silicon-based ones, at least in
calculations where parallel processing is helpful.
For as long as I have been paying attention to this
stuff, the academic literature has been full of arguments
about quantum computing. Some people thought that while
it might be possible in theory, in practice it would
prove impracticable. But while these disputes raged, a
Canadian company called D-Wave � whose backers include
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and the "investment arm" of the
CIA (I am not making this up) � was quietly getting on
with building and marketing a quantum computer. In 2011,
D-Wave sold its first machine � a 128-qubit computer � to
military contractor Lockheed Martin. And last week it was
announced that D-Wave had sold a more powerful machine to
a consortium led by Google and Nasa and a number of
leading US universities.
What's interesting about this is not so much its
confirmation that the technology may indeed be a
practical proposition, though that's significant in
itself. More important is that it signals the possibility
that we might be heading for a major step change in
processing power. In one experiment, for example, it was
found that the D-Wave machine was 3,600 times faster than
a conventional computer in certain kinds of applications.
Given that the increases in processing power enabled by
Moore's law (which applies only to silicon and says that
computing power doubles roughly every two years) are
already causing us to revise our assumptions about what
computers can and cannot do, we may have some more
revisions to do. All of which goes to prove the truth of
the adage: pure research is just research that hasn't yet
been applied.
More at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/18/quantum-mechanics-computing-speed
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj
o o o
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.
Quantum mechanics research could hold the key to a new
generation of super-fast computers
By John Naughton
The Observer
May 18, 2013
The Large Hadron Collider was built in the pursuit of
pure science, but research into quantum mechanics might
soon yield enormous benefits for computing. Photograph:
Rex Features
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost," wrote
Richard Feynman, the greatest physicist of his day, "not,
as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really
there, but just to comprehend those things that are
there." Which is another way of saying that physics is
weird. And particle physics � or quantum mechanics, to
give it its posh title � is weird to the power of n,
where n is a very large integer.
Consider some of the things that particle physicists
believe. They accept without batting an eyelid, for
example, that one particular subatomic particle, the
neutrino, can pass right through the Earth without
stopping. They believe that a subatomic particle can be
in two different states at the same time. And that two
particles can be "entangled" in such a way that they can
co-ordinate their properties regardless of the distance
in space and time that separates them (an idea that even
Einstein found "spooky"). And that whenever we look at
subatomic particles they are altered by the act of
inspection so that, in a sense, we can never see them as
they are.
For a long time, the world looked upon quantum physicists
with a kind of bemused affection. Sure, they might be
wacky, but boy, were they smart! And western governments
stumped up large quantities of dosh to enable them to
build the experimental kit they needed for their
investigations. A huge underground doughnut was excavated
in the suburbs of Geneva, for example, and filled with
unconscionable amounts of heavy machinery in the hope
that it would enable the quark-hunters to find the Higgs
boson, or at any rate its shadowy tracks.
All of this was in furtherance of the purest of pure
science � curiosity-driven research. The idea that this
stuff might have any practical application seemed, well,
preposterous to most of us. But here and there, there
were people who thought otherwise (among them, as it
happens, Richard Feynman). In particular, these
visionaries wondered about the potential of harnessing
the strange properties of subatomic particles for
computational purposes. After all, if a particle can be
in two different states at the same time (in contrast to
a humdrum digital bit, which can only be a one or a
zero), then maybe we could use that for speeded-up
computing. And so on.
Thus was born the idea of the "quantum computer". At its
heart is the idea of a quantum bit or qubit. The bits
that conventional computers use are implemented by
transistors that can either be on (1) or off (0). Qubits,
in contrast, can be both on and off at the same time,
which implies that they could be used to carry out two or
more calculations simultaneously. In principle,
therefore, quantum computers should run much faster than
conventional, silicon-based ones, at least in
calculations where parallel processing is helpful.
For as long as I have been paying attention to this
stuff, the academic literature has been full of arguments
about quantum computing. Some people thought that while
it might be possible in theory, in practice it would
prove impracticable. But while these disputes raged, a
Canadian company called D-Wave � whose backers include
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and the "investment arm" of the
CIA (I am not making this up) � was quietly getting on
with building and marketing a quantum computer. In 2011,
D-Wave sold its first machine � a 128-qubit computer � to
military contractor Lockheed Martin. And last week it was
announced that D-Wave had sold a more powerful machine to
a consortium led by Google and Nasa and a number of
leading US universities.
What's interesting about this is not so much its
confirmation that the technology may indeed be a
practical proposition, though that's significant in
itself. More important is that it signals the possibility
that we might be heading for a major step change in
processing power. In one experiment, for example, it was
found that the D-Wave machine was 3,600 times faster than
a conventional computer in certain kinds of applications.
Given that the increases in processing power enabled by
Moore's law (which applies only to silicon and says that
computing power doubles roughly every two years) are
already causing us to revise our assumptions about what
computers can and cannot do, we may have some more
revisions to do. All of which goes to prove the truth of
the adage: pure research is just research that hasn't yet
been applied.
More at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/18/quantum-mechanics-computing-speed
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj
o o o
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.
writer
May 20, 2013, 12:56:49 PM5/20/13
to onewo...@googlegroups.com
On May 19, 5:14 pm, use...@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr.
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/18/quantum-mechanics-co...
wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Wave_Systems quoting a
professor at UC Berkeley reports that the D-Wave computer would not be
more powerful than a cell phone. apparently their speed up calculation
of 3600x of today s digital computers was based upon a problem that
does not apply to their system. they might have used a SIMD single
instruction stream multiple data stream model to download data into a
parallel machine and perform the same operation by many processors at
the same time there by showing a speed up due to parallelism of 6 x 6
x 100 or 3600. image operations weather calculations and chemistry are
ideal applications for parallel computers like that. the D-Wave web
site http://www.dwavesys.com/en/products-services.html says quantum
computing has arrived. .end of message. .when. .date and time. 20 may
2013 mon am 0947am. .from. .where. position. san jose public library.
150 east san fernando street. san jose. california. usa. ca
95112. .from. .who. h.s.nair111 at gmail.com .to. .address. usenet
newsgroup soc.culture.indian at http colon slash slash
groups.google.com slash group slash soc.culture.indian slash .also
posted to my group oneworld01 at http colon slash slash
groups.google.com slash group slash oneworld01 slash. .signature is
open email identity open phone numbers is signature.
professor at UC Berkeley reports that the D-Wave computer would not be
more powerful than a cell phone. apparently their speed up calculation
of 3600x of today s digital computers was based upon a problem that
does not apply to their system. they might have used a SIMD single
instruction stream multiple data stream model to download data into a
parallel machine and perform the same operation by many processors at
the same time there by showing a speed up due to parallelism of 6 x 6
x 100 or 3600. image operations weather calculations and chemistry are
ideal applications for parallel computers like that. the D-Wave web
site http://www.dwavesys.com/en/products-services.html says quantum
computing has arrived. .end of message. .when. .date and time. 20 may
2013 mon am 0947am. .from. .where. position. san jose public library.
150 east san fernando street. san jose. california. usa. ca
95112. .from. .who. h.s.nair111 at gmail.com .to. .address. usenet
newsgroup soc.culture.indian at http colon slash slash
groups.google.com slash group slash soc.culture.indian slash .also
posted to my group oneworld01 at http colon slash slash
groups.google.com slash group slash oneworld01 slash. .signature is
open email identity open phone numbers is signature.
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