Posted on 08/27/2019 8:22:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
SHANGHAI — More than a decade ago, Chinese physicist Pan Jian-Wei returned home from Europe to help oversee research into some of the most important technology of the 21st century.
At a conference in Shanghai this summer, Pan and his team offered a rare peek at the work he described as a “revolution.”
They spoke of the hacking-resistant communications networks they are building across China, the sensors they are designing to see through smog and around corners, and the prototype computers that may someday smash the computational power of any existing machine.
All the gear is based on quantum technology — an emerging field that could transform information processing and confer big economic and national-security advantages to countries that dominate it. To the dismay of some scientists and officials in the United States, China’s formidable investment is helping it catch up with Western research in the field and, in a few areas, pull ahead.
Beijing is pouring billions into research and development and is offering Chinese scientists big perks to return home from Western labs. China’s drive has sparked calls for more R&D funding in the United States, and helped trigger concerns in the Trump administration that some types of scientific collaboration with China may be aiding the People’s Liberation Army and hurting U.S. interests.
“The United States must be prepared for a future in which its traditional technological predominance faces new, perhaps unprecedented challenges,” the Center for a New American Security wrote in a recent report about China’s quantum ambitions.
Quantum technology seeks to harness the distinct properties of atoms, photons and electrons to build more powerful tools for processing information.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
WHY do we still have so many PRC-sponsored science PhD students in the USA..?
They’re spies and theives, hobbling America:
GET RID OF THEM.
And Bezos and Amazon are their cheerleaders. What an amazing coincidence. It’s as amazing as finding chopsticks in a Chinese restaurant!
WHAT IS QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY?
Quantum technology, also known as quantum information technology, seeks to harness the peculiar laws of quantum mechanics to build more powerful tools for processing information. Scientists are using the technology to develop new kinds of computers and communications networks, and sensors for imaging and measuring things in novel ways.
What is quantum computing?
A quantum computer uses quantum bits, or qubits, to process information in new ways. Qubits, which can be made of atoms or subatomic particles, behave according to the laws of quantum mechanics.
What makes a quantum computer different from a regular computer?
As Nobel laureate Bill Phillips said, quantum computers are as different from today’s digital computers as today’s computers are from an abacus. Existing computers store, process and transmit information by breaking it down into long streams of bits, which are typically electrical or optical pulses representing a zero or one.
Quantum bits, or qubits, can exist as zeros and ones at the same time, or in any position between, a flexibility that gives them the potential to perform many calculations simultaneously. Some physicists compare them to a spinning coin that is simultaneously in a heads and tails state.
Do quantum computers already exist?
Early prototypes do exist — IBM offers access to its online — but they are not yet more powerful than existing computers. Many companies, including Google, Microsoft, Intel, Rigetti and IonQ, are developing quantum computers. Universities and militaries in many countries are also investing in the research.
What hurdles do researchers face in developing a quantum computer?
To get a fully functioning computer — a goal still a decade or more away, most scientists agree — researchers must coax a large number of qubits into working together efficiently. That’s difficult because qubits are finicky and have the propensity to stop functioning at the slightest disturbance, such as a minor change in temperature.
What new feats might quantum computers be able to perform?
A fully functioning quantum computer has the potential to be transformative. The exponentially greater calculation power could help identify new chemical compounds to treat intractable diseases, and eliminate traffic snarls by predicting and managing the flow of vehicles.
However, the machines may also be able to crack all existing forms of encryption, which is a major worry for militaries, governments and businesses that handle sensitive data.
The Chinese are at the forefront of STEALING tech from us.
This is true, but China didn’t steal their quantum tech - mostly because *WE* don’t have it yet to steal.
Darn I really was hoping the palestinians would get their turn to invent something this time
No, duh...
and our idiot politicians go on and on about China gaining the advantage in solar power. Yeah, that’s what we should be worried about.
So, using the comparison to a spinning coin that is simultaneously both heads and tails - how the heck do you get data from that?
RE: Yeh because nothing screams quality like the term “made in china”.
Depends on the USES of the product being made. if it’s for American consumption, they don’t care about quality as long as it’s cheap. If it is for defense and the military, better make it top notch or you lose your head.
Talk is cheap
We don't need faster computers to do that. We just need to get rid of stupid on ramp metering lights and teach people how to properly merge into traffic like we used to 40 years ago.
Who cares.
American soybeans and crops are mighty.
Its complicated but easy. learn for yourself. https://brilliant.org/courses/quantum-computing/
QC isn’t good for doing most of the stuff we currently do with them but excellent at the stuff we can’t do with them. I foresee a QC co-processor like we had the floating point co-processor.
One of the detractors to jumping to a ‘revolutionary’ technology is the cost of stepping up to it with all the investment in current technology.
The computer has been built around ‘binary’ operations, where everything ultimately comes back to ones and zeros manipulated in hardware by software that also comes back to ones and zeros in its most primitive state.
There was a buzz a many years ago about ‘tri-state’ devices revolutionizing computers (an early form of this quantum concept) where you had not ones and zeros, but minus one, zero, and one. The idea was now with the same number of transistors (memory devices) in a circuit, you could represent larger combinations of data.
One of the challenges was it required an entirely new set of mathematics and software development around ‘base 3’ math, verses binary, octal, hex, and base 10, where all the teaching and development has been forever. Just like old COBAL or Fortran code, nobody wants to start over and throw away code bases with proven heritage. Going to base 3 would be far more difficult than updating a coding language. I have no idea what quantum state mathematics would look like.
Interesting stuff for sure.
“So, using the comparison to a spinning coin that is simultaneously both heads and tails - how the heck do you get data from that?”
Good question. The article basically tells us nothing.
The STEM graduate schools are absolutely filled with foreigners.
There are rarely white American male graduate students anymore. I assume that the American males either never attended college due to their toxic masculine privilege or have overdosed on both video games and fentanyl.
This spells doom for the major research universities.
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