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Google researchers have reportedly achieved “quantum supremacy”
MIT Technology Review ^ | 9/17/19 | Martin Giles

Posted on 09/20/2019 3:20:30 PM PDT by LibWhacker

Google researchers have reportedly achieved “quantum supremacy”

Google's quantum computer

The news: According to a report in the Financial Times, a team of researchers from Google led by John Martinis have demonstrated quantum supremacy for the first time. This is the point at which a quantum computer is shown to be capable of performing a task that’s beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer. The claim appeared in a paper that was posted on a NASA website, but the publication was then taken down. Google did not respond to a request for comment from MIT Technology Review.

Why NASA? Google struck an agreement earlier this year to use supercomputers available to NASA as benchmarks for its supremacy experiments. According to the Financial Times report, the paper said that Google’s quantum processor was able to perform a calculation in three minutes and 20 seconds that would take today’s most advanced supercomputer, known as Summit, around 10,000 years. In the paper, the researchers said that, to their knowledge, the experiment “marks the first computation that can only be performed on a quantum processor.”

Quantum speed up: Quantum machines are so powerful because they harness quantum bits, or qubits. Unlike classical bits, which are either a 1 or a 0, qubits can be in a kind of combination of both at the same time. Thanks to other quantum phenomena, which are described in our explainer here, quantum computers can crunch large amounts of data in parallel that conventional machines have to work through sequentially. Scientists have been working for years to demonstrate that the machines can definitively outperform conventional ones.

How significant is this milestone? Very. In a discussion of quantum computing at MIT Technology Review’s EmTech conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts this week before news of Google’s paper came out, Will Oliver, an MIT professor and quantum specialist, likened the computing milestone to the first flight of the Kitty Hawk in aviation. He said it would give added impetus to research in the field, which should help quantum machines achieve their promise more quickly. Their immense processing power could ultimately help researchers and companies discover new drugs and materials, create more efficient supply chains, and turbocharge AI.

But, but: It’s not clear what task Google’s quantum machine was working on, but it’s likely to be a very narrow one. In an emailed comment to MIT Technology Review, Dario Gil of IBM, which is also working on quantum computers, says an experiment that was probably designed around a very narrow quantum sampling problem doesn’t mean the machines will rule the roost. “In fact quantum computers will never reign ‘supreme’ over classical ones,” says Gil, “but will work in concert with them, since each have their specific strengths.” For many problems, classical computers will remain the best tool to use.

And another but: Quantum computers are still a long way from being ready for mainstream use. The machines are notoriously prone to errors, because even the slightest change in temperature or tiny vibration can destroy the delicate state of qubits. Researchers are working on machines that will be easier to build, manage, and scale, and some computers are now available via the computing cloud. But it could still be many years before quantum computers that can tackle a wide range of problems are widely available.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: bitcoin; blockchain; computing; couldbefakenews; cryptocurrency; gold; goldbug; goldbugs; google; quantum; quantumsupremacy; supremacy
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To: Fungi

“What would take 10,000 years of computation to solve?”

And how do they know it gave the correct answer?


41 posted on 09/20/2019 5:47:36 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: Hostage

I don’t see the quantum leap being the end of banking. The current security architecture of the TLS connections (and hence private conversations) relies on the non-factorability of sufficiently large numbers. There are other algorithms that can be used to generate keys that are not as susceptible (if at all) to quantum computing. They’re just going to have to swap out the entire key generating mechanism. But I can’t see the business model of banks ceasing to exist.

They’re all exploring the blockchains and crypto currencies themselves. Facebook and it’s cryptocurrency? Never.


42 posted on 09/20/2019 6:08:29 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: edh

> That being said, programmers better learn how to think parallel :-).

That’s the very heart of the quantum advantage. But some algorithms aren’t amenable to parallelization. The average script kiddy that never took a math class won’t know where to see this, so there will be huge errors for years. Oh well, more of the same.


43 posted on 09/20/2019 6:14:28 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: glorgau

Blockchain is anti-banking as it provides for deleting the middlemen which the banks are.

Blockchain scares them greatly.

I’ve followed the big banks and their reactions to blockchain from the beginning since 2008. At first, and still now, they are trying to find a ‘security angle’ in which to attack the blockchina concept. They have even pushed during the Obama years to have the SEC come down on and attempt to outlaw blockchain services. They have been busy erecting barriers to entry in the form of provisional patents but they are getting nowhere with it.

When one has followed banks and blockchain for as long as I have, it becomes very clear the banks cannot survive blockchain.

The historical implications and developments have yet to play out. But centralized banking business models are antithetical to decentralized blockchain products.

The role of the federal government is still at issue. I predict the Fed will be made obsolete and the US Treasury will oversee the return of the gold standard with a provisioni to back blockchain cyber with special agreements for law enforcement monitoring with sufficient court authorizations.

As for generating new keys for banking security, your comments are too optimistic. The effort to explore quantum computing models are just beginning. Mathematicians are always searching for the next prime regardless of quantum computing advances. it’s been an ongoing effort for generations of computing.

The Sieve of Eratosthenes guarantees an infinite supply of primes but it becomes increasingly more difficult to find the next one. With each new prime discovery, an extra layer of banking security is added. Ironically, quantum computing may possibly help or endanger banking security depending on who is ahead in the race.

But Blockchain needs none of the race to the next prime. So it has a great advantage and this is why I think it emerges as the winner. As it takes its place in normalcy, the banking business models must necessarily dissolve as there is no restructuring or reinvention route for them.

Americans will lead the world in the evolution of currency. Americans will opt for the model that gives them more control, more speed, more security. Blockchain will provide those features better than banks.


44 posted on 09/20/2019 6:49:03 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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Alphabet is far more dangerous than Facebook. The DOJ needs to bring an antitrust action against them and bust them up.


45 posted on 09/20/2019 7:04:31 PM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: FLT-bird
Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Facebook are in the crosshairs of the FTC and DOJ

https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/03/alphabet-apple-amazon-and-facebook-are-in-the-crosshairs-of-the-ftc-and-doj


46 posted on 09/20/2019 7:26:43 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Fungi

Censorship


47 posted on 09/20/2019 7:30:40 PM PDT by Phil DiBasquette
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To: LS
So it can turn Bruce Jenner back into a guy?

It already did.

48 posted on 09/20/2019 7:51:41 PM PDT by TChad
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