Feb 16 2007
Excuse Me, But Isn’t This How “Terminator 3″ Started Out?
I'll apologize up front for completely link-napping this article, but I really wanted to pass on this post from "Inkblot Earth" concerning Quantum-computer technology. I've found the concept fascinating for many years, but I don't have a firm enough grasp of the subject to add any coherent commentary of my own. So I'll leave much of it to Raven over at Inkblot, who aptly notes that D-Wave, a privately held Canadian company, just unveiled and demonstrated the world's first commercially viable quantum computer. Wooha for science.
In their press release, D-Wave states the following:
Quantum-computer technology can solve what is known as “NP-complete” problems. These are the problems where the sheer volume of complex data and variables prevent digital computers from achieving results in a reasonable amount of time. Such problems are associated with life sciences, biometrics, logistics, parametric database search and quantitative finance, among many other commercial and scientific areas.
Quantum technology delivers precise answers to problems that can only be answered today in general terms. This creates a new and much broader dimension of computer applications,” [Executive Officer] Herb Martin said.
The image above is what's called a Bloch sphere: a representation of a qubit, the building block of quantum computers. For background, this is what Wikipedia has to say:
A classical computer has a memory made up of bits, where each bit holds either a one or a zero. The device computes by manipulating those bits, i.e. by transporting these bits from memory to (possibly a suite of) logic gates and back. A quantum computer maintains a vector of qubits. A qubit can hold a one, or a zero, or a superposition of these. A quantum computer operates by manipulating those qubits, i.e. by transporting these bits from memory to (possibly a suite of) quantum logic gates and back.
In laymans terms — quantum computers can compute REALLY hard problems — and potentially problems which today's supercomputers can't touch. Check out more on D-Wave's website. And again, as aptly noted by Raven — Raymond Kurzweil's evolutionary chart of computing power comes to mind (click the picture for a larger version).
Raven concludes his post by stating that he can't wait to see how A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) evolves during his lifetime.
As for me, err … not so much - I'm hoping for at least a few more years before Skynet takes over. If we can just make it to 2025 (the estimated date for Human Brain Neural Stimulation), we can simply upload ourselves into a T-1000 and everything will be status quo.
Believe it or not, I was actually talking to someone about this recently. Well, he was talking to me. I was standing there with a vacant, uncomprehending stare while drool trickled out of my mouth.
Anyway, the father of a friend of mine is retired professor of biostatistics. This is apparently incredibly important somehow. The conversation made me dizzy. Then I had a drink of water.
Then I sat down and started to cry.
[…] In this regard, I posted a story from inkblot last month in connection with the latest in Quantum-computer technology and the continuing development and application of “Moore’s Law” in the coming decades (if you’re unfamiliar, Moore’s Law is the empirical observation made in 1965 by Gordon E. Moore - a co-founder of Intel - that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit for minimum component cost doubles every 18 months). […]