IBM Breakthrough May Make Practical Quantum Computer 15 Years Away Instead of 50
February 28th, 2012
Loading ...Via: New York Times:
I.B.M. is jumping into an area of computing that has, until now, been primarily the province of academia: the quest to build a quantum computer.
A computer that took advantage of the oddities of quantum physics could solve in seconds certain problems that would occupy present-day computers for billions of years. But for now, it is impossible to build such a computer because the bits of information it would need for the calculations fall apart before a calculation can be completed. The problem is, in essence, like trying to knit a sweater with yarn that unravels before the first purl.
On Tuesday, I.B.M. researchers will present experimental results that they say put them close to solving this problem, both by lengthening the lifetime of the quantum bits of information and by quickening the pace of computation. The presentation will take place at a meeting of the American Physical Society in Boston.
“In the past, people have said, maybe it’s 50 years away, it’s a dream, maybe it’ll happen sometime,” said Mark B. Ketchen, manager of the physics of information group at I.B.M.’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. “I used to think it was 50. Now I’m thinking like it’s 15 or a little more. It’s within reach. It’s within our lifetime. It’s going to happen.”
Many university researchers have done good work solving the basic science problems, Dr. Ketchen said, but “it’s going take an I.B.M. in the end to put it together.”
It’s still too early for I.B.M. to have a commercial product in mind, but computer scientists are encouraged that the company is paying attention.
Scott Aaronson, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, called I.B.M.’s work “a cause for cautious optimism” in the development of quantum computers.
“It looks very interesting,” Dr. Aaronson said of the I.B.M. research. “Basically, it’s another step in continuing progress.”
While a working quantum computer is still quite a few years away, there have been a number of advances over the last couple of years, and the I.B.M. one is just among the most recent. These days, the path to the future now looks more like a series of very hard engineering problems rather than an uphill fight against physics.
https://cryptogon.com/?p=4747
can i vote for both? i wont believe that strictly computing has been achieved, but i figure something like the cylon cyborg cross has been achieved, and neurons and even dna have been observed displaying quantum “computing”
http://articles.cnn.com/2004-11-02/tech/brain.dish_1_brain-cells-neurons-brain-works?_s=PM:TECH
this but in a much darker context
and very woo woo i wouldnt say head-in-a-jar type “stuff” hasnt already been tried and/or acomplished. think experiments in the revival of organisms meets jose delgado
“Man does not have the right to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must electrically control the brain. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain.” Dr. Jose Delgado
Chemical Hallucinations, Mind Control, and Dr. Jose Delgado by Laura Knight-Jadczyk