There's been some buzz lately about D-Wave's sixteen-qubit quantum computer that they're planning to demonstrate tomorrow. Instead of writing a post on this I'm just going to link to (and endorse) Scott Aaronson's post on the subject. There's a lot of skepticism about D-Wave in the community.
Posted by Arcane Gazebo at February 12, 2007 11:30 AM | Tags: Physics, Quantum Information, TechnologyI'm also skeptical (and I'll take a look at what Scott wrote in a second).
Let me share the following exchange I had with one of my SURF alums who will be doing a quantum information theory SURF this summer.
He sent me an e-mail with the subject "More good news for my SURF?" which had the text
"http://www.dwavesys.com/
Looks promising. Just hope they can deliver something bigger. Soon."
My response was:
"I'll believe it when I see it. :) "
My former student's project is extremely interesting and he's very well qualified for it, but to quote David Mermin, quantum computation is "gedanken technology" until demonstrated otherwise.
Postscript: I very much appreciate the Molly Ringwald reference! (See "Not Another Teen Movie" for an especially poignant example...)
Posted by: Mason | February 12, 2007 5:26 PM