It’s still not clear whether quantum computing will achieve these goals, Aaronson says, adding that optimists might be “in for a rude awakening.” It will solve the traveling-salesman problem and other conundrums that resist solution by conventional computers. It will revolutionize the simulation of complex phenomena in chemistry, neuroscience, medicine, economics and other fields. Quantum-computing enthusiasts have declared that the technology will supercharge machine learning. Or at least, not object too strongly when others say that.” Aaronson elaborated on his concerns in a two-hour discussion on the media platform Clubhouse. ![]() And in many cases, to have a shot at such riches, all an expert needs to do is profess optimism that quantum computing will have revolutionary, world-changing applications and have them soon. “What’s new,” Aaronson wrote, “is that millions of dollars are now potentially available to quantum computing researchers, along with equity, stock options, and whatever else causes ‘ka-ching’ sound effects and bulging eyes with dollar signs. Last month, Aaronson fretted on his blog Shtetl-Optimized that the hype, which he has been countering for years, has gotten especially egregious lately. But he worries that researchers are making promises they can’t keep. He’d love to see someone build a machine that proves the naysayers wrong. He became a computer scientist because he believes in the potential of quantum computing and wants to help develop it. This is the sort of hype that bugs Scott Aaronson. Quantum computing, the Journal states, could “speed up calculations related to finance, drug and materials discovery, artificial intelligence and others, and crack many of the defenses used to secure the internet.” According to Business Insider, quantum machines could help us “cure cancer, and even take steps to reverse climate change.” The Wall Street Journal reports that IonQ plans to produce a device roughly the size of an Xbox videogame console by 2023. In March, the startup IonQ announced a $2 billion deal that would make it the first publicly traded firm dedicated to quantum computers. (Remember that as soon as you look at an electron or cat, its superposition vanishes.) Now, tech giants like IBM, Amazon, Microsoft and Google have invested in quantum computing, as have many smaller companies, 193 by one count. Quantum computers, in contrast, traffic in qubits, which are constructed out of superposed particles that embody numerous states simultaneously.įor decades, quantum computing has been little more than a hypothesis, or laboratory curiosity, as researchers wrestled with the technical complexities of maintaining superposition and entanglement for long enough to perform useful calculations. A bit, the basic unit of information of a conventional computer, can be in one of two states, representing a one or zero. Quantum computers exploit superposition (a particle inhabits two or more mutually exclusive states at the same time) and entanglement (a special form of superposition, in which two or more particles influence each other in spooky ways) to do things that ordinary computers can’t. In this column, I’ll summarize their views and try to reach a coherent conclusion.įirst, a little background. Aaronson and Rudolph are on friendly terms they co-authored a paper in 2007, and Rudolph wrote about Q Is for Quantum on Aaronson’s blog. Rudolph is also the author of Q Is for Quantum and co-founder of the quantum-computing startup PsiQuantum. In 2011 Nature described the PBR Theorem as “the most important general theorem relating to the foundations of quantum mechanics” since Bell’s theorem was published in 1964. ![]() He is a co-author, the “R,” of the PBR theorem, which, along with its better-known predecessor, Bell’s theorem, lays bare the peculiarities of quantum behavior. The other expert is physicist Terry Rudolph. One is computer scientist Scott Aaronson, who has, as I once put it, “one of the highest intelligence/pretension ratios I’ve ever encountered.” Not to embarrass him further, but I see Aaronson as the conscience of quantum computing, someone who helps keep the field honest. ![]() I’ve also had exchanges with two quantum-computing experts with distinct perspectives on the technology’s prospects. ![]() Science Writer? Are quantum computers really the next big thing?” A friend who likes investing in tech, and who knows about my attempt to learn quantum mechanics, has been sending me articles on how quantum computers might help solve “some of the biggest and most complex challenges we face as humans,” as a Forbes commentator declared recently. Quantum computers have been on my mind a lot lately.
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