Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3236 - 3240 (6-10 June 2016)
cesium133:
--- Quote from: Skewbrow on 06 Jun 2016, 23:14 ---
--- Quote from: cesium133 on 06 Jun 2016, 19:36 ---As someone who works on research in quantum computation... yeah, it's not gonna help you much, Hanners.
--- End quote ---
In that case can you give me an approximate update of the state of the art of quantum computing. The two points of reference I have are:
* In '95 I attended a talk on quantum information, and the speaker said that they have a single quantum AND-gate the size of a desk that operates correctly 70 per cent of the time
* Later ('05?) a colleague (who has written a book about quantum computing) told me that they have a working 4-bit quantum computer that can correctly factor 15. He also told me that the specialists don't agree on whether there are two or three known quantum computer programs.
I have a vague recollection that the last point (number of distinct quantum programs) was addressed here (by some expert) a few years ago. I'm more curious about how much they have gone up from 4 bits.
--- End quote ---
D-Wave and Google have been working on devices that contain ~1000 qubits, but there's a debate over how quantum they actually are. Their devices work using what's called "quantum annealing," which is where you find the solution to a problem by starting with a system with a known solution and gradually transforming it into the system you want to solve. This is different from gate quantum computing, which is what more people are probably familiar with (and which is what I work on). The debate over how quantum it is is because the way they solve the problem can also be done classically using "thermal annealing," where you use thermal energy instead of quantum tunneling to find the solution.
As for gate quantum computing, there are several ways it's being implemented. Superconductors, using Josephson junctions to make qubits, are probably one of the most far-along methods right now. Trapped ions and neutral atoms are also being used. I work with neutral atoms. One of the big issues is gate fidelity: how certain you can be that when you perform the gate operation you'll get the right result. Superconductor and ion gates have gotten pretty far, and are nearing the point where fidelity is good enough that error correction algorithms actually work (about 99.999% fidelity). Neutral atoms are still farther back (about 75%), partly because it's too easy to lose atoms from your traps. At the last conference I went to I saw a few talks about possible ways to deal with that problem, such as traps that can be automatically refilled from a reservoir.
--- Quote from: Case on 07 Jun 2016, 04:34 ---EDIT: I guess (=arsepull) there could be issues with really, really big and really, really weirdly structured matrices - pivot search running into 'trouble' that is similar to that which some Plus it's a search problem, not a sorting problem?
--- End quote ---
Well, in the past (before I joined) our group has worked on the Grover quantum search algorithm, so maybe quantum computing could help Hannelore after all?
Zebediah:
It just occurred to me that maybe the reason we're possibly headed back to space later this week is so that Hannelore can use her dad's laboratory to run a numerical analysis of Clinton's hotness. :-D
anahata:
--- Quote from: Akima on 07 Jun 2016, 02:50 ---I am disappointed to see that CoD makes tea with *shudder* tea-bags.
--- End quote ---
I saw that, and assumed he was drinking the sort of herbal tea that is more usually available in bags. And we know they do herbal teas because of the Bubbles unicorns episode.
Unfortunately, all sorts of even quite respectable UK coffee and tea places use tea bags now. :-(
DSL:
--- Quote from: retrosteve on 06 Jun 2016, 12:35 ---
--- Quote from: eschaton on 05 Jun 2016, 20:44 ---Is it my imagination, or is Clinton been slowly turning into a red-haired Marten over the course of this arc?
Edit: To elaborate, ever since the fire, with his messier hair and lack of glasses, he's been drawn more similarly to Marten.
--- End quote ---
Funny, I see him as turning more into a red-haired Sven. Which would be hot indeed.
Also, maybe I'm just projecting my own prejudices here, but at his current level of hotness, he can do better than Brun, I think.
--- End quote ---
Shallow, self-absorbed, manipulative is hot. Got it. And with " ... do better then Brun," you are indeed projecting, or perhaps displaying is a better word, more than you perhaps intend. Please say you're being ironic, or trolling, or both.
Morituri:
--- Quote from: ysth on 05 Jun 2016, 20:08 ---Hot like Habanero Mocha; not necessarily a good thing.
--- End quote ---
Checks mug...
Checks comment ....
Checks mug ....
Sip. ...
On the contrary some of us think Xocolatl is among the finest of culinary creations and do in fact drink it by preference.
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