[FRIAM] In the coldness of space...

[Pieter Steenekamp]

I'm a little bit unsure about my knowledge about the subject, please feel
free to correct me if I'm wrong. Below is how I interpret some key issues
around quantum computers.

There are two different issues around quantum computers:

1 Practicalities around building a quantum computer with enough qbits to
solve real world problems efficiently. There are many teams working on this
and it's not very clear when (if?) this will be realized.

2 The type of problems that can or cannot be solved using quantum computers

a) There are a small set of problems that can be solved efficiently using
known quantum computer algorithms. For example, Shor's algorithm is a
quantum computer algorithm for integer factorization.RSA encryption is
commonly used in the financial industry (including Bitcoin) and if you can
do integer factorization efficiently you can break RSA encryption.
(Note that there are other types of encryption algorithms that cannot be
solved using any current quantum computer algorithm and the financial world
has plans to adapt their encryption technology appropriately.)
An interesting issue around this is that there are undoubtedly many RSA
encrypted messages out there that have been intercepted by bad actors and
saved to be decoded using future quantum computers. It's going to be very
interesting indeed.

b) a Big question is whether a quantum computer algorithm will be found to
solve problems like the travelling salesman problem efficiently. To keep
this post simple I'm not going into computational complexity theory, I'll
just give the conclusion:
If a quantum computer algorithm is developed to solve a problem like the
travelling salesman problem efficiently then it will also be able to solve
many other real world problems (NP-complete problems) efficiently and that
will have a huge positive impact on the world. (This is of course also
provided point 1 above is met)

On Thu, 6 May 2021 at 03:27, Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com> wrote:

> Classical or quantum computers need to be protected against radiation and
> designed to tolerate more of it.  Space is an even harsher environment, not
> having the magnetosphere to protect against ionizing radiation.  One of the
> main difficulties in quantum computing is achieving control but without
> giving up isolation.   One wants qubits that are coupled to the things in
> the quantum computer but not everything else in the universe.   A related
> tradeoff is how much time it takes to control a qubit.   If it is well
> isolated, like in an ion trap, it tends to take a long time.  If it is less
> well isolated, like a superconducting quantum interference device, it may
> be easier to configure.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of jon zingale
> Sent: Wednesday, May 5, 2021 8:29 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: [FRIAM] In the coldness of space...
>
> In the coldest reaches of space, with what probability can I expect there
> to be quantum Turing machines? A number of years ago, I ran across a
> lecture by John Conway where he discusses the ubiquity of computers, his
> thought experiment posits a large warehouse, full of transistors and other
> electronic components, and a madman with a soldering iron. He then goes on
> to say that for a sufficiently large warehouse, with probability one, we
> should expect to find the universal machine.
>
> I know that some on this list actually know about quantum computers, so
> please let me know if this idea is terribly flawed somehow. To the extent
> that such computers are out there, what would their architecture likely be?
> In the meantime, I will continue to fantasize about the scaffoldings that
> such computers may provide to the orderliness of what I can see.
> Perhaps, this is covered by the Hooft paper on vacuum fluctuations?
> I still need to read the paper.
>
> Tags:
> - Conway's madman:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQUAwhhC8cU&t=2363s&ab_channel=IstrailLaboratory
>
> - Formation of hydrocarbon chains in interstellar space:
>
> https://phys.org/news/2017-02-constraining-chemistry-carbon-chain-molecules-space.html
>
>
>
> --
> Sent from: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
>
> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe
> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
>
> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriam
> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20210506/53323aa3/attachment.html>