Quantum computer gives results without running

[Celebration]

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060225/fob6.asp

Physicists have long known that quantum computers have the potential to race through calculations trillions of times as fast as ordinary computers do. Now, it seems that those machines may not have to calculate at all to deliver answers.

That seemingly absurd possibility, which was advanced as a theory several years ago, has now received experimental verification. What's more, although previous calculations indicated that such an approach would work only half the time at best, the new study suggests that it could become completely reliable.

..................

Charles H. Bennett of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., praises the new work for "exploring the places where quantum prediction seems most at odds with common sense."

[htuttle]

1. While quantum computers already seem to know the answers...

...I doubt it already knows the questions, unfortunately.

Looks like it still has a ways to go before it becomes useful, but it's a cool idea. I read the description of how it works in the article, and it sounds more than a little paradoxical to me.

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. So let's ask it a question

"Can the second law of thermodynamics be reversed?"

[Porcupine]

2. Still 42 huh?

Great, now computers can send me spam and penis enlargement offers without even being turned on. Some improvement.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Anyone here remember the old s-f movie "The Forbin Project"?

Computers become so smart they decide that humans who are about to blow up the earth in a nuclear war are really stupid critters, and the computer in the U.S. joins forces with the computer in Soviet Russia, stops the war, and tells humans they will from now on, a) prevent humans from destroying all life on earth, and b) start distributing wealth on a more equitable basis.

Great 'ol pix. I just saw a trivia item on it--the Forbin Project computer used for the film was the studio payroll computer! Har-har! (Wouldn't you love it if YOUR employer's payroll computer got a will of its own, and started writing paychecks on an EQUITABLE basis?)

I can't wait for quantum intelligence to start making decisions in this world. It may be the only thing that saves us. (Of course, we've got the "Battlestar Galactica" scenario to worry about, but, really, I think it'll be a long time before computers decide to mate with us, or get all pissy about who made whom.)

-----

:argh:

[Wilms]

7. Colossus!

I saw it on TeeVee back in the day. It impressed me to the point I've never forgotten it.

PP, yours is the first time, in all those years, that I've come across someone other than me referencing that flick.

[Wilber_Stool]

4. Can the

Infinite Improbability Drive be far behind?

[populistdriven]

5. For simple but bruteforce calc's like RSA this will destroy secrets

[Peace Patriot]

6. Just read the article at the link. You want to read strange? Read that

article. We're talking S-T-R-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-NGE!

[northzax]

8. wait a minute

and first off, I think that quantum computing is likely a reality, odds are good that the NSA already has them, if they're allowing this sort of possible research to be declassified. And yes, it's the end of encryption, that's always been know.

But I have an issue with this piece: Indeed, the detectors indicated about a third of the time that, with no photon going into the computer, and thus no search, the computer had yielded the correct answer to the question: Was there a mismatch between the incoming photon and the chosen database location? hmm, so 33% of the time, the machine got the answer to a yes/no question correct when running without an input? isn't that roughly 16.66% less than simply guessing? what am I missing?

[Celebration]

9. the article

I am having a hard time following it myself. But rather than yes/no answers (50% correct guesses) maybe it was based on locations--

"The researchers first mark one of four locations in a miniature database. When triggered by an incoming red photon with certain traits, the computer searches for the marked location and checks for a match between the location indicated by the photon and that target."

If so that would make it a 25% chance of a particular guess being correct.

However, if one pinned me down and asked me to explain the experimental procedure, I admit I couldn't do it, and I have read it several times. Maybe we will have to wait for the Nature article. Or maybe someone here that is a little sharper than I am can explain it.

[Occulus]

10. Will be?

I read of an ex
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/050201/Simulation_hints_at_quantum_computer_power_050201.html

It's here, and being experimented with- quite a lot, actually.