Re: Is Intel exceptionally unsuccessful as an architecture designer?

On Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:59:42 +0200, Terje Mathisen wrote:

From my recent reading, it seems like factoring 21 (5 bits) requires at
least 5+10=15 bits all staying entangled, plus a number of additional
bits for error correction.

The noise factor was something the original ideas about quantum computers
had not taken into account.

But it’s pretty obvious why it happens: “quantum” computing was something
thought up by people who took the “many worlds” interpretation of quantum
theory just a little too seriously: if you could take advantage of
“superposition of states” to run your computation simultaneously across
multiple alternate universes, you could access a whole lot more computing
power!

The reason why it doesn’t work is because of conservation of energy.
Accessing those hypothetical “alternate universes” requires spreading the
same amount of energy more thinly. And that’s where the noise comes from.
So ultimately there will be no way to get rid of it.

And that’s why I say “quantum” computing (at least for number-theoretic
operations) is “trying to get something for nothing”. Ultimately that
won’t work.