Re: Is Intel exceptionally unsuccessful as an architecture designer?

On 9/19/2024 5:08 PM, Niklas Holsti wrote:

On 2024-09-19 23:53, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

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.

  If you can back up that claim (that noise in quantum computing comes from "many worlds") with actual math, you will have proved that many- worlds is true. That would be Nobel prize or two, right there. Go at it!
 

I guess it is a question if this "noise" can be usefully distinguished from random noise.
Or if quantum computing can give answers "better" than classical computers using non-brute-force algorithms.
Like, we all know that brute force is slow; but sometimes something as simple as designing an algorithm to make use of a random number generator can be faster...
Person A: "Man, this search space is huge, brute force is implausible".
Person B: Writes an algorithm to generate random vectors, pick the ones that did best, then randomly mutate and recombine these vectors; then can maybe generate a usable answer within a much more modest timeframe.
...
But, then again, even if quantum computers work, they still will not have the sorts of features often portrayed in TV shows:
   Ability to transport people to/from virtual worlds TRON style (*1);
   Ability to pull off time travel or open wormholes between universes;
   Ability to instantly break any security scheme;
   ...
Many people would likely end up disappointed in any case.
*1: Well, excluding the shows where someone just falls into their TV like in the "Money for Nothing" music video...
Some variations:
   Get shot by laser (eg, "TRON");
     Or get shot by lightning from a machine;
   Get into a tube (eg, "Code Lyoko");
     Lay on medical bed and disappear into sparkles;
   Walk through a stargate looking thing into cyberspace;
     Fly in through a TV (various, "Captain N", "Arcade", ...);
   Being strapped in a spinning thing + VR headset ("Lawnmower Man")
     Or disappearing into the VR headset ("Virtual Boy" ads).
   ...
Maybe a person could come up with other variations using more "modern tech" (*cough* VFX):
   Turn big flat-screen TV sideways, walk through it;
     Maybe add lightning sparks out of the TV for extra effect;
   Or, combine laser with a spinning disco ball.
     Say, so the laser has some way to do a raster sweep.
   Pretty much anything spinning and/or glowing will work.
     More so if it has "quantum in the description..."
   ...
Say, the TV having "Quantum Dots" for extra effect...
Now needs a big swivel arm to lower the TV towards floor level and turn it sideways, while a "Resident Evil" style door-opening animation shows (leading to a tunnel like in "Coraline"), and the main VFX starts up, ... (traveling into cyberspace via the "Data Return Path" in the HDMI cable, ...).
Dunno, maybe then battle giant insects where the bugs got bigger because they entered through a smartphone screen or something. Or a person dropped some chicken nuggets into their phone which then became the size of a car on the other side (and the various shards of cyberspace connect over the internet, each a different world populated based on the used and whatever sorts of entry/exits exist into that space).
...
Well, similar sort of stuff for the variants of "quantum computer" == "time machine", ...