Lifeboat Foundation

(Image: IBM)

The race to build a full-blown quantum computer is heating up. Tech giant IBM has been working on error-correcting techniques for quantum hardware, and has now won funding from the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) to take it to the next level.

Quantum computers promise to vastly outperform normal PCs on certain problems. But efforts to build them have been hampered by the fragility of quantum bits, or qubits, as the systems used to store them are easily affected by heat and electromagnetic radiation. IBM is one of a number of companies and research teams developing error-correcting techniques to iron out these instabilities.

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Governments and leading computing companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Google are trying to develop what are called quantum computers because using the weirdness of quantum mechanics to represent data should unlock immense data-crunching powers. Computing giants believe quantum computers could make their artificial-intelligence software much more powerful and unlock scientific leaps in areas like materials science. NASA hopes quantum computers could help schedule rocket launches and simulate future missions and spacecraft. “It is a truly disruptive technology that could change how we do everything,” said Deepak Biswas, director of exploration technology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

Biswas spoke at a media briefing at the research center about the agency’s work with Google on a machine they bought in 2013 from Canadian startup D-Wave systems, which is marketed as “the world’s first commercial quantum computer.” The computer is installed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and operates on data using a superconducting chip called a quantum annealer. A quantum annealer is hard-coded with an algorithm suited to what are called “optimization problems,” which are common in machine-learning and artificial-intelligence software.

However, D-Wave’s chips are controversial among quantum physicists. Researchers inside and outside the company have been unable to conclusively prove that the devices can tap into quantum physics to beat out conventional computers.

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http://blogs.technet.com/b/inside_microsoft_research/archive…-2015.aspx

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Which mean for us?

Recently, quantum gates and quantum circuits have been found when portfolios of stocks were simulated in quantum computation processes, pointing out to the existence of a bizarre quantum code beneath the stock market transactions. The quantum code of the stock market might prove to have a more profound signification if is related to the recent finding of quantum codes at the deepest levels of our reality, such as quantum mechanics of black holes and the space-time of the universe. Could this mysterious stock market quantum code be a tiny fragment of a quantum code that our universe uses to create the physical reality?

John Preskill’s talk „Is spacetime a quantum error-correcting code?” held at the Center for Quantum Information and Control, University of New Mexico, and previously at Kavli Institute for Theoretical physics, may represent a turning point in physical research related to questioning the existence and evolution of our Universe. The essence of this talk may change forever our understanding of the Universe, shifting the perspective of physical research from masses and energies to codes of information theory.

Continue reading “The Universe is a Quantum Algorithm, and the proof has been found in the … Stock Market” »

Sir Winston Churchill often spoke of World War 2 as the “Wizard War”. Both the Allies and Axis powers were in a race to gain the electronic advantage over each other on the battlefield. Many technologies were born during this time – one of them being the ability to decipher coded messages. The devices that were able to achieve this feat were the precursors to the modern computer. In 1946, the US Military developed the ENIAC, or Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer. Using over 17,000 vacuum tubes, the ENIAC was a few orders of magnitude faster than all previous electro-mechanical computers. The part that excited many scientists, however, was that it was programmable. It was the notion of a programmable computer that would give rise to the idea of artificial intelligence (AI).

As time marched forward, computers became smaller and faster. The invention of the transistor semiconductor gave rise to the microprocessor, which accelerated the development of computer programming. AI began to pick up steam, and pundits began to make grand claims of how computer intelligence would soon surpass our own. Programs like ELIZA and Blocks World fascinated the public and certainly gave the perception that when computers became faster, as they surely would in the future, they would be able to think like humans do.

But it soon became clear that this would not be the case. While these and many other AI programs were good at what they did, neither they, or their algorithms were adaptable. They were ‘smart’ at their particular task, and could even be considered intelligent judging from their behavior, but they had no understanding of the task, and didn’t hold a candle to the intellectual capabilities of even a typical lab rat, let alone a human.

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HGST’s 10 TB helium hard drive is the first that’s ready for routine recording.

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An emerging class of atomically thin materials known as monolayer semiconductors has generated a great deal of buzz in the world of materials science. Monolayers hold promise in the development of transparent LED displays, ultra-high efficiency solar cells, photo detectors and nanoscale transistors. Their downside? The films are notoriously riddled with defects, killing their performance.

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For the first time, scientists have achieved infinite speeds on a microchip. Although this advance will not enable faster-than-light starships, the light-warping technology behind this innovation could lead to new light-based microchips and help enable powerful quantum computers, researchers said.

Light travels at the speed of about 670 million miles per hour (1.08 billion km/h) in a vacuum, and is theoretically the fastest possible speed at which matter or energy can travel. Exceeding this speed limit should lead to impossible results such as time travel, according to Einstein’s theory of relativity.

However, in a way, researchers have overcome this barrier for decades. [Warped Physics: 10 Effects of Faster-Than-Light Travel].

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Keysight Technologies, Inc., in collaboration with electrical engineers at the University of California, San Diego, has demonstrated the world’s first 64 (8 × 8) and 256-element (16 × 16), 60-GHz silicon wafer-scale phased-array transmitter with integrated high-efficiency antennas for Gbps communications at 100 to 200 meters. With this demonstration, Keysight and UC San Diego have proven that a 5G communication link is not only possible, but can deliver record performance.

Keysight’s collaboration with UC San Diego builds on an earlier effort between the university and TowerJazz, which resulted in development of the industry’s first 64- and 256-element system-on-a chip (SoC) phased arrays operating at 60-GHz. Each wafer-scale SoC comprises a 60-GHz source, amplifiers, distribution network, phase shifters, voltage controlled amplifiers and high-efficiency on-chip antennas. The chips were designed to meet the needs of 5G high-performance Gbps data-rate communication systems with beamforming capabilities and for Aerospace & Defense systems.

Following the development of the phased-array SoCs, Keysight and UC San Diego set out to prove they could be used in a communications link. All work was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Keysight.

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