this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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Technocrit buried the lead when they posted this. Here it is with the actual paper highlighted.
Here's another paper describing the issues at play. This one is a bit more serious.
Craig Gidney - Why haven't quantum computers factored 21 yet?
https://algassert.com/post/2500
And apparently this field is ripe for humor. And Buzz Lightyear graphics.
The prior author did his own joke paper, which is too much for my head.
Falling with Style: Factoring up to 255 “with” a Quantum Computer
https://sigbovik.org/2025/proceedings.pdf#page=146
Okay! Now we’re finally getting somewhere. I was trying to figure out if you use the computer to get the dog to interact with the abacus or how, and it turns out: no! You can do the factorization with just the computer, just the dog, or just the abacus. In the dog case, he threw a ball until his dog barked 3 times, then 5 times, and claimed this demonstrates the factorization of 15, because 15 is 3*5. The criticism is that, because you choose the number to be factorized, and then do special operations that only work for that particular factorization, all processes that are fine-tuned to produce the correct factors are equally valid, including training your dog to bark a certain number of times.