this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2025
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[–] cabbage@piefed.social 107 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This is a piece of alleged technology that is based on basic physics that has not been established.

That does sound like a problem.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 65 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

I love these slides about how quantum cryptography attacks are a made up scenario https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/bollocks.pdf

Dude is a comedic genius

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)
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[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Prime factorisation is indeed nobody's primary idea of what a quantum computer will be useful for in practice any time soon, but it cannot be denied that Shor's algorithm is the first and only method of prime factorisation we have discovered which can finish in realistic time with realistic resources.

And that means that RSA is no longer as safe as it once was, justifying the process of finding alternatives.

[–] sepi@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm sorry - did you read the slides?

[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Indeed I did. They seem to be pointing to the fact that current machines are not factoring primes in any serious way.

Does this contradict my point?

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[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

We should find out next week at APS Global if it's really a problem or a case of Physicist Sergey Frolov, the author of that quote, failing to understand what's been done.

Microsoft could be full of shit about Majorana 1 of course but it would be damned odd for them to make a claim like this without being able to back it up; the fallout would be horrendous.

[–] Gerudo@lemm.ee 17 points 1 month ago

I have to agree with this. Say what you will about MS, but it'd be odd to claim something this crazy that they can't at least sorta backup.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago

AI will figure it out my dude!!

[–] AceTKen@lemmy.ca 61 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Yeah, most quantum science at the moment is largely fraudulent. It's not just Microsoft. It's being developed because it's being taught in business schools as the next big thing, not because anybody has any way to use it.

Any of the "quantum computers" you see in the news are nothing more than press releases about corporate emulators functioning how they think it might work if it did work, but it's far too slow to be used for anything.

[–] Rooskie91@discuss.online 39 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So glad we dereguled the market so everything is a crypto scam now.

[–] Misterboyfriend@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

🌎🧑‍🚀🔫

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

I just saw on Linked In that in 12 months "quantum AI" is going to be where it's at. Uh.... really? Do I hear "crypto-quantum AI?"

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

QUANTUM AI? IN my blockchain? It's more likely than you think!

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[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I used a hybrid of near-shore telepresence and on-site scrum sessions to move fast and put the quantum metaverse on a content-addressable de-fi AI blockchain

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[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

That sounds like something they say your washing detergent has to clean stains better.

[–] njordomir@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Crypto-quantum AI+ MaXX?

[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Quantum science is not fraudulent, incredible leaps are being made with the immense influx of funding.

Quantum industry is a different beast entirely, with scientific rigour being corrupted by stock price management.

It's an objective fact that quantum computers indeed exist now, but only at a very basic prototype level. Don't trust anything a journalist says about them, but they are real, and they are based on technology we had no idea if would ever be possible.

[–] AceTKen@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

Well, I love being wrong! Are you able to show a documented quantum experiment that was carried out on a quantum computer (and not an emulator using a traditional architecture)?

How about a use case that isn't simply for breaking encryption, benchmarking, or something deeply theoretical that they have no way to know how to actually program for or use in the real world?

I'm not requesting these proofs to be snarky, but simply because I've never seen anything else beyond what I listed.

When I see all the large corporations mentioning the processing power of these things, they're simply mentioning how many times they can get an emulated tied bit to flip, and then claiming grandiose things for investors. That's pretty much it. To me, that's fraudulent (or borderline) corporate BS.

[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Hell yes! I'd love to share some stuff.

One good example of a quantum computer is the Lukin group neutral atoms work. As the paper discusses, they managed to perform error correction procedures making 48 actual logical qubits and performing operations on them. Still not all that practically useful, but it exists, and is extremely impressive from a physics experiment viewpoint.

There are also plenty of meaningful reports on non-emulated machines from the corporate world. From the big players examples include the Willow chip from Google and Heron from IBM being actual real quantum devices doing actual (albeit basic) operations. Furthermore there are a plethora of smaller companies like OQC and Pasqal with real machines.

On applications, this review is both extensive and sober, outlining the known applications with speedups, costs and drawbacks. Among the most exciting are Fermi-Hubbard model dynamics (condensed matter stuff), which is predicted to have exponential speedup with relatively few resources. These all depend on a relatively narrow selection of tricks, though. Among interesting efforts to fundamentally expand what tricks are available is this work from the Babbush group.

Let me know if that's not what you were looking for.

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[–] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It’s…not shocking exactly, but a little surprising and a lot disappointing that so much of finance is now targeted at “let’s make a thing that we read about in sci fi novels we read as kids.”

Focusing on STEM and not the humanities means we have a bunch of engineers who think “book thing cool” and have zero understanding of how allegory works.

[–] pycorax@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Most competent engineers don't think that. They know and understand the limitations of what they're working on. They just do it because the finance bros pay.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Elno has just reinforced that if you lie enough to become a billionaire, that the market will reward you for YEARS. Possibly forever of you don’t let them find out your a power hungry amazing who want to ruin the whole country.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 53 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Check it, yo. In the 90s all the articles and rumors around quantum computing were exactly the same. Exactly.

Whenever I hear about some new quantum computing breakthrough, I spend about five seconds wondering if it's real and then I feel very nostalgic because no, it never is.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I just assume it's in a superposition of both being real and not real at the same time.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Well played.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Quantum computer do exist. And have existed for some time now. Breakthroughs have been achieved several times.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sure, sure and it’s interesting stuff. But not anywhere near useful in the sense people mean when they talk about computers.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

They are as useful as the Large Hadron Collider, or the New Horizons probe.

They are instruments of practical scientific research. They may have some return in useful technology or not, but science is always worth it.

[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Except quantum computers do indeed exist right now, and did not in the 90's. Sadly, the hype and corporate interests still make it difficult to tell truth from nonsense.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Yeah, sure they exist. Much like the ENIAC. And it’s cool stuff to work with. It’s just not anywhere close to practical. And it never has been.

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[–] anubis119@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Slammed or lightly pounded?

[–] LinyosT@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 month ago

S L A M M E D

Just like I S L A M M E D my penis in the car door.

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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

COME ON AND SLAM

AND WELCOME TO THE JAM

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[–] portifornia@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Slammed 💥 🦹‍♂️

🙄

[–] trumboner@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Of course its going to be unreliable after you slam it!

[–] GaMEChld@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Ka-POW! ZAP!

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Are we SLAMming quantum computers now?

[–] danekrae@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
[–] ogmios@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You can tell that someone is lying about their work in quantum physics when they claim to understand quantum physics.

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 13 points 1 month ago

Maybe they were smoking too much Majorana.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

"Microsoft is slated to back up its claims and success in quantum computing next week at an American Physical Society (APS) meeting in California."

Well if they try to put on a show like Elon did with his dancing robots and what not we can be %100 sure it is a pyramid scheme.

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] AynRandLibertarian@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

What's next Theranus doesn't actually make thousand dollar tests for a dollar?

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Of course. Not a single quantum computer has done anything but test programs and quantum-specific benchmarks. Until a quantum computer finally does something a normal computer regularly does, but faster, we should simply ignore this area.

EDIT: could the downvoters state a single occasion where a quantum computer outmatched a normal computer on a real problem. And with that I mean something more elaborate than winning naughts and crosses, or something like that.

[–] Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

until it's better we should simply ignore this

That seems like a strange comment to make. How will it get better if we don't spend the time and effort to make it better?

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

With quantum computing if you ignore it you are simultaneously not ignoring it?

[–] MrBlack@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I don't think so, but yes.

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