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Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

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Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#111

Post by navbaker »

neurotech1 wrote: post #78
dnautics wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US Naval Academy has a pretty good science program, and (IIRC) during Carter's era, all midshipmen were trained as engineers first, with the requisite science background, including (presumably) what QM was known in 1946. Moreover, as a nuke officer during that era he was personally vetted by Adm. Hyman Rickover, who had placed legendarily[0] high demands on the intellect, technical skill, moral integrity, and ing…

Rickover was promoted to the rank of vice admiral in 1958, the same year that he was awarded the first of two Congressional Gold Medals. Rickover exercised tight control for the next three decades over the ships, technology, and personnel of the nuclear Navy, interviewing and approving or denying every prospective officer being considered for a nuclear ship. Adm. Rickover [0] certainly set the standard with personal…

The Admiral in charge of the US Navy nuclear propulsion program still personally interviews and has final say on any individual applying for surface or subsurface nuke programs. From what I hear, it's a fairly nerve-wracking experience!

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#112

Post by saeranv »

benzor wrote: post #106
beloch wrote: post #94

In Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy the job of the galactic president, Zaphod Beeblebrox, is described as being "not to wield power but to draw attention away from it". Trudeau really reminds me of this quote quite a bit. In terms of traditional metrics of performance, Trudeau was heavily outclassed in leader debates during the last election. He demonstrated almost no ability to address questions directly and instead…

While I agree with your points about him debating more in sound bytes than in real answers... In fairness he's actually been doing reasonably well on his promises, as tracked by the TrudeauMetre[1]. Off the top of my head, unmuzzling scientists, restoring the long form census, and legalizing marijuana are all big contentious points that are either done or seriously underway. Given the abysmal promise-to-result ratio…

Same here. Another big one is the stimulus he's released with the new budget. I'm not sure how he's doing on the Syrian refugee count, but just his attitude to the problem is such a relief compared to Harper.

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#113

Post by chris_wot »

stevehiehn wrote: post #20

I think the take-away here is not what so much what PM Trudeau knows or doesn't know about quantum computing. It reveals how low our expectations are of our leaders.

We have low expectations, and politicians know it, so they don't try to elevate debate. That's how the Donald Trump's of the world gain power - through apathy.

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#114

Post by empath75 »

ae_keji wrote: post #110
godzillabrennus wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine for a second that your roles were reversed and you were the politician who knew a lot about science, engineering and technology. Now it's your job to lead a nation, one of the worlds leading armed forces (yes Canada knows how to fight) and are responsible for trade policies that Impact all your constituents. Suddenly a terror group in > bombs a mall. How much do you know about the ethnic groups in > and what…

Jimmy Carter was also an engineer, and as much as people hated him at the time, he was a very honest and responsible leader in hindsight.

He wasn't technically an engineer, but he had some nuclear training.

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#115

Post by empath75 »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #85
msbarnett wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Someone on FB speculated that it was a trick just for this video: > > the person asking the question probably works for Trudeau and Trudeau had previously memorized the whole quantum explanation just for this video. The question was asked by a pool reporter from The Canadian Press (that's not a generic description, it's the name of a private news organization). > and after reading an article about this claimed that…

The problem is that he didn't learn enough to explain it to a fellow layman. He gave the impression that quantum computing is about storing more complicated bits so you can make a smaller computer.

I don't think most working physicists could explain it properly to a layman.

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#116

Post by beloch »

saeranv wrote: post #112
benzor wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with your points about him debating more in sound bytes than in real answers... In fairness he's actually been doing reasonably well on his promises, as tracked by the TrudeauMetre[1]. Off the top of my head, unmuzzling scientists, restoring the long form census, and legalizing marijuana are all big contentious points that are either done or seriously underway. Given the abysmal promise-to-result ratio…

Same here. Another big one is the stimulus he's released with the new budget. I'm not sure how he's doing on the Syrian refugee count, but just his attitude to the problem is such a relief compared to Harper.

What was Harper's attitude on Syrian refugees? I seem to recall he said Trudeau's goal of 10000 before the end of 2015 was unrealistic, and that's exactly what it turned out to be. He was going to bring in about the same number Trudeau actually managed to bring in.

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#117

Post by beloch »

sergers wrote: post #109
beloch wrote: post #94

In Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy the job of the galactic president, Zaphod Beeblebrox, is described as being "not to wield power but to draw attention away from it". Trudeau really reminds me of this quote quite a bit. In terms of traditional metrics of performance, Trudeau was heavily outclassed in leader debates during the last election. He demonstrated almost no ability to address questions directly and instead…

this sounds like the conservative attack ads against Trudeau that lead up to the election... that definately lowered the bar for Canadian politics by attacking his background and taking comments out of context to "shame" him and his party. it didnt work. i would expect a Canadian leader to be visiting the white house for dinner, as do many political/country leaders. i would expect him to be going cross country trips…

The "We're back" schtick is pure BS. Canada never left, and it remains to be seen if we do more or less internationally under the Liberals. I'd be pretty insulted by Trudeau if I was in the diplomatic service though. Trudeau does seem to be striking a much more conciliatory tone with the U.N., which could be good or bad in the long run, depending on whether the current problems within the U.N. improve or worsen. Trudeau is certainly drawing more international press, but that's not the same as increasing foreign aid, involvement in peace-keeping missions, etc..

As for the conservative attack ads, they're no different than the attack ads any of the other parties typically run. Do you remember the "We can't trust Harper, he's from neocon Calgary and has a hidden agenda!" smear campaign from the election before last? It was so effective they didn't even need to run it during the last election. People wonder why Alberta typically doesn't support the Liberal party, but demonizing the province as a means of vilifying a leader is one big reason why that's the case.

Trudeau did rely relatively less on attack ads than his opponents in the last election, which I approve of. However, the rise of PAC's with funding from god knows where does make it suspiciously easy for parties to run attack ads on the sly without fear of blowback. Whether the Liberals funded them or not, there were plenty of attack ads against harper during the last election. I'd like to see PAC's regulated much more strenuously in the future. In particular, their donors need to be a matter of public record.

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#118

Post by dang »

James001 wrote: post #56

Jesus... I was hoping atleast HN wouldn't give Trudeau a press blowjob. I'm from Canada and he is the most incompetent PM we've ever had. If you want to know what the future has for Canada with him as PM, look no further than the most indebted sub-sovereign in the world: Ontario. These guys are corrupt as fuck

You can't comment like this here. Please (re-)read the site rules and follow them from now on.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

By the way, had we seen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11312766 at the time we would have banned you for it. That one was worse than this one, because it added a personal attack on top of calling names. To continue commenting on HN you need to drop this approach altogether and make sure your comments are substantive and respectful, even to people and about positions you disagree with.

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#119

Post by beloch »

benzor wrote: post #106
beloch wrote: post #94

In Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy the job of the galactic president, Zaphod Beeblebrox, is described as being "not to wield power but to draw attention away from it". Trudeau really reminds me of this quote quite a bit. In terms of traditional metrics of performance, Trudeau was heavily outclassed in leader debates during the last election. He demonstrated almost no ability to address questions directly and instead…

While I agree with your points about him debating more in sound bytes than in real answers... In fairness he's actually been doing reasonably well on his promises, as tracked by the TrudeauMetre[1]. Off the top of my head, unmuzzling scientists, restoring the long form census, and legalizing marijuana are all big contentious points that are either done or seriously underway. Given the abysmal promise-to-result ratio…

219 promises tracked: 29 achieved 15 broken 63 in progress 112 not started

So he's already broken 6.8% of his total promises just 1/8th of the way through his term. That's not good. He's also broken just over half as many promises as he's kept, which I'd say is pretty darned typical of politicians.

Legalizing marijuana is in progress, but I've heard nothing concrete. Unmuzzling scientists and restoring the long form census were both good. Reversing the transparency act was bad. I was most interested in his promises to increase government transparency, but some are reporting it's actually worse [1]. He also promised in an interview with Peter Mansbridge to reduce the concentration of power in the PMO, but he's done nothing about that so far.

We're just an eigth of the way through his term, so the jury is still out in my opinion. He's done some good, some bad, but at this point he's still mostly just a bundle of promises.

[1]http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/preston-manning-s-prescript...

Re: Grading Trudeau on quantum computing

#120

Post by nikcub »

beloch wrote: post #94

In Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy the job of the galactic president, Zaphod Beeblebrox, is described as being "not to wield power but to draw attention away from it". Trudeau really reminds me of this quote quite a bit. In terms of traditional metrics of performance, Trudeau was heavily outclassed in leader debates during the last election. He demonstrated almost no ability to address questions directly and instead…

> Would HN be upvoting this story if it was Stephan Dion or Stephen Harper trying to teach QM?

We upvoted Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong's sudoku solver[0], and he can hardly be described as being from the left.

Similarly, Rand Paul gets a lot of love on HN for his anti-surveillance and drug law reform stances, while Democrats like Clinton and Feinstein are criticized on crypto, and Obama on drones, prosecuting whistleblowers & crypto again.

I'd like to think that a large part of the HN community place issues and evidence above politics.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9419035

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