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IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

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Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#191

Post by cpuguy83 »

dekhn wrote: post #29
baby wrote: post #11

I'm starting to get some fatigue about quantum computer news, and I just dismiss them now. If there really is a valuable breakthrough, everyone will be talking about it for months non-stop so I won't miss it.

This is exactly correct. The moment something important happens in quantum computing the community will recognize it as such. In the meantime most of us are just waiting for somebody to do something interesting that couldn't really have been solved (possibly approximately) on classical systems.

In that sense, this is a pretty big step because for the first time there is a quantum computer that cannot be simulated by a classical one. It's also expected they will have a processor with over 400qubits next year and over 1000 in 2 years. This are huge leaps.

Still they aren't currently doing anything useful and need to prove themselves.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#192

Post by tester756 »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #33

Quantum Computers sitting in their cryogenic chambers are such works of art, stacks of giant brass plates and hundreds of heat pipes (or coolant pipes? liquid helium I suppose) twisted and coiling throughout the structure hanging like some steampunk chandelier (why do they hang from above anyway?) EDIT: changed to a few direct links to pics: [0][1][2] The esoteric design reminds me of the Connection Machine blog post…

is this most advanced tech at this very moment?

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#193

Post by esturk »

baby wrote: post #11

I'm starting to get some fatigue about quantum computer news, and I just dismiss them now. If there really is a valuable breakthrough, everyone will be talking about it for months non-stop so I won't miss it.

That's fair. So why are you posting in this thread? If you follow your strategy, you would save a lot of time no?

What I'm trying to say is please don't hijack HackerNews threads to just complain.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#194

Post by KoftaBob »

ncmncm wrote: post #190
KoftaBob wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there evidence to your claim, or are you just partaking in the incredibly banal "China is going to overtake us in ____" doomsday porn?

I see you missed the announcement last week. Whether to believe it is up to you.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3153727/chin...

"Lead researcher Pan Jianwei said the Zuchongzhi 2 – a 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computer named after a 5th century mathematician"

IBMs quantum computer is 127 qubit.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#195

Post by rbanffy »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #186
rbanffy wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 0.141" semi-rigid coax, diameter of champions. I wonder if we measure it more precisely we'll get to something closer to 1.4142135623730950488...

It would be a bit of a surprise since the unit of measure is inches and I'm not sure what inches would have to do with quantum computing. I feel like the inch is essentially a random factor here.

I’d make this cable as a form of art.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#196

Post by wongarsu »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #178
RivieraKid wrote: post #86

Tangential question, what are the areas of technology where we can expect to see substantial progress or breakthroughs within 2030, i.e. what are the most exciting areas to follow and look forward to? Here's my list: - Nuclear fusion (Helion, ZAP, TAE, Tokamak Energy, CFS, Wendelstein). - Self-driving cars. - New types of nuclear fission reactors. - Spaceflight (SpaceX Starship). - Supersonic airplanes (Boom). - Soli…

I hate to tell you, but your list looks like it came straight out of the 1970's:) - Spaceflight (SpaceX Starship). - Supersonic airplanes (Boom). Been there, done that.

They are modern takes on the Space Shuttle and Concorde respectively, but with the benefit of hindsight as well as half a century of advances in material science and control systems. But really the defining feature is that the Space Shuttle and Concorde were government-funded prestige projects, while their modern incarnations are economically viable.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#197

Post by aaron695 »

bnjemian wrote: post #93
cbozeman wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, what you just said is the equivalent of saying, "We just developed a quantum computer that allows us to solve not just every physical world question we have, but every metaphysical one as well." Since you're literally comparing the end of most life on Earth, I think its fair for me to compare the development of a computer that provides limitless understanding. They're both equally ridiculous, in other words…

I feel like a nuclear war is a much likelier (yet very low probability) event than your computational straw man.

[dead]

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#198

Post by chaxor »

mcpherrinm wrote: post #181
function_seven wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To this day, whenever I hear the term "supercomputer", I can only visualize the Cray. I don't want to know what the latest supercomputer looks like, because I suspect it's just another boring bunch of rack aisles. Maybe with a snazzy color end-cap or blue LEDs on the doors. Bring back the impractical, space-eating circular design! I don't care about space efficiency. It's supposed to look cool.

The LEDs are green! https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/6F80/production/... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53147684 And they do have a snazzy coloured endcap... https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/spVSO7_2vryY6neSXK1JfQ--~B... https://www.engadget.com/japan-fugaku-supercomputer-01312169...

Isn't that due to green being the highest energy of light for an LED available at that time? IIRC, everytime a new material was created to get the increase in band gap for a higher energy photon (i.e. blue or violet), there was a Nobel prize given out.

Tuning the band gap with a new material back then was difficult I think.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#199

Post by mixedCase »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #187
jazzyjackson wrote: post #33

Quantum Computers sitting in their cryogenic chambers are such works of art, stacks of giant brass plates and hundreds of heat pipes (or coolant pipes? liquid helium I suppose) twisted and coiling throughout the structure hanging like some steampunk chandelier (why do they hang from above anyway?) EDIT: changed to a few direct links to pics: [0][1][2] The esoteric design reminds me of the Connection Machine blog post…

Are there any pictures of the hand-wired LISP Machine online? I searched, but couldn't find it. Also - when LISP was invented (1958) - what was the state of computers at the time? Doing some research - it seems like direct keyboard input to computers was only available for 2 years prior. It seems like languages were decades ahead of hardware. I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while…

> I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while computers were seemingly VERY primitive.

I have a much bigger emotional conflict when contrasting that with the current state of mainstream programming languages, that are only just beginning to tread onto territories like algebraic data types and pattern matching that ML paved almost 50 years ago. Is there any hope for true dependent typing to become popular before 2040?

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#200

Post by mathgenius »

rain1 wrote: post #60

It is incredibly dishonest of them to post this without any details about the noise parameters of the system. When reading "127-qubit system" you would expect that you can perform arbitrary quantum computations on these 127 qubits and they would reasonably cohere for at least a few quantum gates. In reality the noise levels are so strong that you can essentially do nothing with them except get random noise results. M…

It's over here: [1]. James Wootton makes some comments about it here [2]. Looks like 1% error rate which I think is too high to do much with, but it is still exciting progress for those of us working in the field!

[1] https://quantum-computing.ibm.com/services?services=systems&...

[2] https://twitter.com/decodoku/status/1460616092959883265

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