I need HN's classic pessimism to know if this is something to be excited about. Please chime in!
Just look at all the hard numbers they provided after you strip away the hype talk.
Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
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Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#12> Majoranas hide quantum information, making it more robust, but also harder to measure. The Microsoft team’s new measurement approach is so precise it can detect the difference between one billion and one billion and one electrons in a superconducting wire – which tells the computer what state the qubit is in and forms the basis for quantum computation.
Being able to detect a single electron among billions sounds more like a good way to get entropy rather than something that can help with quantum measurements. At least that's my initial intuition being completely ignorant in Quantum Computing.
Do you have other things you want to provide that your self-proclaimed ignorance would be helpful with?
Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#13I need HN's classic pessimism to know if this is something to be excited about. Please chime in!
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Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#14I need HN's classic pessimism to know if this is something to be excited about. Please chime in!
> "Every single atom in this chip is placed purposefully. It is constructed from ground up. It is entirely a new state of matter. Think of us as building the picture by painting it atom by atom."
https://youtu.be/wSHmygPQukQ (~7:55)
I don't know if marketing BS could get more hyperbolic than this.
Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#15I need HN's classic pessimism to know if this is something to be excited about. Please chime in!
I work in the field. While all players are selling a dream right now, this announcement is even more farcical. Majoranas are still trying to get to the point where they have even one qubit that could be said to exist and whose performance can be quantified.
The majorana approach (compared with more mature technologies like superconducting circuits or trapped ions) is a long game, where there are theoretical reasons to be optimistic, but where experimental reality is so far behind. It might work in the long run, but we're not there yet.
Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#16From a casual observer, it seemed like Microsoft's Majorana approach had hit a wall a few years back when there were retractions by the lead researchers. I wonder what's changed?
https://cacm.acm.org/news/majorana-meltdown-jeopardizes-micr...
Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being able to detect a single electron among billions sounds more like a good way to get entropy rather than something that can help with quantum measurements. At least that's my initial intuition being completely ignorant in Quantum Computing.
Do you have other things you want to provide that your self-proclaimed ignorance would be helpful with?
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Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#18RSA in trouble when?
Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#19What do they mean by
>can create an entirely new state of matter – not a solid, liquid or gas but a topological state
Re: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whenever I read about a scientific breakthrough I login to HN to see what the smart people think about it, and am disappointed if there isn't a post with hundreds of comments.
This isn’t a forum of smart people. It’s a forum of asocial tech workers who write in authoritative prose but are just normal people at home staring blankly at a blue glow of a mental bug zapper Quantum is just the next form of sampling the electromagnetic field. It’ll provide mesmerizing computational properties but not rewrite human DNA or beam our consciousness to another galaxy; it’ll fill up RAM and disk really…
Now THIS is the sort of nihilistic outlook that keeps me coming back for a hit of HN.