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Willow quantum chip demonstrates verifiable quantum advantage on hardware

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Re: Willow quantum chip demonstrates verifiable quantum advantage on hardware

#61

Post by andrewla »

bilsbie wrote: post #51
ransom1538 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SO... BTC goes to zero?

I don’t see why bitcoin wouldn’t update its software in such a case. The majority of minors just need to agree. But why wouldn’t they if the alternative is going to zero?

How could updating the software possibly make a difference here? If the encryption is cracked, then who is to say who owns which Bitcoin? As soon as I try to transfer any coin that I own, I expose my public key, your "Quantum Computer" cracks it, and you offer a competing transaction with a higher fee to send the Bitcoin to your slush fund.

No amount of software fixes can update this. In theory once an attack becomes feasible on the horizon they could update to post-quantum encryption and offer the ability to transfer from old-style addresses to new-style addresses, but this would be a herculean effort for everyone involved and would require all holders (not miners) to actively update their wallets. Basically infeasible.

Fortunately this will never actually happen. It's way more likely that ECDSA is broken by mundane means (better stochastic approaches most likely) than quantum computing being a factor.

Re: Willow quantum chip demonstrates verifiable quantum advantage on hardware

#62

Post by toasted-subs »

lisper wrote: post #21
Imnimo wrote: post #9

As with any quantum computing news, I will wait for Scott Aaronson to tell me what to think about this.

Why wait? Just go read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09526-6 In the last sentence of the abstract you will find: "These results ... indicate a viable path to practical quantum advantage." And in the conclusions: "Although the random circuits used in the dynamic learning demonstration remain a toy model for Hamiltonians that are of practical relevance, the scheme is readily applicable to real p…

A consistent theme of Quantum Computing is setting up the problem to have the hardwired achieve nicely to get a good news article to get more funding.

Im pretty reluctant to make any negative comments about these kinds of posts be cause it will prevent actually achieving the desired outcome.

Re: Willow quantum chip demonstrates verifiable quantum advantage on hardware

#63

Post by LPisGood »

andrewstuart2 wrote: post #55
bilsbie wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see why bitcoin wouldn’t update its software in such a case. The majority of minors just need to agree. But why wouldn’t they if the alternative is going to zero?

I'll tell you right now, no way my kids would agree until they're at least adults. They don't even know what asymmetric cryptography is.

I’m confused, are your kids major Bitcoin miners?

Re: Willow quantum chip demonstrates verifiable quantum advantage on hardware

#65

Post by andrewstuart2 »

LPisGood wrote: post #63
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll tell you right now, no way my kids would agree until they're at least adults. They don't even know what asymmetric cryptography is.

I’m confused, are your kids major Bitcoin miners?

Not major miners, but minor miners (if you count Minecraft).

Re: Willow quantum chip demonstrates verifiable quantum advantage on hardware

#66

Post by iwontberude »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #60
lisper wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wait? Just go read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09526-6 In the last sentence of the abstract you will find: "These results ... indicate a viable path to practical quantum advantage." And in the conclusions: "Although the random circuits used in the dynamic learning demonstration remain a toy model for Hamiltonians that are of practical relevance, the scheme is readily applicable to real p…

> "These results ... indicate a viable path to practical quantum advantage" I'll add this to my list of useful phrases. Q: Hey AndrewStephens, you promised that task would be completed two days ago. Can you finish it today? A: Results indicate a viable path to success.

Charlie Brown, Lucy, football

Re: Willow quantum chip demonstrates verifiable quantum advantage on hardware

#70

Post by ibejoeb »

nashashmi wrote: post #10

Before the mega monopolies took over, corps used to partner with universities to conduct this kind of research. Now we have bloated salaries, rich corporations, and expensive research while having under experienced graduates. These costs will get forwarded to the consumer. The future won’t have a lot of things that we have come to expect.

I don't think it's accurate to attribute some kind of altruism to these research universities. Have a look at some of those pay packages or the literal hedge funds that they operate. And they're mostly exempt from taxation.
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