China Claims To Have Made Major Quant Computer Breakthrough But Western Experts Say Any Commercial Benefits Still Years Away (ft.com) 25
Are today's rudimentary quantum computers already on the verge of significant feats beyond the reach of traditional computers? Or have their capabilities been exaggerated, as practical uses for the technology recede into the future? From a report: These questions have been thrown into sharp relief in recent days by a claim from a group of Chinese researchers to have come up with a way to break the RSA encryption that underpins much of today's online communications. The likelihood that quantum computers would be able to crack online encryption was widely believed a danger that could lie a decade or more in the future. But the 24 researchers, from a number of China's top universities and government-backed laboratories, said their research showed it could be possible using quantum technology that is already available.
The quantum bits, or qubits, used in today's machines are highly unstable and only hold their quantum states for extremely short periods, creating "noise." As a result, "errors accumulate in the computer and after around 100 operations there are so many errors the computation fails," said Steve Brierley, chief executive of quantum software company Riverlane. That has led to a search for more stable qubits as well as error-correction techniques to overcome the "noise," pushing back the date when quantum computers are likely to reach their full potential by many years.
The Chinese claim, by contrast, appeared to be an endorsement of today's "noisy" systems, while also prompting a flurry of concern in the cyber security world over a potentially imminent threat to online security. By late last week, a number of researchers at the intersection of advanced mathematics and quantum mechanics had thrown cold water on the claim. Brierley at Riverlane said it "can't possibly work" because the Chinese researchers had assumed that a quantum computer would be able to simply run a vast number of computations simultaneously, rather than trying to gain an advantage through applying the system's quantum properties.
The quantum bits, or qubits, used in today's machines are highly unstable and only hold their quantum states for extremely short periods, creating "noise." As a result, "errors accumulate in the computer and after around 100 operations there are so many errors the computation fails," said Steve Brierley, chief executive of quantum software company Riverlane. That has led to a search for more stable qubits as well as error-correction techniques to overcome the "noise," pushing back the date when quantum computers are likely to reach their full potential by many years.
The Chinese claim, by contrast, appeared to be an endorsement of today's "noisy" systems, while also prompting a flurry of concern in the cyber security world over a potentially imminent threat to online security. By late last week, a number of researchers at the intersection of advanced mathematics and quantum mechanics had thrown cold water on the claim. Brierley at Riverlane said it "can't possibly work" because the Chinese researchers had assumed that a quantum computer would be able to simply run a vast number of computations simultaneously, rather than trying to gain an advantage through applying the system's quantum properties.
All just hype (Score:3)
An actual expert in the field called that paper the most misleading publication about quantum computing he ever saw.
Re:All just hype (Score:4, Funny)
" most misleading publication about quantum computing he ever saw"
That's a really, really high bar.
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Re:All just hype (Score:5, Informative)
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Yes. Misplaced the link and had no time to find it. Thanks for posting it!
Hard to judge (Score:2)
With Russia, it's easy. Nothing is confirmed until the Kremlin denies it.
With China it's much harder, because from time to time, they actually follow through on things.
I guess we wait and see.
Indeed (Score:2)
They Chinese might crack every single encrypted message the US agencies post, but at least they won't make a profit selling those machines.
We're saved.
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That's how you know there's no real "breakthrough". It would've been kept very very secret if so.
China Lies (Score:2)
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I was also highly suspect of China's covid claims for a long time. But after learning more about their "Zero Covid" policies, I believe their numbers much more.
Sure, they have driven their people insane and on the verge of mass rebellion, but they have very low covid rates.
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I was also highly suspect of China's covid claims for a long time. But after learning more about their "Zero Covid" policies, I believe their numbers much more.
I'd believe their numbers much more if there weren't reports that people couldn't cremate their loved ones who died from COVID because ... crematoriums were backlogged with bodies of COVID victims.
Sure, they have driven their people insane and on the verge of mass rebellion, but they have very low covid rates.
You clearly haven't been paying attention if you think that China has low COVID rates or if you think that "Zero COVID" is a policy.
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Sure, they have driven their people insane and on the verge of mass rebellion, but they have very low covid rates.
"Very low" is believable. The numbers they are publishing are not, given their population and the fact that outbreaks continue to occur despite their lockdown policies.
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Everybody lies, but perhaps you should look deeper to find out what they actually have to say:
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Both Liang and Wang said it's too early to decide the full impact of the recent wave of infections.
Noting that there is no agreed way to count the COVID-19 deaths in the world and that each country counts in their own way, Liang said he thinks it would only be logical to count after the pandemic is over, as the situation is changing all the time.
"A more accurate way of evaluation is excess mobility, and this woul
Why do we want to build one again? (Score:3)
Me: What problem do Quantum computers even solve?
Them: They can potentially break all of the encryption on the entire internet!
Me: Yeah.... That's not what I asked.
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Some people see encrypted content as a problem, so from their point of view that's a reasonable and logical response to that question.
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Yes, like the paywalled article.
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Going from here to there immediately? Terrifying.
Going from here to there eventually? That should be the goal... far from now.
The reason it's a problem for everyone to know everything about everyone is that we've been laden with a bunch of bullshit which is profitable for some, but detrimental to our emotional well-being. Also, inevitably you have a ruling class which escapes scrutiny.
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Breaking encryption is nothing more than exploiting a fact that existing computers are incredibly bad at certain tasks. That doesn't make those tasks irrelevant.
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Practical quantum: Randomizers (Score:2)
From what I understand about qbits is that, when they are not supercooled, they serve little function other than to spit out pure randomness. The first application that popped into my head was that a couple of room temperature qbits could readily replace all existing CSPRNGs with actual hardware to generate as many random bytes as you could ever need as early as at-boot of a normal computer system without having to resort to more exotic methods of capturing radiation sources, EM fluctuations, relying on po
Quit it! (Score:2)
I quant you to never do that again, no matter how long your headline is.