D-Wave sold one of their quantum computers to Lockheed. There are still some naysayers who say it isn't really a quantum computer. I don't know enough to have an opinion one way or the other. I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts that underlie its' operation. I've read some some explanations of quantum mechanics, but none of them really seem to explain anything. They just tell you stuff, but it doesn't really make any sense. I had a thought at dinner tonight: maybe there isn't anything to explain. I'm looking at it like a safe, but it's really more like a hammer. I've never seen a safe before and I don't understand how it works. The safe master explains that first you turn this dial to the left to number 27, and then you turn it right to number 42, and then you spin it back to the left three times and stop on 16, turn the handle and it opens. But I want to know how it works. Why does turning the dials make it open? But what if it's not like a safe, what if quantum mechanics is more like a bicycle? How do you steer a bicycle? You turn the handlebars and the handlebars turn the front wheel and the direction the wheel is pointing determines which way you go. But I want to know how the handlebars turn the wheel, and I can't understand it because there isn't any explanation. They are one piece, you turn one end and the other end also turns. There is nothing to explain. It's just the way it is. I don't know if that is the situation with all this quantum nonsense, but the thought just occured to me, and since it was such a clever thought, I thought I would share it with you. Aren't you glad?
" There are still some naysayers who say it isn't really a quantum computer."
ReplyDeleteNo, we say it both works and doesn't work at the same time, until you try to look at the result ;-)
OMG: who let the cat out of the bag///box?