From: Eliezer Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Jan 28 1997 - 22:57:34 MST
>From that Discover article:
> Wineland and Monroe's research, as esoteric as it seems,
> may one day find a practical application. The two
> physicists are interested--as are many researchers--in the
> feasibility of something called a quantum computer. Atoms
> in such a computer would replace transistors and other
> electronic components, greatly shrinking the size and
> increasing the power of computers. In a quantum computer,
> one atom could simultaneously represent a zero and a one in
> the binary language of computers. In conventional
> computers, each number of binary code must be stored
> separately.
BLEAH! BLEAH! BLEAH!
That's the most relentlessly inaccurate, not to say just plain
nonsensical, rendition of quantum computing I have ever seen. "Atoms
take the place of transistors". No, you dopes, that's nanotechnology.
And that last quote is priceless. "In conventional computers, each
number of binary code must be stored separately." Yep, looks like
quantum computing will DOUBLE OUR STORAGE CAPACITY by letting us store A
ONE _AND_ A ZERO IN THE SAME BIT OF MEMORY, coincidentally REMOVING ANY
INFORMATION-CARRYING CAPACITY! Who writes these articles? Trained
chimpanzees?
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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