Cry not for me, my willow tree

Don’t shed your tears eternally.

The masses may not understand quantum computing, but they understand “septillion” and “multiverse.” Sadly, those are the words dominating The Quantum Dragon’s social media feeds. Fortunately, he found some willow bark to chew on for its salicylic acid content, and after relaxing for a spell, he found some non-Google content too.

TWO MORE SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED FOR IQT NORDICS – MAY 20-22, 2025

Are Magnus Bruaset of Simula Research and Harry Buhrman of Quantinuum have agreed to speak at the forthcoming IQT Nordics taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden May 20-22, 2025. IQT Nordics rotates annually amongst Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Additional information can be found at www.iqtevent.com.

THE QUANTUM DRAGON IS ALL KNOWING – IS THE Q2B EVENT SERIES FOR SALE?

One of our esteemed sources tells The Quantum Dragon that the event series known as Q2B is for sale or might be discontinued. QC Ware has been producing the Silicon Valley event since 2017 and has added annual events based in Tokyo and Paris. QC Ware has decided to concentrate on its software business. The dragon wonders if the word “concentrate” signifies that the Q2B events are money losers?

Zapata AI Job Seekers

If you were laid off by Zapata AI and would like a free listing in this newsletter, please reach out and let me know. I’ll maintain a list in The Quantum Dragon until everyone on the list has been gainfully employed elsewhere or is otherwise no longer actively job seeking. I might extend this offer to all job seekers, but I’ll start with these layoffs.

• Shawn Gibford Industrial PHDc: Quantum Applications in the Life Sciences
• Dr. Francesco Benfenati Quantum Solutions Engineer
• Dr. Yanbing Zhou, Quantum Application Scientist

@preskill followed you back!

I joked two editions ago that The Quantum Dragon was all grown up, then in last week’s edition we got a sneak peek at what I called “Prof. John Preskill’s Radar.” It’s an honor that the dragon has grown enough to appear as the teeniest, tiniest blip on that radar. According to X, @preskill was the 11th account I followed circa mid-2020.

China’s Quantum Computers

Here are screenshots and links to all of China’s publicly accessible quantum computers. The key takeaway is that I have free access to everything you see here, and none of it is worth using. You can play a fun game with them, though: try to find all of the unavailable qubits and connections; there are lots of them.

“…if it happens in just a few years a likely modality is Rydberg atoms in optical tweezers….”

Beyond NISQ: The Megaquop Machine

Last week, we snuck a peek at “Prof. John Preskill’s Radar,” and we now have the raw data. Many Bothans died to bring us this information. The names outside the square brackets were spoken, while the names within the square brackets were unspoken but appeared on the slides. Shall we discuss all the “leaders” who are missing?

• Hardware: Google (transmon), AWS (cat) [ENS, Alice & Bob], QCI/Yale (dual rail) [AWS], Yale (GKP) [Nord Quantique, ETH], MIT (fluxonium) [Atlantic Quantum]
• Decoding: Google, Riverlane/Rigetti, Harvard/QuEra
• Error correction: Harvard/MIT/QuEra, Atom/Microsoft, Quantinuum/Microsoft
• Codes: IBM
• Error mitigation: Qedma
• Cost reduction: Google
• Circuit optimizations: Phasecraft

Quantum Audio

This is Moth’s open-source Python package for representing digital audio as Qiskit circuits. You can use it to create, process, and analyze audio signals using quantum computers and quantum computer emulators. This is outside my wheelhouse, but the demo runs without generating errors.

Google’s Willow is toast.

Given the controversies that Google has brought upon itself, Jaime Gómez García shared a side-by-side smack down of the new Willow chip by… of all things… a toaster! It’s tongue-in-cheek, of course, but it’s an imaginative way of mocking the “septillion” claim. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

Risitas Responds to Quantum Computing

Thanks to Sergio Gago and this edition of Quantum Pirates for introducing me to this Risitas meme. I had shown it to my kids before, and they wanted to watch it again, so I searched YouTube for “risitas quantum.” The first result was this variation of the meme, in which IBM Quantum and Dr. Jay Gambetta bear the brunt.

State of the Qunion

Rohan Kumar has a new Substack, and I like the title. This first article is about Google’s Willow, and it’s intended to be digestible by his family and friends. He links to Prof. Scott Aaronson’s and Prof. John Preskill’s takes, and those are really the two citations you’re looking for.

What should we call error-detecting qubits?

Dr. Bob Sutor is conducting a poll: “What should we call these kinds of qubits that detect errors but do not correct them?” When you see the choices, you’ll see why I had no choice but to include it here. I admit to performing a lexical analysis before voting. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

No – RSA isn’t broken by every piece of quantum news.

Quantum Qrackpots and LinkedIn Lunatics

To Duncan Jones’ point, I’ve seen some of this on LinkedIn. But if he thinks LinkedIn is bad, he should open up a Twitter account. I can guarantee you this, though: the next time I play Dungeons & Dragons, I’m going to apologize to the Dungeon Master in advance and give my character a “Hat of Reluctant Understanding.”

Another Willow Tree

For the record, this week’s willow tree theme was already in place before I received Sergio Gago’s “Quantum Pirates” newsletter on Monday. I already had the AI-generated image, as well as a music video and its lyrics, so I’d rather acknowledge the overlap than change everything for the sake of originality.

Willow-Inspired

Anyone reading this newsletter ought to be familiar with the term “quantum-inspired,” but welcome to the term “Willow-inspired.” It combines legitimate post-quantum cryptography (PQC) concerns with the mass hysteria from Google’s “septillion” claim. This link might require a Twitter account.

These three little words are a big turn-on

At the moment, this is not NSFW. In addition to the original retweet, at the time I’m writing this, there’s also a contribution in the comments worth reading. If you click on the original tweet, however, the comments are no longer quantum and no longer not NSFW. This link might require a Twitter account.

Are diamonds forever?

QuTech and Fujitsu are proposing fault-tolerant, distributed quantum computing using spin qubits in diamond. I’m including this for the YouTube video. Plus, I’m a fan of QuTech. I’ve been performing impromptu demonstrations of quantum computing with Starmon-5 for several years now.

Quantum World Records

Brian Lenahan’s idea is worth expanding upon. One company is a self-proclaimed leader in this, while another company is a self-proclaimed leader in that. Especially if we’re talking about numbers, is either company correct? Who’s claiming to be leaders and who’s actually leading?

Nevertheless, limitations of quantum annealing, including hardware constraints and problem-specific challenges, suggest that continued advancements in quantum technology will be necessary to improve its applicability to RALB manufacturing optimization.

Note the last sentence.

This sentence happens to be my favorite sentence in Tuesday’s edition of “Dr. Bob Sutor – Quantum and AI.” I’ll type it until my fingers bleed: you can always beat D-Wave’s quantum annealers. Year after year, project after project, the one thing they never fail at is delivering disappointment.

Sweet Scientific Advantage

Atom Computing and Microsoft entangled the “largest number” of logical qubits, but I’ve seen a larger number. You’ve probably seen it, too. So, what distinguishes this announcement from the other one we’re both thinking of? This article breaks it down into digestible chunks.

We’ll let you know when it can stream porn.

Thanks to Laurent Prost for sharing this gem. Somehow, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has the best coverage of Google Willow.

Refuting Quantum Supremacy

Prof. Tom Wong is maintaining a spreadsheet of “quantum supremacy” claims — by whom and when — as well as their rebuttals — by whom and when. He’s currently tracking 8 claims, 4 of which have been refuted. Some have been refuted multiple times. This link might require a Twitter account.

Here we go again.

China is already claiming that Zuchongzhi is equaling or surpassing Willow, and I expect to see this flood my newsfeeds. I added something to my “China’s Quantum Computers” article, but it’s telling that NOT ONE organization listed on the preprint — including USTC — is even mentioning Zuchongzhi as I’m writing this.

Overall, it is difficult to know whether the results are entirely genuine, though a lot of detail is provided and the linked research references in the paper seem genuine.

Qommodore 64 outperforms IBM Quantum?

What’s real in this story? Is anything real in this story? All I know is that it’s a fun read that brings up a little nostalgia. I used to know someone who was trying to network Commodore 64s together, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone in quantum actually tried to do something with one.

Santa Claus Problem

OQC got so close with this one by invoking Santa Claus with the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP). Unfortunately, it’s little more than a mention and a simple graphic that doesn’t really represent the problem. If the TSP were better illustrated, this could be awesome. This link might require a Twitter account.

Quantum Stock Prices

I’m not singling out Quantum Computing Inc., as this tweet does. Rather, I’m applauding the notion that using quantum random number generators (QRNG) to valuate quantum stocks is better than Twitter’s usual approach: “the line went up… buy now!” This link might require a Twitter account.

850!

According to Research.com, Albert Einstein is only the 850th “best physics scientist” in the world based on his D-index. He’s best known for 3 things, including law. One of his 5 focuses is “Einstein.” He’s also being referred to in the present tense, which is fascinating since his brain was removed from his body.

Holiday Greetings from IQM!

I just received this email from IQM, and this is how you do it. The lead story? One more quantum computer sold. Often times, I see companies lead with “we attended conferences” and so forth, but if it wouldn’t impress you on my resume, it’s not going to impress me on yours. Always lead with the commerce you engaged in.

Another Santa Reference

And another IQM reference, for that matter. The moral of the story, between OQC and IQM, is that you should have a Q in the middle of your acronym. No, wait, that’s not it. The moral of the story is that Santa’s challenge is a good pop culture introduction to TSP. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

Computational Systems Built In 1997 For The Next Millennium

Quantum Shorts

Summer is coming! No, no, no, not those kinds of shorts. Quantumlah is referring to two volumes of short fictional stories that are “inspired by quantum physics.” I took a quick scan, and the writing style I saw definitely belongs in this newsletter. I see a free download and availability on mobile devices.

“Beware of giving analogies when speaking about quantum computing. They will eventually go wrong, especially when comparing concepts to classical phenomena.”

Beware of Analogies

Like Dr. Bob Sutor, I’ve heard this for years. In my case, the criticism is that you need to deep dive the mathematics, and then when you hit the bottom you need to dig a hole and dive down even deeper. I personally counterargue that if you understand the mathematics, you can explain it. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

How do you pronounce “Qiskit”?

Dr. Bob Sutor’s article “Quantum in Context: Infleqtion and NVIDIA Put CUDA-Q to Practical Use” isn’t about Qiskit, but there is a pronunciation guide: “Qiskit (‘kiss kit’)”. Fun fact: Qiskit didn’t have an official pronunciation until I pseudonymously asked about it. “How Do You Pronounce ‘Qiskit?’” might require a Medium account.

What I’m trying to say is let’s raise our glasses of rum and eggnog to the quantum physicists of yore and to those at the cutting edge.

Don’t thank Santa — thank a quantum engineer

As this is the last edition before Christmas, I need to squeeze in Prof. Chris Ferrie’s explanation of quantum physics in the context of Christmas lighting. There’s actually a history lesson in here, as well — bonus knowledge for the whole family to enjoy. This link might require a Medium account.

Quantum Noise Detector

Alan Ho and Prof. Michael Biercuk inspired the Resuscitated Quantum Bullshit Detector, but the original(?) has resurfaced on Bluesky. It’s back to reposting a simple “bullshit” or “not bullshit,” so The Quantum Dragon will continue to monitor for challenges, controversies, and debates under this new name from Dr. Bob Sutor.

• Google’s Willow blah, blah, blah a septillion years? Laurent Prost reminds us that that’s without error correction.
• Google’s Willow does computation in parallel universes? Utter nonsense. Shockingly absurd. A howler of a statement that is true under absolutely no circumstances.

Categories: Particular Newsletter