Quantum’s Best Actress in a Leading Role

Quantum's Only Actress, For That Matter

By Brian Siegelwax posted 06 Oct 2025

MIT Quantum Security Theorist and Pioneer of qRAM and Quantum Algorithms, Dr. Michele Reilly, was recently added as a speaker at Q+AI, which is rapidly approaching on October 19-21, 2025. I’ve been in this industry quite a few years now, and Dr. Reilly has the distinction of being one of only two movie stars in the field that I’m aware of.

This week’s premium content:

In this edition:

Alice & Bob’s 1-Hour Bit-Flip Lifetimes
IonQ Achieves Greatest Triumph To Date
Pre-IPO Quantum Computing Startup
Why You Should Care About (Quantum) Clocks
QuEra’s Commercial Aviation Analogy
QuEra’s Conveyor Belt Analogy
Knights of the Quantum Machines Table
PsiQuantum uses FedEx
ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED FOR QUANTUM + AI AND QUANTUM + CRYPTO 2025
EARLY ~~BIRD~~ DRAGON DISCOUNT FOR QUANTUM + AI ENDS 9 OCTOBER
Qubic’s Double Dragon
Prof. Scott Aaronson is smart.
Understanding Quantum Technologies 2025
Quantum Pirates delivered a few broadsides.
I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords.
Classiq’s Weight Loss Program
I don’t need a Nobel Prize?
Photonic Quantum Computers, the Logical Choice.
Zapata AI Job Seekers… only 1 left on this list!
Quantum Noise Detector

Alice & Bob’s 1-Hour Bit-Flip Lifetimes

Dr. Sébastien Jezouin wrote an article about Alice & Bob’s recent experimental results, which I’m sure every other newsletter is focusing on, but I want to focus on the illustrations. I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again: whoever designs these things deserves a pay raise. The qubits even have a bit of a 3D look.

IonQ Achieves Greatest Triumph To Date

IonQ announced that it achieved a new world record in a metric that no one else uses and that absolutely no one else cares about. Nevertheless, The Quantum Dragon loves to party like it’s 1999, so he decided to celebrate this senseless milestone as if it actually matters. That was last week, by the way, and I’m still hungover….

Pre-IPO Quantum Computing Startup

This is no joke. I know multiple people who could conceivably start a quantum company with a setup like this. This link might require a Twitter account.

Why You Should Care About (Quantum) Clocks

You can read Russ Fein’s article and learn about atomic clocks, or you can read it and learn about the history of timekeeping. Even better, in what I am now coining “quantum literary advantage,” you can read it just one time and get both!

QuEra’s Commercial Aviation Analogy

Chief Commercial Officer Yuval Boger doesn’t just offer us a novel analogy, it’s illustrated, too! This link might require a LinkedIn account.

QuEra’s Conveyor Belt Analogy

I guess I could’ve combined this analogy with the last one and introduced them together as QuEra’s novel analogies, but Substack doesn’t charge per line. It actually doesn’t charge at all. Besides, if you haven’t already seen it, this atom reloading news is interesting in its own right. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

Knights of the Quantum Machines Table

At first glance, this is just an awesome illustration. If you look closely, though, there’s a link to an announcement about the Jülich Supercomputing Centre getting ready to deploy hardware from NVIDIA, Quantum Machines, and Arque Systems. This will be spin qubits for a change. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

PsiQuantum uses FedEx

This is probably not meant to be the key takeaway from this video from inside a PsiQuantum facility, but for some reason this one throwaway line stood out for me. “A lot of people told us we were insane” is another good one. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED FOR QUANTUM + AI AND QUANTUM + CRYPTO 2025

More faculty has been announced for the upcoming Q+AI and Q+Crypto taking place October 19-21, 2025 in New York City. Over 80 speakers are participating including: Ethan Krimins (Quantum Research Science); Richard Versluis (TNO); Brian Wong (ASCII Ventures); Shinjae Yoo (Brookhaven National Laboratory); Bob Coecke (Quantinuum) and Anthony Lawrence (Light Rider). Complete information about the event including registration and networking opportunities can be found at www.iqtevent.com.

EARLY BIRD DRAGON DISCOUNT FOR QUANTUM + AI ENDS 9 OCTOBER

Significant savings are available for those registering by 9 October. Quantum + AI offers two tracks with over 80 speakers October 19-21 in New York City. There are several networking opportunities with over 300 attendees including a memorable evening dinner cruise on New York Harbor the evening of 19 October. One can register at www.iqtevent.com.

Qubic’s Double Dragon

Sometimes the word “double” makes The Quantum Dragon happy, such as the notion that Qubic’s amplifiers could double your qubit count. Other times the word “double” is best left to the title of a classic video game.

Prof. Scott Aaronson is smart.

You probably knew that already, but this list ranks him 15th on a list of “30 Smartest People Alive Today.” It’s a bit dated because Prof. Stephen Hawking is on it, but the point is that he’s smart. I somehow find it interesting that World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen is ahead of him in 9th place.

Understanding Quantum Technologies 2025

Quantum Fiery Voice Olivier Ezratty has updated his encyclopedia, which now weighs in at a hefty 1,512 pages. The word “bullshit” now appears only twice, down from seven in the 2024 edition, and those are only there because they’re in quotes. If you’d like to cut down on your profanity as well, check out my Bullshit Thesaurus.

Quantum Pirates delivered a few broadsides.

Sergio Gago fired a few barrels in his most recent newsletter. Let the record show that many of his targets are either blacklisted by The Quantum Dragon or otherwise tend not to appear due to their credibility issues. In other words, it’s not even worth breathing fire on these companies; they don’t deserve the attention.

I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords.

Prof. Scott Aaronson used GPT5-Thinking for a paper’s “key technical step in the proof of the main result,” reducing the timeframe from “a week or two” to “within a half hour,” iterating in a manner that he described as “interacting with a grad student or colleague.”

Classiq’s Weight Loss Program

Classiq has always had a way to collapse circuit diagrams lengthwise to make them easier to view, and a new feature allows you to collapse them widthwise as well. Now you can take circuits that are way too wide for your screen, and slim them down so that they fit. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

I don’t need a Nobel Prize?

Dr. Frank C. Zickert wrote that I don’t need to be a Physics Nobel Laureate to learn quantum computing, which is awesome since I’m not one. Notwithstanding my failed attempt at self-deprecating humor, I’m once again including Dr. Zickert’s post for the illustrations. This link might require a LinkedIn account.

Photonic Quantum Computers, the Marketing Choice.

This article by Mark McGuire is more of a marketing piece for QuicklyQuantum than it is an opinion piece, but I’m including it for the featured image. What the hell am I looking at? I feel like there must be some pop culture reference that I’m missing, but it really doesn’t matter. I’m stumped, so #wellplayed, sir.

Zapata AI Job Seekers… only 1 left on this list!

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

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.