The Logophile Quantum Dragon
You get a glossary! You get a glossary! Everybody gets a glossary!
It all started with just one link to one glossary. Then there was another glossary. And then there was another. The Quantum Dragon started feeling like Oprah, giving out glossaries to everyone in his audience. Okay, okay, it’s not the same as giving away cars, but at least you don’t have to pay taxes on these.
Quantum Machines is a Diamond Day Sponsor at Iqt Nordics May 20-22, 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden
IQT Nordics is approaching and we are pleased to announce that Quantum Machines has signed up as the first diamond day sponsor at the 3rd annual IQT Nordics. IQT Nordics takes place annually in a rotation amongst Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Complete program information is available at www.iqtevent.com. Those interested in obtaining sponsorship information should email info@3drholdings.com.
Speakers Announced for Iqt Nordics May 20-22, 2024 (Gothenburg, Sweden)
MORTON BACHE (Novo Nordisk Foundation) and ARIEL BRAUNSTEIN (IonQ) are speaking at IQT Nordics, May 20-22, 2024 at Chalmers Conference Center, Gothenburg, Sweden. Additional speakers to be announced next week. Complete speaker information is available at www.iqtevent.com
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
What the heck does that mean?
If you’re a layperson looking for a quantum glossary, Russ Fein has the glossary for you. He’s an investor, so he wrote his definitions in plain English. But he’s an investor, so he had to learn this stuff so he can invest wisely. I see no scary mathematics, and I see that the terms are categorized for you.
You’ve got notifications.
QuEra has the first website I’ve ever seen that makes it look like I’ve got notifications I need to check. There’s a red dot on News & Insights, which leads to red dots on News & Events and Blog. I must confess that I clicked, assuming there must be something new since my last visit to the site. Coincidentally, there was.
Qubot State of Arousal
This thread is nonsense, but a Bloch sphere showing that quantum robots, or qubots, will have an |arousal⟩ state — in place of the usual |i⟩ — is too funny not to share. That said, non-algorithmic decision-making through quantum generative algorithms would better mimic human decision-making. This link might require a Bluesky account.
Glass Chips
According to The Wall Street Journal, NATO is investing in Ephos, which is using glass chips instead of silicon for its photonic quantum computers. The cited benefits include reduced power consumption and information loss. I share these as I find them, but this one is going to turn into follow up questions.
You thought THAT was a glossary…
Jack Krupansky saw Russ Fein’s glossary and reminded us that he has one, too. Just skimming through it, it’s hard to imagine that anything might be missing: there are 522 entries just starting with the letter Q! It’s an 11-minute read even before you get to the hyperlinks. This link might require a Medium account.
Scrolling? That was so 2023…
What is this, glossary week? Sandeepa Dilshan Alagiyawanna shared his Quantum Concept Clarifier Expert System, aka Quantum Concept Clarifier, aka Quantum Physics Expert System. Type in your search term, then select beginner, intermediate, or advanced level. There’s not much in it yet, but it works as advertised.
The Hot Garbage Chip
You’ve probably seen the headlines by now. China announced the “Tianyan-504” superconducting quantum computer with a 504-qubit “Xiaohong” chip. The image above is Xiaohong 1, and it sucks. Even if there is a next-generation Xiaohong chip out there, there’s no reason to suspect it’s qualitatively any better.
Alice & Bob Whitepaper Preview
If you’ve read that Alice & Bob’s whitepaper has 47 pages and you’re thinking that you need to set aside time to read it, there’s a 20-second video clip that quickly flips through the pages. The document is heavily illustrated, so it reads more like a 47-page magazine than a 47-page newspaper. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
My Favorite Alcoholic Beverage
PsiQuantum’s Australia deal is “on the rocks,” and deservingly so. For a billion Australian bucks, you can’t find what the deliverables are. Dr. Pete Shadbolt is quoted listing more of what Australians won’t be able to do with it than what they will. This link might require a Bluesky account. This link does not.
Damn, this is really going to work.
It doesn’t say, but I’m guessing this IEEE Spectrum tweet is about Google. It’s good to know that quantum error correction can expo
nentially lower error rates, as advertised, but someone has a pottymouth, and that’s how you get into The Quantum Dragon. This link might require a Twitter account.
Fire-Breathing Dragon
You might think this is a post about “Quantum Deep Equilibrium Models,” but all I see is the dragon in the background. If you scroll through the thread, you can find links to the paper and the GitHub repository, but if you don’t scroll at all, you can enjoy the dragon a little longer. This link might require a Twitter account.
Another one bites the dust.
This still isn’t funny, but it’s reality, and we need to slap ourselves in our collective face. Businesses fail. It’s not an indictment of an entire industry, nor necessarily of the specific technology. The post-mortem, in Nordic Quantum Computing Group’s (NQCG) case, places the blame rather squarely on Norway’s government policies.
There’s some marketing fodder around a septillion years, but frankly, I don’t care how long it takes to benchmark some useless problem.
Google’s Willow
The December 10 commentary of “Dr. Bob Sutor – Quantum and AI” is the executive summary you’re looking for. [Insert Jedi mind trick here.] I appreciate the call-to-action as well, because it’s important to know how things work — or don’t work — outside strictly controlled laboratory conditions.
Throttled Bullshit
The Quantum Bullshit Detector seems to be at Q2B, or at least paying very close attention to it. For the first time I’ve ever seen, it has requested our patience as it processes all the pronouncements being made at the conference. This link might require a Bluesky account.
Read this book.
This just came up in conversation. If I go to Google Play Store, I’ll download an app and it’ll probably work on the first try. If I go to Microsoft Store, I’ll download an app and it’ll probably work on the first try. But if I download something quantum, it’ll probably need troubleshooting. Please read Sergio Gago Huerta’s “The CTO Toolbox.”
1 Alice & Bob’s Niccolò Coppola
Join Niccolò Coppola and me on The Quantum Dragon Podcast as we talk about Alice & Bob’s whitepaper. We talk about the visuals, we talk about the audio, and we even talk a little bit about the content. I have provided supporting links and multimedia, including the narration by Christopher Bishop, from whom I should be taking notes.
Encyclopedia Ezratty
Technically, it’s called “Understanding Quantum Technologies 2024,” but I was looking up something a short time ago and it made me nostalgic for the hardcover encyclopedias of yesteryear. My personal favorite was the 24-volume “Illustrated World War II Encyclopedia” with its neutral Swiss perspective.
Prof. Scott Aaronson has spoken. Written. Whatever.
Here’s a deeper dive into Google’s Willow. My key takeaway is that Prof. Aaronson name dropped only two companies: Quantinuum and QuEra, which happens to coincide with the last names I heard Prof. John Preskill drop. If you make quantum computers, this is the short list you want to be on.
Dragon Opal
Here’s an end-of-year reminder that Q-CTRL’s Fire Opal put the smack down on D-Wave circa June 2024. This is one paper I’ve never had to read because I’ve extensively used both. Fire Opal has even made QPE work at small scales, while D-Wave is consistently the worst performing solver. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
Threatening Bitcoin
I wouldn’t normally include cryptocurrency in here at all, but Prof. Scott Aaronson is doing the explaining. Exception granted. This link might require a Bluesky account.
Prof. John Preskill’s Radar
It’s always interesting to sneak a peek at Prof. Preskill’s radar. What’s also interesting is all the self-proclaimed “leaders” who are NOT on his radar. There are some mighty big names that have raised some mighty big bucks, some of whom are publicly traded, and are NOT getting votes of confidence on these slides.
The last and most absurd claim from Google was….
Free Opinion
By all accounts, Google achieved things. But I’m starting to think Willow should’ve been under the Quantum Noise Detector this week. Here’s a very detailed breakdown by Olivier Ezratty, including a few reality checks. Literally. It’s a shame, really, that Google voluntarily took the Willow chip and threw it into a pool of controversy.
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.
- Typst.app is the new LaTeX? There’s some disagreement on Bluesky.
- China introduced a 504-qubit chip? Read what Redditors have to say.
- A Nobel Prize in Plagiarism? Here’s a LinkedIn thread.
- What did Infleqtion and NVIDIA do? Quantum Bluesky seems confused.
