Faster Way to the Metaverse: Quantum Mechanics and Laziness

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/23/quantum_computing/



So, we get one of these quantum computers, place it in a big cup of really hot tea, and figure out the odds of the Metaverse not being compiled and written to a DVD compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux to appear out of thin air, and wait for it to go ding.

I'm taking investments for this project, it should only cost about L$1.2million.
I'll also accept L$100,000increment donations.

Won't be long before we have improbability drives!

We have those already. But we call the Iomegas.

Yes, the singularity is right there around the corner.
Waiting there, right next to havok 2. : )

I never could figure how optical computers could work.
The power to supply the lasers would be its limit?
The laser can only flicker as fast as the electricity that supplies the Mhz.
Unless it just gets rid of the bottle necks within the computer itself.
How would they make it any faster after that has been maxed out? A new form of energy that allows more hertz?

It kind of reminds me of the fiber optics in T3 lines or whatever is out now.
The data gets sent faster to each location. But processing it at each end still takes longer than actually sending the data.


Just curious cause thats intersting and I know very little about it.

Does that mean the next generation on PC will be able to show local lightings with good FPS?

No. I said we'd get THE METAVERSE.
No power un the universe can get good FPS with Local Lighting.
Well, it's possible, but attaining it would damn you for eternity.

lol!

Well, actually the source of a lazar starts out continuous wave and then is set to fluctuate or "modulate" based on another controlling apparatus. The base source for modulation is usually some kind of crystal that vibrates when excited by electrical energy. The speed at which the crystal fluctuates is governed by the physical properties of the crystal, not any of the fluctuating properties of the electricity which is converted to DC long before that point anyway.

The speed advantages come in the form of the fact that a signal does not propogate itself through electron wave motion down a wire at the speed of light. If I remember correctly, an electrical wave propogates at about 70% the speed of light, and is of course subject to further variances based on the medium (aka the wire it's travelling down).

This applies more to latency than modulation in the realm of computer design I would imagine, because the amount of time for a signal to latch from the CPU to the memory chip, for example, is a freaking millenia in computer terms...So light could potentially help with this.

And, even though I don't think we're any where close to modulating signals with peak to peak wavelengths in the Terrahertz range, using light would eventually help there as well.

However, additional modern-day advantages are:

1. Crosstalk. A lot of engineering goes into making motherboards where the signals don't interfere with each other. Every path that electricity flows on a motherboard is surrounded by an inductive field which, if not shielded or distanced well enough from other wires, causes interference. Light helps with this one also.

2. Heat. Forcing electrons to hop from valence to valence causes friction. Again, light would help with this.


These are the things that come to mind... anyone else in the field feel free to comment.

Thanks,

John Duke.

Theoretically, a quantum computer would output the metaverse almost instantaneously.

Unfortunately, it would also output every other *verse at the exact same time, including There, ActiveWorls and MicrosoftVerse. *shudders*

Where you gonna find someone to sift through all those *verses and identify the correct one?


That's the problem currently with quantum computers - how to identify the right answer from all the near-infinite number of wrong answers.


- Newfie

John Duke, welcome to SL and the forums! what a wild first post! do yourself a favor.. copy and save that.. it'll come in handy about a year from now.

i've been dreaming of efficient quantum computers since sometime last year.. or the year before. or both, quantumly speaking.

i know we're a little while away from it becoming commonplace, but soon.. we're going to need to make some sort of techniological jump to adhere to.. darn, what's the name of that law of exponential computing? to adhere to that.

while decent FPS + local lighting (may) = NEVER, i'm sure our collective SL experiences would be enhanced quite noticeably. not to mention if sim servers were eventually transferred over to quantum servers.

and what about internet connections of that next generation? i know they're also working on teleportation and are making some small strides in that area.. i mentioned this somewhere in the forums awhile back.. what would the combined power of these mean not only globally, but in regards to SL? could we actually smoothly stride through the WA?!?

very exciting news. or not.. or both.

Moore's Law, I believe, is the observation about the density of transistors on ICs doubling every year.

I.B.M. has just announced an improvement in optical lithography techniques that might keep Moore's "law" from going bad without a very expensive reworking of some of the equipment and techniques used to make the integerated chips with thinner circuit pathways.

Check to see which answers are not found in Wikipedia. Those will be the right ones.

Quantum computers would only be good at some things, for example factorizing large numbers and simulating quantum physics. Factorization would be useful for cracking encryption, not sure what else that could be useful for. With quantum computers it should be possible to simulate quantum mechanical systems that are much more complex than is currently feasible to simulate. It will be great for science, and perhaps some quantum search algorithm would be useful for servers. I'm sure lots of other quantum algorithms will eventually be invented too. I have my doubts about it ever being useful as a home computer, though.

Checking your email with a quantum processor would be overkill, IMHO.

Let's also remember the programmatical challenges of introducing a new logic out-come that in terms of mathematical logics -- is not easily comprehensible. The results of a qubit are yes, no, both, and possibly -- variances in either direction.

let's also not forget, entanglements, telecloning, and the fact that one can still glean answers from a quantum operation even when the processor is technically "off."

Oh yeah... and at this point in time, there is no conceivable way we could construct a quantum processor that fits in the size of a small chip within an ATX or smaller form-factor.

Wouldn't it instead fall down through decoherence into the one true solution that matches your input constraints ? If there are multiple answers it'd just pick one at random (TRUE random, even ! )

I thought the point of "optical" computers was that light travels at c, while electrical impulses in copper travel at 2/3 of c? Dunno wtf they have to do with quantum anything, though. They would probably heat up less than copper too. So more efficiency and less power consumption.
But hey, don't take my word for it, I'm just a coder. The wiki is your friend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computing

I think the original quote with the Tea reference is a Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy reference if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks