Comments on: First quantum computer just sold to Lockheed Martin but binary computers fight back

By: Raymond

Raymond — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:13:53 +0000

I keep waiting for Paul Wilson to come in dressed as a delivery guy at Lockhead, drop of a huge crate filled with peanuts and a letter saying: You’ve been Hustled Monkeys!

By: alan

alan — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:04:17 +0000

First quantum computer just sold to Lockheed Martin but binary computers fight back.
Shouldn’t be much of a fight though. Since “quantum”, by definition, means very small. Also, it has to repeat a lot of its output. Due to the fact that it’s on D-wave.

By simply running his software on your PC (when it’s idle), you’ll be part of the world’s fastest computer, helping research cures for cancer or new technologies.
Could you ask for more?
Does it come with free antivirus?

By: Mark McAndrew

Mark McAndrew — Sun, 29 May 2011 17:04:57 +0000

Hey guys,

Very honoured to be mentioned, thank you.

To answer the green question: Charity Engine is aiming for maximum efficiency, not maximum power. If you’re not using your PC, we say turn it off.

However, if you ARE using your PC, chances are your CPU is almost completely idle. (To see for yourself, hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE, click “Start Task Manager”, then “Processes”. System Idle will be showing 95%-99%).

Charity Engine lets the idle CPU cruise at 60%, which is the sweet spot for efficiency as it only uses ~7% more power than idling. We will also be harnessing ultra-efficient smartphone CPUs when they’re idle and charging, and sending work to the coldest parts of the grid first. A warmer PC is no problem in Winter.

Result: huge amounts of extra computing for very little extra energy.

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Sun, 29 May 2011 15:17:01 +0000

This is fantastic, I’m in.

Turning greed on its head. Fantastic. Imperative that these guys are genuine,

Bringing scientific research and people together, maybe. No fear of technology, reasonable fear of very powerful systems, religious, national, political, military, medical, but mainly economical. But this work appears altruistic in nature, and it looks billions of times healthier than other corporate policies. Fingers crossed for more of the same.

Would love to know if their is some truly out there inspirational thinking behind donating equal money to charities and general public other than raising publicity.

Fingers crossed against sky net ;D.

By: Alienanthropologist

Alienanthropologist — Sun, 29 May 2011 11:23:30 +0000

So sad that the first time this technology is put to actual use, it is for making more effective killing machines. Just sad.

By: Marc

Marc — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:20:03 +0000

Maybe the computers may speed up “evolutionary computing” to design stealth fighters with the best aerodynamic properties. Who wants flying bricks?

By: spiderabc1

spiderabc1 — Sat, 28 May 2011 21:52:01 +0000

Anyone know if the first song a computer sang was Daisy Bell?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:00:08 +0000

The comment “speed isn’t actually the point of a quantum computer” isn’t right as far as I understand. Anything that can be done on a quantum computer can be done on a classical computer, but it will (depending on the problem at hand) take longer. If you want to factor a large number, a quantum computer can look for possible factors in parallel. A classical computer with the same number of bits can also do it, but it will take longer.

- The quantum processors are actually comparable to binary machines in terms of their “speed” (e.g 3Ghz processor) which is why this measurement isn’t relevant. A quantum computer works in a way that can be a million or even billions of times faster as a result. In some tasks like rendering graphics a quantum computer will be no faster than a binary machine. – Phillis

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 28 May 2011 13:56:22 +0000

I’d recommend taking a look here to see what an expert in the field has to say about these claims: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=639

By: Jerome Leclanche

Jerome Leclanche — Sat, 28 May 2011 10:56:20 +0000

The Charity Engine is no new concept. There are hundreds of various programs like it, the oldest ones dating back to 1997 (distributed.net) and 1999 (SETI@Home).

- Do they give all their earnings to charity? – Phillis

Also, a byte is a total of 8 bits and can be any value from 0 to 255. A bit, however, is either 0 or 1. Not to be petty but this is pretty basic.