[Straight Vermonter]

Ping

[Ferris]

The knowledge and mastering of this technology will result in human beings on this planet living much, much longer, happier, healthier lives...

Much longer...

[jimkress]

Good article!

[RLK]

Actually, I'm satisfied with the gigabyete speeds we have now. What we need is a tightly written DOS type operating system where everything is not interlocked and installation isn't horrible. Sixty-four bit processors would be icing on the cake.

[AUgrad]

The potential of quantum computers is for all practical purposes infinite. Computers today work off of two quantum states of the electron (positive and negative) I believe there are 32 (2 to the fifth) known quantum states of the electron. If a method could be divised to utilize these quantum states it would not increase computing capacity 32 times. It would increase it to the 32nd POWER. Example: if you weigh 100 pounds and your weight increases 32 times you would weigh 3200 pounds. If it increases by a power of 32 you would weigh 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000lbs. Imagine what computers could do if you increased their computing ability that much.

[RLK]

The problem in developing new devices is basically the wiring to connect the components.

[gjenkins]

Just to be clear ... there is miniaturization or reducing the size down to atomic sizes, and there is quantum computing which is the use of new algorithms which take advantage of superposition. Currently we:

1. Can't miniaturize that small.
2. Can't build a computer capable of running a quantum algorithm (bigger than 4 qubits)
3. Can write quantum algorithms.

[Dog Gone]

Quantum foam
Take me home....

The best novel I've read this year is Michael Crichton's Timeline. It deals with quantum computing, but you don't need to understand it to completely enjoy the book.