“Future quantum computers will, for example, be able to pull important information out of the biggest databases almost instantaneously,” Cookson reports. “As the amount of electronic data stored worldwide grows exponentially, the technology will make it easier for people to search with precision for what they want.”
Cookson reports, “Jeremy O’Brien, director of the UK’s Centre for Quantum Photonics, who led the project, said many people in the field had believed a functional quantum computer would not be a reality for at least 25 years. ‘However, we can say with real confidence that, using our new technique, a quantum computer could, within five years, be performing calculations that are outside the capabilities of conventional computers,’ he told the British Science Festival, as he presented the research.”
“The breakthrough, published today in the journal Science, means data can be processed according to the counterintuitive rules of quantum physics that allow individual subatomic particles to be in several places at the same time,” Cookson reports. “This property will enable quantum computers to process information in quantities and at speeds far beyond conventional supercomputers. But formidable technical barriers must be overcome before quantum computing becomes practical.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Open the pod bay doors, HAL. HAL? Uh, oh… SkyNet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14am Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug… We had such potential. Such promise. But we squandered our gifts. And so, 9, I am creating you…