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Trump Signs Legislation To Boost Quantum Computing Research With $1.2 billion (geekwire.com)

President Donald Trump last week signed legislation ramping up quantum computing research and development. From a report: The National Quantum Initiative Act (H.R. 6227) authorizes $1.2 billion over five years for federal activities aimed at boosting investment in quantum information science, or QIS, and supporting a quantum-smart workforce. The law also establishes a National Quantum Coordination Office, calls for the development of a five-year strategic plan and establishes an advisory committee to advise the White House on issues relating to quantum computing. "This next great technological revolution has far-reaching implications for job creation, economic growth and national security," Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the president for technology policy, said in a White House statement. "We look forward to building upon efforts to support the quantum-smart workforce of the future and engage with government, academic and private-sector leaders to advance QIS."

[...] Earlier this month, a report from the National Academies of Science said there is an urgent need to develop "post-quantum" encryption protocols in order to protect commerce and national security. QIS research could also produce new types of quantum processors, sensors, navigation tools and security systems. The challenges could bring about "new approaches to understanding materials, chemistry and even gravity through quantum information theory," according to a White House strategy paper issued in September.

40 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Selling the idea by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    They probably told him the research buildings will be built near the border and double as The Wall.

  2. What a by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Americans deserve the best quantums ever! We will out quantum Jiiina, believe me! Schrodinger didn't send us his best cats. No more cats from shit-hole dumpsters; we will hire THE best cats, and I know cats better than the Generals. I grab really terrific quantum bits; even those Q-bits, and all letters of the alphabet even. Know 'em well. T-bits are my favorite, of course [applause]. #MakeAmericanCatsHalfDeadAgain!"

    1. Re:What a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Let me just say, I know entanglement, okay? I've been entangled in things for decades now, big things, bad things. There's nobody more entangled than me. Nobody. Any photon splits off from me, it's a liar, you can't trust it.

    2. Re:What a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ...and all my staff exist in a half-fired state."

    3. Re: What a by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      There's hundreds of billions if not over a trillion you could use for "the poor", cutting from elsewhere in the budget before this.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    4. Re: What a by Dan667 · · Score: 1

      Giving American tech to China is bad. Trump sucks

  3. Wow maybe did something right for once by foxalopex · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Wow, I'm surprised but I guess a broken analogue clock is right at least once in a day. I guess someone in Intelligence got through to Trump. Although Quantum processors are unproven so far, there are some hints that it could be used to rapidly break encryption which most of the world depends on. Still it might be a huge waste of money but I guess we'll see.

    1. Re:Wow maybe did something right for once by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Although Quantum processors are unproven so far,

      Wrong, I think what you meant to say is universal quantum computers are unproven.
      Quantum Math co-processors, essentially what is done now, are proven to be better than classical computing.
      Adiabatic QC works very well. It's already used by several companies now. Big companies. Big, smart companies at that. Not some random cunt with a Wordpress moaning. (or was it blogspot?)
      We were just wrong at the qubit-counts required to outpace classical computing, which we thought were considerably smaller.

      Whether general purpose QC will ever arrive is... eh, I dunno if it will work.
      Some issues are inherently impracticable to do that way.
      Same issue with serial vs parallel, some tasks just cannot reliably be done over multiple distinct steps because one step absolutely relies on previous steps data to continue. But sometimes sub-steps in each step can be accelerated. Depends how complex they are. But really, that's playing with terminology if anything. Fact is, some tasks 100% rely on previous steps to function. You can't do step N if step B isn't done no matter how hard you try.
      At best, you can prepare some resources in advance, like reading a file in to RAM, opening a device, etc.
      Whether this will boost performance overall or if it is a detriment is probably dependent on workload in question.
      QC won't be able to accelerate that much unless preparing those resources can be accelerated too. Using the results of one step to sort of narrow down where data is likely to be in a large dataset before you finally get the full result of a further step, useful in fractal-related datasets or large science-project datasets, even machine-leaning.

      Even humans suffer with serial order problems. We can do parallel tasks brilliantly, but when you come to tasks that rely on previous information to continue, we slow to a crawl.
      It's just a problem in general that can't be overcome unless you start breaking the laws of physics and use time machines. Time-machine based computation throws a fuckhuge spanner in to the works. (if you ignore causality, that is!)

    2. Re:Wow maybe did something right for once by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I guess someone in Intelligence got through to Trump.

      I think it's more reasonable to assume he just likes signing things than assume someone changed his mind.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    3. Re:Wow maybe did something right for once by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Wait to see where the money goes. It sounds like corporate welfare. Who else but a low grade MBA could come up with a phrase like "quantum-smart workforce"?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Wow maybe did something right for once by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      the original funding was supposed to be only 200 million, but someone was able to explain to president pea-brain that quantum computers might be able to hack hillary's emails. trump immediately demanded another 1 billion to the project, and actually put his phone away as he signed the bill.

    5. Re:Wow maybe did something right for once by epine · · Score: 1

      Not some random cunt with a Wordpress moaning. We were just wrong at the qubit-counts required to outpace classical computing, which we thought were considerably smaller.

      Is that the Royal We? Must be, because I sure don't think anyone else with a qubit chub is voluntarily sharing your misogynist tub.

      Major Quantum Computing Advance Made Obsolete by Teenager — 31 July 2018

      In the spring of 2017 Tang took a class on quantum information taught by Scott Aaronson, a prominent researcher in quantum computing. Aaronson recognized Tang as an unusually talented student and offered himself as adviser on an independent research project. Aaronson gave Tang a handful of problems to choose from, including the recommendation problem. Tang chose it somewhat reluctantly.

      Good lord. Aaronson is one of the few people in this field I actually respect, and even his best efforts to put some robust daylight in between QC and classical algorithms are not exactly stumping Terence Tao.

  4. Maybe Trump does more "right" than you think. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Step outside of your echo chamber for once.

  5. Debt Solving Computers by QuadEddie · · Score: 1

    This is necessary to understand the full cascade impact of illegals flooding the country. Some estimate it's $60k per illegal of services drain on the economy, but a quantum computer will be able to solve these np hard problems quickly. (Or so Trump's been told)

    1. Re:Debt Solving Computers by DogDude · · Score: 1

      . Some estimate it's $60k per illegal of services drain on the economy

      Source?

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    2. Re:Debt Solving Computers by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Source?

      Quantum mechanics. The source ceases to exist when it is observed.

  6. *checks glasses* by nickwinlund77 · · Score: 1

    Did trump just do something classy and innovative?

  7. Re: with what money? by SocietyoftheFist · · Score: 1

    Yet tax revenue is way down , declined significantly in FY17, but spending is way up.

  8. In before by melted · · Score: 5, Funny

    WTF, I hate quantum computing now!

  9. Re:with what money? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Which President was the last one to actually balance the "check book" and have a surplus of funds at the end of the year (you know, not add to the national debt)?

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  10. Trump has much in common with many ./ posters by AlanObject · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As he stated himself more than once, he firmly believes that he has an intuitive grasp of science that eclipses any career expert in any field.

    Since he doesn't read much I gather that his intuitions are pretty much based on whatever presentation he recently saw that impressed him. Maybe online or maybe someone who thinks they are talking to the president. Add to that add a healthy mix of preconceptions.

    What a recipe. It results in things like this sometimes.

    1. Re:Trump has much in common with many ./ posters by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      The interview is here. It doesn't look to me like Trump saw through the act. He looks more like he's fed up of having his time wasted by an idiot and wants to leave.

  11. Re:What a fucking moron lol. by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1, Insightful

    But did they allow him to blather about the program for a while I hope, and is there video? Lol. What a fucking moron.

    I guess this means we now have to be against quantum computing.

    By the same token, after two years of the progressive enlightened telling us we have no business fighting in Syria, suddenly the same people are calling for a Middle Eastern forever war.

  12. Re:with what money? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Which President was the last one to actually balance the "check book" and have a surplus of funds at the end of the year (you know, not add to the national debt)?

    it was the one who noted that by adding the Boomers' peak year payments into the Social Security system to revenue, he could claim a budget surplus that year. Today, those Boomers are retired and drawing from the program rather than paying into it, so Clinton's accounting hack no longer works.

  13. Re:with what money? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    It goes back further than that - quite a bit further... The last President to actually run a surplus (meaning - they did not have to borrow money, which is what you do when you have a deficit) was Eisenhower, in 1957. It's been 61 years since we've had a surplus.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  14. That's going to be one very expensive by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    back door.

    Hmmm. Builds walls to keep people out, build back doors to let people in...

  15. Re: with what money? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    President Clinton ran a balanced "on books" budget; every year since 1957 the US Federal Government has borrowed money. Our debt has increased every year since Eisenhower. Clinton's accounting scam wasn't about Social Security surpluses - it was about ignoring much of the Federal spending as "off budget" and crowing about the little bit left as "balanced!"

    It would be like you having $10,000 a month in expenses, a $3,000 per month mortgage, and considering yourself in surplus because you brought home $7,500 per month and have declared your mortgage as "off the budget".

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  16. Re: with what money? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    It had nothing to do with tax cuts. Because there are numerically more Boomers than Xers, net payments into Social Security peaked in the Nineties, just in time to produce a "surplus" if added to federal revenue. Now that Xers are the folk paying into the system, inward payments are down while the huge cohort of Boomers is drawing from the program.

  17. It's about superposition by Required+Snark · · Score: 1
    Someone described superposition to him as a state where something could be true and false at the same time. He instantly applied this to himself and knew it would fix a bunch of his problems.

    1) No one could call him a liar because there is no such thing as true or false.

    2) No one could say he contradicted himself.

    3) He didn't have to 'walk back' anything he said.

    4) He could spout incomprehensible nonsense and have everyone except it.

    Unfortunately for everybody else on the planet, he's incapable of understanding that superpositions collapse and non-quantum reality is the result. That means things are true or false, contradictions need to be resolved, when you make unsupportable assertions people call you out, and nonsense has no meaning.

    That ominous sound you're starting to hear is the sound of the real world crashing in on TrumpWorld's quantum fantasy and starting to crush him and all the rest of up flat.

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
  18. National Quantum Coordination Office by 14erCleaner · · Score: 1

    As long as you don't open the door, they could be doing anything in there.

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
  19. Trump funding basic research? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 1

    (3) provide research experiences and training for additional undergraduate and graduate students in quantum information science, including in the fields ofâ"

    (A) quantum information theory;
    (B) quantum physics;
    (C) quantum computational science;
    (D) applied mathematics and algorithm development;
    (E) quantum networking;
    (F) quantum sensing and detection; and
    (G) materials science and engineering;

    (4) coordinate research efforts funded through existing programs across the Department of Energy, includingâ"

    (A) the Nanoscale Science Research Centers;
    (B) the Energy Frontier Research Centers;
    (C) the Energy Innovation Hubs;
    (D) the National Laboratories;
    (E) the Advanced Research Projects Agency; and
    (F) the National Quantum Information Science Research Centers; and

    Hard to argue with that. Literally everything boils down to quantum processes. Deliberately understanding and exploiting quantum world has been at the very heart of progression of modern technology.

  20. I reviewed some of those proposals... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...for the Department of Energy, Office of Science, and man, they are shite, it is a competition about how to shoehorn your existing science in this QIS fad. I don't see this lasting more than a few year with very little to show. [posting as AC for obvious reasons]

  21. Re:Blockchain funding initiative when? by PPH · · Score: 1

    Quantum blockchain FTW!

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  22. Re: What a fucking moron lol. by Dan667 · · Score: 2

    Trump has no idea what he is doing.

  23. Re: What a fucking moron lol. by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

    He is not a professional politician. It's too importand, and should be run by the professionals.

  24. Re: with what money? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

    Who would let themselves get roped into a $3000 mortgage? Our monthly mortgage is high, at $800, but we have five acres of land.

  25. Sounds good, no by Sqreater · · Score: 1

    Let me know when it works. Let me know when it does anything useful. Let me know when it doesn't feel like a boondoggle.

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
  26. Re: with what money? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Way to miss the point. You can't ignore some of your expenses and still claim you "have a surplus". Yet that is exactly the game played. Check the historical record, you'll find the last time we did not add to the national debt was 1957 under President Eisenhower. We've borrowed money every year thereafter.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  27. Re: with what money? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

    People here don't act like they live in the third world.

    In fact, I would bet that there are many, many more people who live a third world lifestyle (immigrants and minorities) in your part of the country than mine.

  28. Re: What a fucking moron lol. by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

    I miss the existence of a sarcasm tag.