This is definitely not scalable. They claim it runs at "Quantum speeds" which isn't even really a word. There is no such thing as "Quantum speed", a quantum computer can take just as long for any particular algorithm as a classical computer, the special thing about QC is just that the speed scales polynomially with input size rather than exponentially. This is *not* true of
the light interference system they describe, for
many reasons some of which have been pointed out
here already. (The time it takes to iterate through the outputs, the size of the beam, the
number of beam splitters you would need, and the limited bandwidth of the light spectrum). None
of these things scale polynomially with the input size so claiming that this is a substitute for Qc
is nothing more than a trick to get funding.
Plus, the idea isn't exactly new. I attended a conference on Quantum Computing at Georiga Tech over a year and a half ago where we discussed this very idea, and all parties (many PhD CS and Quantum Physicists among us) agreed that it could not yield the power of a quantum computer.
The reason they're having blackouts is no
mystery. It's Econ 101 guys:
Demand high, supply low. What does that mean
for the fair market price? High. What does
the government do? Put price caps ridiculously
low. What happens? Everything has to shut down,
the only expected solution that can happen.
Take out the stops and everything will be fine again.
The only other partial reason for it is the strict polution limits set. They can't operate without exceeding their quotas so they are shutting down for that reason as well. This is more of a tough problem than the pricecaps, because they can't just open it up to "pollute all you want, guys" but they can't just keep everyone in the dark either.
Slashdot Mirror
This is definitely not scalable. They claim it runs at "Quantum speeds" which isn't even really a word. There is no such thing as "Quantum speed", a quantum computer can take just as long for any particular algorithm as a classical computer, the special thing about QC is just that the speed scales polynomially with input size rather than exponentially. This is *not* true of the light interference system they describe, for many reasons some of which have been pointed out here already. (The time it takes to iterate through the outputs, the size of the beam, the number of beam splitters you would need, and the limited bandwidth of the light spectrum). None of these things scale polynomially with the input size so claiming that this is a substitute for Qc is nothing more than a trick to get funding. Plus, the idea isn't exactly new. I attended a conference on Quantum Computing at Georiga Tech over a year and a half ago where we discussed this very idea, and all parties (many PhD CS and Quantum Physicists among us) agreed that it could not yield the power of a quantum computer.
The reason they're having blackouts is no
mystery. It's Econ 101 guys:
Demand high, supply low. What does that mean
for the fair market price? High. What does
the government do? Put price caps ridiculously
low. What happens? Everything has to shut down,
the only expected solution that can happen.
Take out the stops and everything will be fine again.
The only other partial reason for it is the strict polution limits set. They can't operate without exceeding their quotas so they are shutting down for that reason as well. This is more of a tough problem than the pricecaps, because they can't just open it up to "pollute all you want, guys" but they can't just keep everyone in the dark either.