[ExI] Limiting factor to the Intelligence Singularity?

[BillK]

On Tue, 2 Jan 2024 at 05:13, Jason Resch via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> All quantum computers are reversible computers, it is required so they don't leak energy into the environment which would cause decoherence and spoil the result.
>
> Jason
> _______________________________________________


The chatbots seem to be saying 'Yes, But...' and sort of disagreeing
with this statement.

Quote:
This is due to the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, which
dictate that the time evolution of a quantum system is governed by
unitary transformations, also known as quantum gates.

Unitary transformations are inherently reversible, meaning that they
can be inverted. This property is crucial for the functioning of a
quantum computer because it ensures that every operation can be
undone, allowing the system to return to its initial state after the
computation is complete. This characteristic is what makes quantum
computing potentially more powerful than classical computing, as it
enables a much wider range of algorithms to be implemented.

However, it's important to note that while the quantum gates
themselves are reversible, the process of measuring a quantum state,
which is an essential part of the computation process, is not. Once a
measurement is made, the quantum state collapses into one of the
possible outcomes, and this process cannot be reversed.
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And -
Quantum computers are not reversible computers in the traditional
sense. Reversible computing refers to a computing paradigm where every
computation step is reversible, meaning that it is possible to
uniquely determine the previous state of the system from its current
state. This property allows for the elimination of information loss
and enables the computation to be performed in a manner where there is
no increase in entropy.

Quantum computers, on the other hand, are based on the principles of
quantum mechanics and operate using quantum bits, or qubits, which can
exist in superpositions of states and can be entangled with each
other. The computation in a quantum computer is typically performed
using a sequence of quantum gates, which are unitary transformations
that act on the qubits. These gates can be reversible, meaning that
they have an inverse operation that can be used to undo the
computation. However, not all quantum gates are reversible.

While reversible gates are important in certain aspects of quantum
computing, such as error correction and the implementation of certain
algorithms, the overall operation of a quantum computer involves the
measurement of qubits, which is an irreversible process. Measurement
collapses the quantum state of a qubit to a classical state, and this
irreversible step is necessary to obtain the final result of a
computation.

So, while some aspects of quantum computing involve reversible
operations, the overall computation performed by a quantum computer is
not reversible in the same sense as classical reversible computing.
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BillK