<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px">But the ones we care most about tend to be simulations, and this is where quantum computers could shine. anders</span><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:19.2px">This may be too complicated to answer: what, if any, ways are there to validate simulations? Well, let the world go by and see what really happens, I suppose. What else? Do real world experiments? In short, why trust simulations? We should primie facie distrust them (like the null hypothesis). At least two problems arise: GIGO for one. Not putting in crucial variables (because you don't know that they are crucial) is another.</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:19.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:19.2px">bill w</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:19.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:19.2px">bill w</span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Sep 4, 2016 at 5:10 PM, Anders <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:anders@aleph.se" target="_blank">anders@aleph.se</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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On 2016-09-04 18:16, John Clark wrote:<br>
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<div><font size="4">Maybe, but not every computer scientist
would agree. The people at Microsoft's
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Quantum Architectures and Computation
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Group
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think</div>
a 100 Qubit quantum computer could
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simulate nitrogen fixation, something of enormous
industrial and agricultural importance.</font></div>
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Nice paper. Also manages to show a real problem that is a
low-hanging fruit if we get quantum computers.<span class=""><br>
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<div class="gmail_quote"><font size="4">I don't think Google
and Microsoft would be spending millions of dollars on it
if they thought quantum computers would never have a
practical application. If they end up being able to do
nothing but factor large numbers that alone would be
enough to make them be of great interest to the NSA, but I
have a hunch they can do much more.</font><br>
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I never said that they were useless (if they work), just that the
problem class they solve is a more specific one than what we solve
(slowly) using our current computers. <br>
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Most computations done today are likely sorting, matrix operations
and searching. But the ones we care most about tend to be
simulations, and this is where quantum computers could shine. <br><span class="">
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
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