Google and NASA Snap Up Quantum Computer D-Wave Two

[ScienceRocks]

Google and NASA Snap Up Quantum Computer D-Wave Two

By Nicola Jones and Nature magazine
Google and NASA Snap Up Quantum Computer D-Wave Two: Scientific American

D-Wave, the small company that sells the world’s only commercial quantum computer, has just bagged an impressive new customer: a collaboration between Google, NASA and the non-profit Universities Space Research Association.

The three organizations have joined forces to install a D-Wave Two, the computer company's latest model, in a facility launched by the collaboration — the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The lab will explore areas such as machine learning — making computers sort and analyse data on the basis of previous experience. This is useful for functions such as language translation, image searches and voice-command recognition. “We actually think quantum machine learning may provide the most creative problem-solving process under the known laws of physics,” says a blog post from Google describing the deal.

D-Wave has battled to prove that its computer really operates on a quantum level, and that it is better or faster than a conventional computer. Before striking the latest deal, the prospective customers set a series of tests for the quantum computer. D-Wave hired an outside expert in algorithm-racing, who concluded that the speed of the D-Wave Two was above average overall, and that it was 3,600 times faster than a leading conventional computer when working on the specific type of problem that the quantum computer was built to solve.

D-Wave Two - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looks like we now have quantum computers.

 

[Mr. H.]

This is already in your computer thread.

 

[ScienceRocks]

This is already in your computer thread.

This is a very important subject that deserves extra discussion. Nasa and google confirmed that it is real.

 

[Mr. H.]

Well, at least you know now that I actually read your fucking computer thread.