Despite my obvious interest in dragons and wizardry, I have somehow never read a Harry Potter book, nor have I watched anything beyond short video clips from the movies. So, imagine for a moment that I’m a big fan of the franchise, and that this opening paragraph is far more interesting than it actually is.
Wingardium Leviosa!
Thanks to Alain Chancé for sharing “Advanced Technologies for Humanity,” a free online book co-authored by Dr. Keeper Layne Sharkey. The featured image of her chapter, “Look Before You Leap Demystifying Quantum Computing’s Enigmatic Frontier,” invokes Harry Potter, thus guaranteeing inclusion in this newsletter.
Standardizing Standards
The first sentence of this article bears repeating. You’ve probably seen it yourself: everyone in quantum is a self-proclaimed leader of something, even when it’s obvious that they aren’t. But if we had independently-scored standardized benchmarks, we could easily see who is atop each leaderboard.
Three Little Piggies
Sergio Gago re-imagines this classic folktale with a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) twist. If you have small children, this should be their new bedtime story. After you tuck the little tykes in, go ahead and read the Quantum Pirates newsletter it links to. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
Interview with a Vampire… I mean… an AI
For this episode of The Superposition Guy’s Podcast, host Yuval Boger interviews ChatGPT. This ought to go viral for so many reasons, but my favorite part is when Yuval asks it which one of the quantum greats, dead or alive, it would choose to have dinner with. Not only does it choose, it plays along with being able to have dinner.
Quantum Whiplash
Paul Stimers of the Holland & Knight law firm wonders why we’re referring to the quantum threat to cryptography in the future tense. After all, we know that much of our data has already been stolen. Like a car accident, the damage has already been done, and we’re simply waiting to feel the painful effects from it.
Freelancers No Longer Available!
Nah, I’m kidding. If you still need either a Virtual Assistant or a Python/C++ Programmer, I can still help you out with that. Both live in the Philippines, where the low cost of living helps make them affordable. And if you need affordable freelancers for anything else, I can probably find them for you relatively easily.
Size… doesn’t… matter?
Politics aside, Prof. Chris Ferrie’s use of President Obama to promote Quokka earns some real estate in this newsletter. I didn’t watch the speech this is from, so I’m slightly curious what the original context was. I’m not curious enough to actually listen to the speech, though. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
Coulomb Crystals
I’m not commenting on the research here; I’m simply a sucker for “images” of atoms. In this case, we’re “looking” at linear chains of trapped ions. [Insert long, technical disclaimer here about why we can’t actually “see” atoms.] This link might require a LinkedIn account.
Quantum Uselessness 2
IBM defines “quantum utility” as taking out a bank loan and mortgaging your children’s futures so that you don’t have to wait 8 days to receive an error message, as I just did. It shows as completed, but the “result” is an error message. Fortunately, I didn’t pay to see that error message, and my family can still eat this week.
Are you quantum ready?
Aaaaannnd to end this newsletter on a philosophical note, Deniz Türkpençe shares a cartoon that could be interpreted a few different ways. Go take a look and have some fun with it. While you’re at it, you might as well follow him or send a connection request. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
https://www.bing.com/images/create/a-friendly-red-dragon-attending-hogwarts/1-66c0660ff0a8468eb636cf5606a6af2e?id=lof7i5bgwQS9FC403FOOFg%3D%3D&view=detailv2&idpp=genimg&idpclose=1&thid=OIG1.khgWWOg1WsiRYbI2NU6W&frame=sydedg&skey=u0pbLGvpoqa0uLomPmMyulg3xyxXMycmsPR7B1XgJvI&form=SYDBIC