This is hurting my head (Quantum processor)

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A computer chip based on the esoteric science of quantum mechanics has been created by researchers at the University of Michigan. The chip might well pave the way for a new generation of supercomputers.
...
That is accomplished by the quirky nature of quantum mechanics, said Christopher Monroe, a physics professor and the principal investigator and co-author of the paper "Ion Trap in a Semiconductor Chip." He explained that that chips can process multiple inputs at the same time in the same device.

"With quantum mechanics, an object can be in two places at the same time, as long as you don't look at it," he said. The quantum computer architecture can store quantum bits (qubits) of information, where each qubit can hold the numbers one or zero, or even both digits simultaneously.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060113/bs_nf/40876;_ylt=AkNSC2RbkvAIkDLJNmhNuC2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

I'm aware of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, and Shrodinger's cat, and how in THEORY you can have something in two states in time, 'cause you don't really know, but this is implying you can actually put that to use and it's hurting my head as to how that works.

I have a degree in computer science, but I can't connect what a computer requires as an absolute with with uncertainty at its core.

??

[SmokingJacket]

1. They've been trying to do this for years.

I knew a woman in 1992 who was working on it... will be cool when/if they finally do...

She explained to me that it would be like light: different frequencies rather than o's and 1's, which are the building blocks of normal computers.

Can't say I really "get" it but I'm no scientist...

[NorCalDem]

2. What I've learned after enough years in the science field

is don't try and understand quantum mechanics too well. It'll only hurt your head. Just appreciate it for what it is, a revolution of the computer chip :D

[hwmnbn]

3. qubits? Isn't that the unit of measurement......

Noah used to build the ark?

Man, that technology has been around for eons!!

[tocqueville]

4. Schroedinger's cat before and after the experiment

[Strong Atheist]

5. ROFLMAO! nt.

[ewagner]

6. ROFLMAO

Yeah....that about sums it up.....

Seriously, quantum mechanics is some pretty wierd stuff....Einstein hinted at the Schroedinger problem when he referenced "weirdness at a distance". Meaning it was possible for instaneous change even at distances that span the universe....

some pretty f'd up stuff but I'm fascinated by it to this day.

[acmejack]

7. You fiend!

That's hilarious!

[Pithy Cherub]

8. Multiple dimensions as explained by

Lisa Randall, MIT,theoretical physicist speaks to the inability of us to draw them because we can't conceive of it. Her book, Warped Passages, goes into heavy detail and quotes Heisenberg "We simply have to remember that our usual language does not work anymore, that we are in the realm of physics where our words don't mean much." It really is mind bending.:crazy:

[FogerRox]

9. if you were living in a 2 D universe how do you draw a 3D universe?

[tocqueville]

11. use maths

that's exactly what we are doing when we describe a 5th dimension. The problem is that the language is very difficult for most of us and mastered by a few.

[Pithy Cherub]

12. The 2D to 3D version is explained as follows:

It's under a picture of a sphere shown as whole (3D) and then a layered (like cake) sphere (2D) that makes up the whole 3D version. "If a sphere passes through a plane, a two dimensional observer would see a disk. The sequence of disks that the observer sees over time compromise the sphere." She goes on to explain a hypersphere (4 spatial dimensions)and.."if it were to pass through our universe, it would appear to us as a time sequenceof three-dimensional spheres that increase, then decrease in size."

The 5th dimension (and more after that) are part of the very first chapter. The clue is string theory that she thinks open more dimensions. Let's just say I am still, um, digesting...
:crazy:

[Spinzonner]

10. “I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics”

Richard Feynman

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13. I guess the problem is

that we move from "since it could be 1 or 0, we can assume it to be either or both, since we don't really know" to "it can and is both at the same time, and we're utilizing it".

I know they've wanted to do this for years, and presumably people have been working on it, but the part of actually being both at the same time is just a little much for me.

Or maybe I need to suspend my 3D/4D view of the world, and accept that there's more D's out there than I was raised to believe in...

[Toots]

14. It is all magic

I know how to turn the machine on and off but is it possible there are really two machines in front of me? :+

[mrfrapp]

15. Quantum Algorithms

"I have a degree in computer science, but I can't connect what a computer requires as an absolute with with uncertainty at its core."

It gets really juicy when you realise what's possible with this uncertainty. Shor's algorithm for example, suggests that public key cryptography is not as robust as we currently imagine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shor%27s_algorithm&oldid=35125815

With really big quantum computers that will no doubt be developed after the creation of the chip described in the yahoo article, RSA will be effectively useless. We live in interesting times.