6 May 2017

The Current status of Quantum Computing

vis-à-vis
OSI-based Semantic Computing
An InSIST internal Memo, produced by Dr. Ravi Gomatam

Objective Semantic Information or OSI is the new concept of quantum physical reality that is at
the center of our Institute’s work. OSI is coming out of our work in macroscopic quantum
mechanics. OSI-based technologies, as and when they appear, will thus be alternative to current
“quantum technologies” that is at the forefront of work around the world.

Let us take for example, the field of quantum computing. A few years ago, D-Wave, the
Canadian company staked its claims to have produced the world's first and only commercial
quantum computer with 2,000 qubits entanglement. The computer was purchased by several
companies including NASA, Google.

There are more recent news items from Google, IBM and China reporting further progress in
making practical quantum computers. It is an appropriate moment to review the status of the
field of quantum computing, particularly from the perspective of the OSI-based semantic
computing technologies InSIST is aiming to produce.

D-wave is a Canadian company, and the news that they have sold their D-Wave 2. 512-qubit
computer to Google and NASA is a few years old.

Here are some comments on it at the time, on the Net:

"D-Wave has built a machine that performs a specialized class of quantum computing. An
analogy would be a classical computer that can add and subtract, but cannot multiply or
branch. If you have the right problem, it's useful. If you have other common problems, it is
not."

"As of 2015, it is still heavily debated whether large scale entanglement takes place in D-
Wave Two, and whether current or future generations of D-Wave computers will have any
advantage over classical computers." (https://www.quora.com/Is-quantum-computing-real )

D-wave computer is not a true general-purpose quantum computer because it can only solve
optimization problems. It uses a specific procedure called quantum annealing, for solving a
particular class of problems. Even so, already in June 2014, nearly three years ago, a paper was
published in SCIENCE arguing that D-wave may not be doing true quantum computing. The
following article in Physics World reported on this paper:

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2014/jun/20/is-d-wave-quantum-computer-actually-a-
quantum-computer

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In general, there are many issues about practical quantum computing that are unresolved, both
theoretical and practical. At the following URL, a retired physics professor from British
Columbia has responded to issues surrounding quantum computing in general, in a simple,
popular way:

https://www.quora.com/Is-quantum-computing-real

So, there are always questions about if and when a real quantum computer will be built. My own
take is around the fact that quantum physicists do not yet know what "superposition" is, as a
physically real state of the single system. Yet, it is a quantum feature that is absolutely
fundamental to make quantum computers work! Furthermore, no one also knows the mechanism
by which superposition seems to “go away” when a measurement (or, more generally, the
interaction of the quantum superposed system with classical, macro world) takes place. How can
planned quantum computers protect against the superposition going away, if the mechanism
behind that process is not yet known? Nor is there yet a proper understanding of what quantum
information is, what to speak of how to process it:

“Quantum information theory, as it stands, never gets around to specifying what it is

referring to as ‘quantum information’, nor its relation to classical information. It is not,
despite the name, a theory of a new type of information. A new theory of information is
needed within physics but at a deeper level than both [present] quantum theory and
Shannon’s theory.” (David Deutsch) http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1405/1405.5563.pdf

Because of such gaps in our knowledge about the nature of the quantum physical world, the
theory of quantum computing is proceeding by treating superposed states as a "blackbox" and
manipulating those states in principle, by developing quantum algorithms for specific problems.
Thus, at times, one sees skepticism expressed about such a blackbox approach. At the above
physics world URL, for example, one finds this comment.

“It doesn't matter which principle you'll use - no black box can supersede the computational
power of classical computers at the moment, when it's already limited with uncertainty
principle. Such a device would be a time machine and violate causality. Why not to admit,
whole the quantum computer research is just an advanced fooling of investors?”

Furthermore, at present quantum computing proceeds by separating the theoretical work of

doing quantum computing, from the practical work of actually building qubits that will

a) stay in superposition (at present this involves super-cooling)

b) can be entangled on the fly, and
c) can implement universal computing.

One can get a sense of how rudimentary the practical side of quantum computer technology
currently is, from this URL that announces Chinese recently entangling 9 qubits, that too in a
limited manner.

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http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2017/apr/13/ten-superconducting-qubits-entangled-by-
physicists-in-china

A recent announcement by IBM says they have started an initiative to build truly general
purpose quantum computers, and they expect to build a toy one with 20 qubits in the next few
years:

https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/51740.wss

So, the whole field is in its infancy.

My estimate is same as what most scientists in the field believe, that it will take quite some to get
any serious general-purpose quantum computers to work, possibly a couple of decades or more.
In the meanwhile, the field is attracting huge investments of the scale beyond the capacity of
Indian computer industry.

Even so, there is a fledgling attempt in India to follow the fashion from West (as ever) and try to
“quantum computing”. The following article talks about this:

http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/Sigma/the-india-bit-in-quantum-computing/

To summarize, quantum computing in one sense is putting the cart before the horse. Quantum
theory itself is not properly understood at its foundations, yet that theory is being used to develop
quantum computing. It is possible that with huge investments, some kind of a result might
appear, but it will be naturally more sensible to put money and effort into an approach that first
solves the quantum measurement problem in a manner acceptable to all physicists, and then
applies such a newly understood quantum theory to develop true quantum computing.

This is where the work of InSIST comes in. We have already made immense progress in actually
solving the quantum measurement problem, and developing our own novel brand of macroscopic
quantum mechanics. For a small fraction of the investments compared to what is being invested
in current quantum computing efforts, we expect to be able develop our own, truly quantum,
OSI-based semantic computing, which should be better than current classical computing and
current ‘blackbox’ quantum computing.

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