From: Gregory Alan Bolcer (gbolcer@endtech.com)
Date: Thu Jun 08 2000 - 11:27:30 PDT
May 17-23, 2000 SFREPORTER, Science, Santa Fe
By Dennis Jarrett
In the areas of advanced weaponry and advanced cmputer technology,
no one person really knows the state of the art. As recently as six months
ago, a well-known scientist said privately that "Possibly
someone has already built a quantum computer." [GAB: also
see current issue of MIT Tech Review: Beyond Silicon[1]]
In early March, we learned that someone had. The Department
of Energy publically announced that scientists at Los Alamos
National Laboratory had successfully created a seven-quibit
quantum computer within a drop of liquid. Taking advantage
of superpositioning, the law that quantum particles can exist
in multiple states (be two places at once, for example), the
potential speed of computing will increase to a velocity beyond
our wildest dreams.
An immediate task for quantum computing will be in the field
of encryption--protecting our two basics: guns and money. [GAB:
thank God there's no lawyers included at the front of that list]
Secret codes have come a long way since the trick of substituting
one letter of the alphabet for another. Such codes are easy to break
through with frequency analysis. Since e is the most frequently used
letter in the alphabet, whichever new letter showed up most often in the
encoded document probably stood for e. Since only a and i function as
single words, their new identity was a no mystery.
[GAB: Okay, I was into the article until I got talked down to...]
The author goes on to write about the evolution from Diffie, Hellman
RS&A, Zimmerman, before getting back to Quantum computing.
"...on the quantum level common sense is about as useful as
tits on a football"
"The perfection of quantum cryptography will completely change the landscape."
"The computer in a teardrop...is going to make possible the ultimate goal:
absolute privacy."
[GAB: some absolutely silly prediction using Moore's law and
having a 30-quibit computer within 5 years]
Buzzwords to come....register them now at greatdomains:
Quantumcash.com, Quantummoney.com, eQuantum.com, iQuantum.com
Eeek. 8-)
Greg
[1] http://techreview.com/articles/may00/waldrop.htm
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