I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS-“Don’t Destroy This Night from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

 This is one of my favorite tracks on this compilation.  The New Pornographers grab this song and don’t let go.  It’s loud and catchy and wonderful.  I didn’t know the original of this song either (evidently I don’t know any bands on Merge Records except for Superchunk).

The original is by the Rock*A*Teens, whom I don’t know at all.  I listened  to the original and while the chorus is very similar, the verses are much slower (which is funny given their name).  The Rock*A*Teens version is even kind of moody.  The New Pornographers don’t really increase the pace at all, but there’s something about it that make it seem brighter, poppier.

Once again, I like both versions, but the New Pornographers edge out a bit.

[READ: April 6, 2012] “Dream Machine”

After reading all of those Harper’s pieces by Rivka Galchen, I decided to see if she’d written anything else that I could get my hands on.  Turns out that she has written this essay for the New Yorker (and a short story that I hadn’t seen as well as a few other short pieces).

This essay is about quantum computing.  I had recently read something about the potential of quantum computers, so I was intrigued to read this more lengthy and detailed piece.   As she states: “With one millionth of the hardware of an ordinary laptop, a quantum computer could store as many bits of information as there are particles in the universe.”  Not bad, eh?

It could also do what other computers only dream of (heck, it could probably even dream).  The key is that quantum computers are not binary.  Regular computers do either 1 or 0.  That’s all.  Quantum computers can do 1 and 0 and both–all at the same time.  Exactly what that means is a bit harder to grasp, and although the article helped, my summary is about as good as I can do.

For the article, Galchen talked with David Deutsch, the “founding father” of quantum computing (as well as a few other physicists). Deutsch believes that if quantum computers work, it validates the Many Worlds Interpretation (which is just what it sounds like).  But many physicists who believe in the potential for quantum computing either do not care about or simply avoid talking about Many Worlds.

Deutsch is philosophical and funny (he loves The Simpsons and takes Galchen to task for thinking a poster of Hugh Laurie (from House) was Hugh Grant.

The key to quantum computing is the qubit (which allows for the superposition of 0, 1 and 0 and 1.  They are built by manipulating the magnetic nuclei of an atom and then, later, by trapping ions. Oxford University has made an eight qubit quantum computer, which is not even as sophisticated as an abacus.  But a 50 to 100 qubit computer could equal the power and quality of a laptop.  The problem is that they are very delicate and tiny–they require huge contraptions (akin in size to a salad bar) to protect them.  And they are also, at this point, very short-lived–a nanosecond of processing time.

The end of the article details Many Worlds, and Deutsch is very convincing about it–it solves more questions than it raises.  It seems that many physicists who oppose the many Worlds Theory find it too philosophical.  But Deutsch says that quantum computing is dependent on the Many Worlds–that it works because of the Many Worlds.  Plus, he simply refuses to believe that you can’t know everything.

It’s worth a read, even if it does bend the mind.