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Toward a Quantum Internet

technologyreview.com — Researchers have built a quantum logic gate in an optical fiber, laying the foundation for a quantum computer network.

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  • joltcola, on 04/16/2008, -28/+3poop
  • racco, on 04/16/2008, -2/+8A technological "leap" forward
    • TheHydrogens, on 04/16/2008, -0/+19A 'quantum leap' perhaps?
      • Stupidumb, on 04/16/2008, -2/+3No. OH WAIT, yes!
        • irgeorge, on 04/16/2008, -0/+10Your comment reflects your user name perfectly.
          • glinsvad, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1Coincidentally, my user name ought to read WaitingForDiggScriptsToFinish
          • Mattarang, on 04/16/2008, -2/+1LOL OH SNAP I GET IT. HIS NAME IS TWO WORDS: STUPID AND DUMB, AND THAT'S WHAT YOU CALLED HIS COMMENT! OH HO HO, U R GEORGE! MORE LIKE U R ORIGINAL!
      • Turambar, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2if that's the case, which one is the captain of the enterprise, and which one is the cylon?
    • bocaJWho, on 04/16/2008, -0/+8I would say it both is and is not a leap.
  • plizard, on 04/16/2008, -1/+26bit torrents will FLY!
  • chanop, on 04/16/2008, -1/+63I hope AOL will send me a disk, so I can install this new "quantum interwebs"
    • fiveonefive9, on 04/16/2008, -14/+2you have AOL?
      • chanop, on 04/16/2008, -0/+22I thought everyone used AOL?
        • reshep, on 04/16/2008, -13/+1It's the year 2008 now.... not evryone does =)
          • chanop, on 04/16/2008, -0/+21You're ***** me, AOL is the best ISP out there. If you'd like to discuss it further, meet me in Private Chat: Pool Party

            ..........all this blatant sarcasm is hurting my brain, did I really need to mark /s on my posts?
  • PocchieTheMan, on 04/16/2008, -5/+11And so rises skynet...
  • TastyLamp, on 04/16/2008, -4/+27Thanks Al Gore.
    • kazamx, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3I still think this is how jesus become so famous.

      Jesus was so full of himself that someone said, Jesus you think your the son of God. Everyone started saying Jesus was the son of god taking the piss. Overtime people forgot it was a joke and now look what happened.

      Maybe in a few hundred years people really will think Al Gore invented the internet.
  • orangefly, on 04/16/2008, -1/+8hell, i'll be happy when they get fios in ohio....
    • DteK, on 04/16/2008, -0/+4just got a 20/20 pipe connected. Whole new internet experience is being had. I cant find enough movies to keep queued up they download so fast.
    • CSharpSauce, on 04/16/2008, -2/+1its almost as good as my 50/5 :) thank you comcast
      • MacEnvy, on 04/16/2008, -0/+4Funny how they'll give you a huge pipe, but sever access if you put too much through it ...
      • forcedfx, on 04/16/2008, -0/+4I'd rather have the 20mbps up than 50mbps down and only 5mbps up.
      • darkism, on 04/16/2008, -0/+7What good is all that upload if you can't seed on it?
        • CSharpSauce, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1i replicate a db through it from work... not every digger is a pirate
  • CTK14A, on 04/16/2008, -0/+16Thank you, Scott Bakula!
  • objectcode, on 04/16/2008, -17/+143 diggs and 5 comments make front page? who did nextquant blow?
    • Scrappy1850, on 04/16/2008, -3/+1me and my dog
    • MISking, on 04/16/2008, -1/+6You sound jealous.
      • objectcode, on 04/16/2008, -3/+2yeah for some reason all the articles i didn't submit didn't make the front page
    • crzdmn, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2just paid a visit to my place too, got them 1 more dig!
  • justjoehere, on 04/16/2008, -3/+11Heisenberg Uncertainty is in ur Internetz
  • MISking, on 04/16/2008, -2/+2more tubes? Oh, better tubes?
  • chamberlanderic, on 04/16/2008, -6/+1Dugg Because the guy name is Kumar !
  • levelred, on 04/16/2008, -10/+7Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and create the quantum intraweb
  • Marumekomu, on 04/16/2008, -0/+13Won't we have to pay people to stand there and not look at the cables, though? Seems a bit costly.
  • KraftDinner101, on 04/16/2008, -1/+9Let's get that quantum computer first, then think about the internet. Also, I don't like the idea of my packet both getting there and not, unless I observe it.
    • ApokalypseNow, on 04/16/2008, -2/+4But observing it will change the result!
    • MxM111, on 04/16/2008, -0/+4"But observing it will change the result!"
      Is it what he just said?
    • centran, on 04/16/2008, -2/+3yeah... but in one "reality" you decided you didn't want to download this summers blockbuster movie but in another "reality" you did.
      So in your observed reality then when you sit down at your computer to download the movie it will already be downloaded!!!! YEAH!

      and don't any of you bastards correct me. figuring out quantum mechanics hurts my head so let me think like I want to.
      • subliminalurge, on 04/16/2008, -1/+2Except you've got it backwards.

        In the reality where you want the movie, it won't ever download. In the reality where you don't want the movie, you'll be screaming at the top of your lungs "*****!!! That ***** duplicate of me from the other universe keeps filling up my ***** hard drive!!! *****!"
    • defaultfilter, on 04/16/2008, -0/+0"Let's get that quantum computer first..."

      hear hear. I think that QUANTUM COMPUTER : TODAY :: hover craft : 60s.
  • chrisaug18, on 04/16/2008, -1/+1Woah that kinda blew my mind....once fully developed could this mean we just plug our internet cable into a monitor and let the cable do all the processing?
    • TrevorPace, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2Not really you would still need some data storage device...but you would be connecting a fiber optical cable right to you're computer.
  • QsheiK, on 04/16/2008, -10/+2***** me....wrong news article...digg down pls.
    • supermanred, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1You do know you can just hit the reply link again and your comment disappears?
  • podcastgalaxy, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2Dugg for not saying "Al" or "Gooshie." I just want to carry around one of those cool handheld clear communicators/time travel devices they used though.
  • 4d669, on 04/16/2008, -1/+4***** this, I'm waiting for the grid
    • ElbertF, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3This should be faster then The Grid.
  • NathanielJ, on 04/16/2008, -1/+3"Since qubits compute with multiple values at once, the processing power of a quantum computer doubles with each additional qubit."

    That makes about as much sense as saying that on a classical (ie. normal) computer the amount of information it can process doubles with each additional bit. While technically true (because you can represent twice as many different pieces of information if you add an additional bit), it's an utterly useless fact that has nothing to do with why quantum computers are so sought-after.
    • Adam87, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1It's basically saying what would take 4 bits, 2 qubits can do.
      • NathanielJ, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1If that's what it's saying then it's flat-out wrong.
    • joeanon, on 04/16/2008, -1/+3It's because of super positioning that bits can HOLD MULTIPLE VALUES AT ONCE>

      It's not simply adding another bit. You can process a BIT at a certain speeds, so theoretically by having multiple values you can process more info faster at a bit level.

      Basically yes it's saying less quantum bits can do more than electron bits. But, for the most part it's still quite far away.

      We had logic gates for light powered computers invented 15 years ago or so... yet no light powered computers. Plus how reliable is using super positioning when we don't fully understand how it's happening.
      That may not be a secure or stable model... but HEY they have to built it to see.

      It's certainly going to good for somethings such as searches of massive amounts of data or likely high bandwidth uses. The logic gate part though,,, it may or may not be made fast enough to matter.

      It's really ALL ABOUT the logic gate speed and how many you can cram together cost effectively. BUT being able to process multiple values bits at once COULD change that model to a high BIT processing PC that doesn't need as much logic gate speed.

      Computer investments have paid off VERY WELL for the US so far, I think we should stick with our market edge and stay ahead of the competition. I think in the late 70s and 80s superior computer technology is what really lifted us above Europe and Russia and likely part of the edge that won the economic cold war AND gave us superior military and space programs. Though Russia's rockets were/are great, sometimes computers aren't the most reliable solution. Mechanical solutions can be very reliable also, gotta make the right design decisions there.

      We certainly whouldn't need as much computing power if we hadn't mistakenly went with the Space Shuttle design, which was supposed to be reusable, but more accurate ... gets rebuilt every launch. It's really just the MOST expensive way to go into space vs the cheapest and most reliable... Apollo style rockets with capsules on the top.

      Basically there is no reason to enter the atmosphere so fast and hard when you can parachute down in an automated capsule. There is also little reason to launch ALL of space shuttles weight into orbit every time when the payload is actually just a fraction of that weight.

      All the computers in the world don't stop bad design and management.
      • NathanielJ, on 04/16/2008, -1/+1I'm well aware of what superpositioning is and what its implications are, thank you. I work on error correction in quantum computers, and the 10 paragraphs that you wrote there did nothing to contradict my point earlier.
  • spacecheese, on 04/16/2008, -3/+0site is diggfuxd, but an alt source.
    http://www.zimbio.com/Quantum+computers/articles/3 ...
  • morphboy23, on 04/16/2008, -0/+6So when your torrents don't work, Comcast can say the reset bit was flipped by random chance?
  • Andrwmorph, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2I can't wait to use it to download porn!
  • hollyminkowski, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1When they finally are able to construct a quantum computer it will be able to factor large primes. This will mean that public-key encryption will be broken (like PGP). If the NSA comes up with the first quantum computer they will probably keep it a secret just like the intelligence community kept the discovery of public-key encryption a secret....it remained secret until Diffie and Hellman re-discovered the idea.
    • MxM111, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1That's why quantum communication is so important - you can't crack it, physically impossible.
      • justjoehere, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1You can crack it. However, cracking it reveals that it has been cracked. That is what you cannot prevent, the identification that a crack has occurred.
  • Maturola, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2minesweepers online multiplayer ...FTW
  • pardonmedoug, on 04/16/2008, -0/+4I'm making this comment from one of the other universes.
  • oldhick, on 04/16/2008, -2/+3I don't get it... "click here to skip this advertisement"? What does that have to do with Quantum computing??? Oh, click here. I get it, never mind.
  • PawFox, on 04/16/2008, -1/+3Don't people actually know "Quantum" is a really small amount? - I hate people who use the word thinking its some "giant" amount.
  • AVigorVermin, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3I still can't get broadband where I live.
    • wishninja, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1You are left behind by the free market also? Me too :(
  • Sharik, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2In conjunction with this, it might actually run Crysis...

    http://digg.com/hardware/Scientists_develop_300_GH ...
  • DeFex, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2I made this comment tomorrow.
  • fudged71, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1this is huge.
    dugg
  • j3ff86, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3They have the internet on computers, now?
  • happytedium, on 04/16/2008, -1/+1But what ping does it get to the 2nd hop?
  • ZenMojo, on 04/16/2008, -1/+1Hm, so this is how Skynet is born. Killer robots and quantum internet.... Digg is like a living sci-fi thriller.
  • innocentsinner, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1http://www.amazon.com/Brasyl-Ian-McDonald/dp/15910 ...
    Anyone else here read Brasyl?
    • MattBD, on 04/19/2008, -0/+1Have it but haven't got round to reading it. Loved River of Gods, though.
  • Obzerva, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2Finally, I'll be able to harness the powers of quantum mechanics to play CRYSIS!!!
    • supermanred, on 04/16/2008, -1/+1Just get a 360 and play it on high settings at 1920 x 1080 when it comes out. Or a PS3 if you like 20 frames per second instead of 90.
      • dmallymally, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1haha, are you implying that the 360 has better hardware than the PS3? What a joke. The 360 would be lucky not to RRoD playing crysis
  • protogenxl, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3But didn't Microsoft already pioneer quantum computing? At home my Xbox 360 is in a quantum state of Bricked/Unbricked.

    ./Stolen from Yahtzee
  • supermanred, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3Soon the entire planet will be a giant quantum computer. The answer: 42. The question? Well, that's the question!
    • innocentsinner, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3Oh, I get it. It's like that book!
    • Jektal, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1What makes you think that the entire planet isn't already a giant computer?
      The best laid plans of mice..
  • rickdigger, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2I thought a qubit was a little orange guy with a big nose that jumped around a bunch of squares...
  • Qulqu, on 04/16/2008, -0/+0now make it cost less than 50 dollars a month and then watch the internet explode on sites like you tube and digg. also the myspace facebook war will so its true form.
  • wishninja, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1Did I understand the article correctly first test of this network going to be getting it to post items on ebay?
    "Within the next year, Kumar and his team plan to test the gate in a specific application: conducting a complex auction over a secure quantum network."

    In the great tradition of internet use I think the best thing to do would be to trade porn on a P2P network as a first.
  • AvangionQ, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1Another potential breakthrough for internet communication ... but here I am still waiting for the transfer over to IPv6 ... so, lets see how long until this technology is developed and implemented ...
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