Quantum computers closer than I thought... — General Discussion

fatcatfan 31 Oct 2003, 22:01

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/61/33711.html

Wow. Ten years away. Quantum computers could change a whole freakin lot of things. Problems that currently take days, weeks, months, years to solve by modern computers could be solved with a quantum computer in seconds. The difference between a quantum computer and those we have today is that a modern computer must try each possible solution till it finds an answer that works. A quantum computer tries *all* possible solutions simultaneously, arriving at the answer in a single step.

cyberkiller6276 31 Oct 2003, 22:09

So it's like trial and error, only you run multiple trials at once.

Cool.

Ich 31 Oct 2003, 23:29

I'm sure the world of Cryptography is eagerly awaiting this, as long as it only really is cheap enough for the NSA to purchase. Otherwise, we're fucked.

fatcatfan 01 Nov 2003, 00:38

There have also been recent advances in quantum cryptography, which is immune to any cracking when used properly, even with quantum computers.