# A Quantum Error Correction Breakthrough?
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 01:22:02 2025-11-16
The dream of quantum computers has been hampered by the challenge of error correction, writes the Harvard Gazette, since qubits "are inherently susceptible to slipping out of their quantum states and losing their encoded information."
But in a newly-published paper, a research team "combined various methods to create complex circuits with dozens of error correction layers" that "suppresses errors below a critical threshold — the point where adding qubits further reduces errors rather than increasing them."
"For the first time, we combined all essential elements for a scalable, error-corrected quantum computation in an integrated architecture," said Mikhail Lukin, co-director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Initiative, Joshua and Beth Friedman University Professor, and senior author of the new paper. "These experiments — by several measures the most advanced that have been done on any quantum platform to date — create the scientific foundation for practical large-scale quantum computation..."
"There are still a lot of technical challenges remaining to get to very large-scale computer with millions of qubits, but this is the first time we have an architecture that is conceptually scalable," said lead author Dolev Bluvstein, Ph.D. '25, who did the research during his graduate studies at Harvard and is now an assistant professor at Caltech. "It's going to take a lot of effort and technical development, but it's becoming clear that we can build fault-tolerant quantum computers...."
Hartmut Neven, vice president of engineering at the Google Quantum AI team, said the new paper came amid an "incredibly exciting" race between qubit platforms. "This work represents a significant advance toward our shared goal of building a large-scale, useful quantum computer," he said... With recent advances, Lukin believes the core elements for building quantum computers are falling into place. "This big dream that many of us had for several decades, for the first time, is really in direct sight," he said.
"In theory, a system of 300 quantum bits can store more information than the number of particles in the known universe..." the article points out.
"The new paper represents an important advance in a three-decade pursuit of quantum error correction."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.
>> Читать далее
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 01:22:02 2025-11-16
The dream of quantum computers has been hampered by the challenge of error correction, writes the Harvard Gazette, since qubits "are inherently susceptible to slipping out of their quantum states and losing their encoded information."
But in a newly-published paper, a research team "combined various methods to create complex circuits with dozens of error correction layers" that "suppresses errors below a critical threshold — the point where adding qubits further reduces errors rather than increasing them."
"For the first time, we combined all essential elements for a scalable, error-corrected quantum computation in an integrated architecture," said Mikhail Lukin, co-director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Initiative, Joshua and Beth Friedman University Professor, and senior author of the new paper. "These experiments — by several measures the most advanced that have been done on any quantum platform to date — create the scientific foundation for practical large-scale quantum computation..."
"There are still a lot of technical challenges remaining to get to very large-scale computer with millions of qubits, but this is the first time we have an architecture that is conceptually scalable," said lead author Dolev Bluvstein, Ph.D. '25, who did the research during his graduate studies at Harvard and is now an assistant professor at Caltech. "It's going to take a lot of effort and technical development, but it's becoming clear that we can build fault-tolerant quantum computers...."
Hartmut Neven, vice president of engineering at the Google Quantum AI team, said the new paper came amid an "incredibly exciting" race between qubit platforms. "This work represents a significant advance toward our shared goal of building a large-scale, useful quantum computer," he said... With recent advances, Lukin believes the core elements for building quantum computers are falling into place. "This big dream that many of us had for several decades, for the first time, is really in direct sight," he said.
"In theory, a system of 300 quantum bits can store more information than the number of particles in the known universe..." the article points out.
"The new paper represents an important advance in a three-decade pursuit of quantum error correction."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.
>> Читать далее
# Fear Drives the AI 'Cold War' Between America and China
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 00:22:01 2025-11-16
A new "cold war" between America and China is "pushing leaders to sideline concerns about the dangers of powerful AI models," reports the Wall Street Journal, "including the spread of disinformation and other harmful content, and the development of superintelligent AI systems misaligned with human values..."
"Both countries are driven as much by fear as by hope of progress. "
In Washington and Silicon Valley, warnings abound that China's
"authoritarian AI," left unchecked, will erode American tech
supremacy. Beijing is gripped by the conviction that a failure to
keep
pace in AI will make it easier for the U.S. to cut short China's
resurgence as a global power. Both countries believe market share
for their companies across the world is up for grabs — and with it,
the potential to influence large swaths of the global population.
The U.S. still has a clear lead, producing the most powerful AI
models. China can't match it in advanced
>> Читать далее
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 00:22:01 2025-11-16
A new "cold war" between America and China is "pushing leaders to sideline concerns about the dangers of powerful AI models," reports the Wall Street Journal, "including the spread of disinformation and other harmful content, and the development of superintelligent AI systems misaligned with human values..."
"Both countries are driven as much by fear as by hope of progress. "
In Washington and Silicon Valley, warnings abound that China's
"authoritarian AI," left unchecked, will erode American tech
supremacy. Beijing is gripped by the conviction that a failure to
keep
pace in AI will make it easier for the U.S. to cut short China's
resurgence as a global power. Both countries believe market share
for their companies across the world is up for grabs — and with it,
the potential to influence large swaths of the global population.
The U.S. still has a clear lead, producing the most powerful AI
models. China can't match it in advanced
>> Читать далее
# EV Sales Are Still Rising. They Have Not Slumped
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 23:22:01 2025-11-15
"Media headlines suggesting some slowdown in EV sales are simply incorrect," writes the site Electrek, "and leave out the bigger picture that gas car sales actually are dropping..."
Over the course of
the last two years or so, sales of battery electric vehicles, while
continuing to grow, have posted lower year-over-year percentage
growth rates than they had in years prior. EV sales used to grow at
50%+ per year, but for the last couple years, they have grown closer
to ~25% per year. This alone is not particularly remarkable — it
is inevitable that any growing product or category will show slower
percentage growth rates as sales rise, particularly one that has been
growing at such a fast rate for so long. In some recent years, we
had even seen year-over-year
doublings in EV market share (though one of those was 2020->2021,
which was anomalous). To expect improvement at that level perpetually
would be close to impossible — after 3 years of doubling
>> Читать далее
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 23:22:01 2025-11-15
"Media headlines suggesting some slowdown in EV sales are simply incorrect," writes the site Electrek, "and leave out the bigger picture that gas car sales actually are dropping..."
Over the course of
the last two years or so, sales of battery electric vehicles, while
continuing to grow, have posted lower year-over-year percentage
growth rates than they had in years prior. EV sales used to grow at
50%+ per year, but for the last couple years, they have grown closer
to ~25% per year. This alone is not particularly remarkable — it
is inevitable that any growing product or category will show slower
percentage growth rates as sales rise, particularly one that has been
growing at such a fast rate for so long. In some recent years, we
had even seen year-over-year
doublings in EV market share (though one of those was 2020->2021,
which was anomalous). To expect improvement at that level perpetually
would be close to impossible — after 3 years of doubling
>> Читать далее