02 Jun 03
Originally posted by royalchickeni agree with your post in general but just think about how many calculations it takes to hear a sieren, whilst walking down a busy path to a lecture over the other side of the campus, and thinking about the latest mathematical probelm you are trying to solve. We do not have an engieering solution to do all three at once and fit the computer into a volume the size of a human skull.
I of course am just guessing. I have no justification for this belief, but it seems to make some sense and explain a few phenomena. I will talk more about this when I have articulated it better...just got back.
About NP...A computational algorithm requires some input of size n. Basically, if the number of operations required to perform the algorit ...[text shortened]... multaneously (hell...I have to concentrate to pat my head and rub my stomach simultaneously...).
Hell, it is only in the last few years that we have sucessfully built a robot that can walk on two feet. Let alone do any other tasks at the same time.
No, it is not solving the theory of QM in your head but it is damn impressive.
-trekkie
02 Jun 03
Originally posted by royalchickenWRT # 2 in your list, a quantum computer (if one were built) is not merely a fast computer. QC's operate on qubits, rather than bits. A qubit can have a state of 1, 0, or a mixture of both. An N bit QC could perform an operation on 2^N different inputs in a single step. Also, different sorts of algorithms are possible on a QC that couldn't be done on a classical computer.
I think that for suitably large input, the human mind can't handle NP problems. The main reason for this is the following:
1. A slow computer can solve and NP problem for small n, but as n increases, the computational resources can't catch up.
2. The same goes for fiendishly fast things, even quantum computers.
3. My brain is not 'fiendishly f ...[text shortened]... multaneously (hell...I have to concentrate to pat my head and rub my stomach simultaneously...).
(see http://www.qubit.org/oldsite/intros/comp/comp.html -
"For example, a quantum program can incorporate instructions such as `... and now take a superposition of all numbers from the previous operations...'; this instruction is meaningless for any classical data processing device but makes lots of sense to a quantum computer"😉.