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Google achieves quantum computing supremacy: Leaked paper
Paul Brecia
According to a now-deleted paper briefly published through NASA, Google has achieved quantum supremacy, a milestone in quantum computing in which a quantum device outperforms a world-class supercomputer.
Innovation Intelligence
reached out to Google Australia for confirmation of the veracity of the report which it has acquired, but did not get a response from the organisation, which has been silent worldwide regarding the paper.
In a basic sense, quantum computing is an effort to bring the rules of physics at the sub-atomic scale to larger, coherent systems. Speaking to researchers in the field, Google’s potential achievement is not one that has any commercial or real-life application, but more of a proof of concept.
Quantum computing researchers around the world were not surprised by the potential achievement, as Professor Steven Flammia shared with Innovation Intelligence, “It was the worst kept secret, even before the paper leaked.”
The task outlined in the document was tailor made for testing, but proved that the quantum computer could complete a task in 200 seconds that would take NASA’s world-beating supercomputer 10,000 years.
In the unverified report, the authors note, “While our processor takes about 200 seconds to sample one instance of the quantum circuit 1 million times, a state-of-the-art supercomputer would require approximately 10,000 years to perform the equivalent task. This dramatic speedup relative to all known classical algorithms provides an experimental realization of quantum supremacy on a computational task and heralds the advent of a much-anticipated computing paradigm.”
Classical, binary computers operate from the same fundamental logic, bits of zeros and ones, in sequences. In quantum computers these are instead ‘quantum bits’ (qubits), which can be zero, one, both at the same time, or in between.
Quantum theorist, Professor Steven Bartlett explains, “Everything has to be completely re-engineered from scratch. This type of device is so completely different from the computers that we have today that it does not involve transistors.
“It is not built using electronics, or the electronics we have used for the past hundred years.
“The approach that Google has taken is using superconducting microcircuits, behaving like ‘artificial atoms’ they are the qubits, much bigger than a regular atom.
“People are also trying to build quantum computers out of actual atoms.
“It is an incredibly difficult challenge – you trap the atoms using electric and magnetic fields, arrange them to line up in a row, use laser fields to get them to interact with their neighbours, then implement quantum logic gates.”
The challenge to build the world’s first ‘useful’ quantum computer involves solving two simultaneous problems: you need to completely isolate the computer from external forces, while controlling it with perfect precision. This means operating in an environment chilled to just above absolute zero, with no electromagnetic interference, including light.
As Professor Flammia explains, “The two things are in constant tension, to have control over the computer you need a way to access it, but when achieving that access, nature will find a way to do the same, creating noise.”
According to the paper, Google has solved the first part of the problem while not being concerned around the second, building what quantum researchers call a ‘noisy’ machine.
Correcting for the errors of ‘noise’ has been proven possible by other researchers, including Professor Flammia’s team at the University of Sydney. Quantum error correction is like patching a leaky boat, he explains, where if you can fix the holes as they are created, the boat continues on.
Speaking to the researchers, useful quantum computers are still a decade away, though the unconfirmed Google breakthrough is a clear milestone.
As Professor Flammia explains, “There are only a handful of papers that show this, but the fact that there are no in principle problems in correcting that, shows that we can now merge the advancements, Google’s quantum computing with error correction.”
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In 2016 I published a blog article titled Moonshots for Australia: 7 For Now. It’s one of many I have posted on business and innovation in Australia. In that book, I highlighted a number of Industries of the Future among a number of proposed Moonshots. I self-published a book, Innovation in Australia – Creating prosperity for future generations, in 2019, with a follow-up COVID edition in 2020. There is no doubt COVID is causing massive disruption. Prior to COVID, there was little conversation about National Sovereignty or supply chains. Even now, these topics are fading, and we remain preoccupied with productivity and jobs! My motivation for this writing has been the absence of a coherent narrative for Australia’s business future. Over the past six years, little has changed. The Australian ‘psyche’ regarding our political and business systems is programmed to avoid taking a long-term perspective. The short-term nature of Government (3 to 4-year terms), the short-term horizon of the business system (driven by shareholder value), the media culture (infotainment and ‘gotcha’ games), the general Australian population’s cynical perspective and a preoccupation with a lifestyle all create a malaise of strategic thinking and conversation. Ultimately, it leads to a leadership vacuum at all levels. In recent years we have seen the leadership of some of our significant institutions failing to live up to the most basic standards, with Royal Commissions, Inquiries and investigations consuming excessive time and resources. · Catholic Church and other religious bodies · Trade Unions · Banks (and businesses generally, take casinos, for example) · the Australian Defence Force · the Australian cricket teams · our elected representatives and the staff of Parliament House As they say, “A fish rots from the head!” At best, the leadership behaviour in those institutions could be described as unethical and, at worst….just bankrupt! In the last decade, politicians have led us through a game of “leadership by musical chairs” – although, for now, it has stabilised. However, there is still an absence of a coherent narrative about business and wealth creation. It is a challenge. One attempt to provide such a narrative has been the Intergenerational Reports produced by our federal Government every few years since 2002. The shortcomings of the latest Intergenerational Report Each Intergenerational Report examines the long-term sustainability of current government policies and how demographic, technological, and other structural trends may affect the economy and the budget over the next 40 years. The fifth and most recent Intergenerational Report released in 2021 (preceded by Reports in 2002, 2007, 2010 and 2015) provides a narrative about Australia’s future – in essence, it is an extension of the status quo. The Report also highlights three key insights: 1. First, our population is growing slower and ageing faster than expected. 2. The Australian economy will continue to grow, but slower than previously thought. 3. While Australia’s debt is sustainable and low by international standards, the ageing of our population will pressure revenue and expenditure. However, its release came and went with a whimper. The recent Summit on (what was it, Jobs and Skills and productivity?) also seems to have made the difference of a ‘snowflake’ in hell in terms of identifying our long-term challenges and growth industries. Let’s look back to see how we got here and what we can learn. Australia over the last 40 years During Australia’s last period of significant economic reform (the late 1980s and early 1990s), there was a positive attempt at building an inclusive national narrative between Government and business. Multiple documents were published, including: · Australia Reconstructed (1987) – ACTU · Enterprise Bargaining a Better Way of Working (1989) – Business Council of Australia · Innovation in Australia (1991) – Boston Consulting Group · Australia 2010: Creating the Future Australia (1993) – Business Council of Australia · and others. There were workshops, consultations with industry leaders, and conferences across industries to pursue a national microeconomic reform agenda. Remember these concepts? · global competitiveness · benchmarking · best practice · award restructuring and enterprising bargaining · training, management education and multiskilling. This agenda was at the heart of the business conversation. During that time, the Government encouraged high levels of engagement with stakeholders. As a result, I worked with a small group of training professionals to contribute to the debate. Our contribution included events and publications over several years, including What Dawkins, Kelty and Howard All Agree On – Human Resources Strategies for Our Nation (published by the Australian Institute of Training and Development). Unfortunately, these long-term strategic discussions are nowhere near as prevalent among Government and industry today. The 1980s and 1990s were a time of radical change in Australia. It included: · floating the $A · deregulation · award restructuring · lowering/abolishing tariffs · Corporatisation and Commercialisation Ross Garnaut posits that the reforms enabled Australia to lead the developed world in productivity growth – given that it had spent most of the 20th century at the bottom of the developed country league table. However, in his work, The Great Reset, Garnaut says that over the next 20 years, our growth was attributable to the China mining boom, and from there, we settled into “The DOG days” – Australia moved to the back of a slow-moving pack! One unintended consequence of opening our economy to the world is the emasculation of the Australian manufacturing base. The manic pursuit of increased efficiency, lower costs, and shareholder value meant much of the labour-intensive work was outsourced. Manufacturing is now less than 6% of our GDP , less than half of what it was 30 years ago!
