Vancouver Lisp Users Group meeting for February - Quantum Computing
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Paul Bunyk of
D-Wave sent me an invitation for the
lispvan membership
to attend a special presentation at
Science World (the presentation is
not specifically for lispvan, but it is one that should interest the
group). D-Wave calls itself "The Quantum Computing Company" and they
will be giving a presentation on Quantum Computing at Science World on
February 15th. It is a "limited attendance" presentation and you will
need to register if you want to attend (registration is at:
http://www.dwavesys.com), but Paul said that he should be able to
arrange some "back door" passes for us even if the event does fill up.
Some more information is on the
D-Wave blog: http://dwave.wordpress.com/
"So, quantum computing might be interesting", you are probably saying
to yourself, "but what is the connection to lisp?" Well, there are
some lambdas there in the mix as well. ;-)
Here's the "official" meeting notice:
Topic: Quantum Computing
Presenter: D-Wave
Date: Thursday, February 15, 2007
Time: 4pm - ??pm
Venue:
Science World, 1455 Quebec Street, Vancouver (see
map)
Summary: In
On Lisp, Paul Graham
states:
"A nondeterministic algorithm is one which relies on a certain sort of supernatural foresight. Why talk about such algorithms when we don't have access to computers with supernatural powers?"Well, Quantum Computers could potentially provide us with computers that "will be able to solve certain problems asymptotically faster than any classical computer". D-Wave is a company that calls itself "The Quantum Computing Company" and they will be giving a presentation on Quantum Computing at Science World. For those of us who don't have a background in quantum theory, there are some good introductory tutorials here: http://www.quantiki.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Introductory_Tutorials
So, be sure to register for the event and come to Science World on February 15th to see a "computer with supernatural powers".
