The recent (Sept. 2) news about plans for a Martinis/Google quantum computer has left me thoroughly perplexed. And I’m not the only one, as evinced by comments in Scott’s and Henning’s blogs.
- Raise a martini glass for Google and Martinis!(Scott’s blog)
- The Google-Martinis Chip Will Perform Quantum Annealing(Henning’s blog)
So I thought I’d get some inside information by approaching the mascot of Martinis’ group, a perky Pomeranian called Qubit. I sent Qubit the following email, via his master, John Martinis.
From: "Robert R. Tucci"
To: "John Martinis"
Subject: question for pooch Qubit
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 14:45:28 -0700Dear Prof. Martinis, I'm crazy about dogs and I would like to interview Qubit.
Could you please ask him:Will Master Martinis work in the next 5 years on BOTH, his old gate model machine and the Google annealer with surface-code error correction, or will Master stop work on the gate model machine?
One bark if only one machine, two barks if two machines.
No reply so far.
He could have won a fine piece of chicken or a package of MilkBones or a new ball to fetch, by granting this interview. But the darn dog ain’t budging. He ain’t barking. He ain’t spilling the bean chow. He has chosen to remain true and loyal to his Master.
