I did, I do, and Iâm calling this article bullshit for not pointing out that while the protocol might be open-source, they have yet to share the server software thatâs required to operate it.
BlueSky âletsâ people host their own profile data because it reduces how much data they have to host. It does not allow them to login and browse the network without going through their centralized servers to do so.
So, itâs not really decentralized, not really open source, and remains under corporate control until such time as they decide to let anyone compete with them on their own network.
Roughly half of the population has absolutely no clue whatâs going on. Kids, old people, non-news-readers/viewers, etc.
A third of the population is vaguely aware that some shit is going down based on vibes but canât identify the problem.
Half the remaining sixth can identify the problem as political but misattribute the cause. Leaving just a 12th of the population actually aware of our situation.
No problem! I love getting into the comments under articles on quantum stuff 'cuz the topic is weirdly unintuitive from the classical perspective and a lot of folks share some common misconceptions about jargon like âteleportationâ and âentanglementâ. Please do ask if youâve got any other questions! đ
Itâs real, but the jargon is unintuitive.
âTeleportationâ in the field of quantum mechanics refers to the process by which a quantum state can be copied from one place to another.
This process is like Shrodingerâs Cat, both alive and dead until you open the box to check. Quantum information simply does not exist until a measurement collapses it into back into classical information, so copying a quantum state literally involves teleporting the information about it from sender to receiver without allowing the box to be opened during the transition.
As confusing as it seems, theyâre correct. A physical medium is still necessary to enable the two parties to interact with each other, but the information that travels through it doesnât exist until it is received.
The photons that carry the information are Shrodingerâs Cat, both alive and dead until the box is opened. Itâs impossible to know one way or another without checking, so the information about the contents of the box doesnât physically exist until then.
This has been proven via the double-slit experiment. Shining a beam of light at a card with two slits in it causes the resulting shadow to show a diffraction pattern. This is caused by the photons interacting with themselves as they pass through both slits simultaneously. However, if you put a photon detector in front of one slit to try and measure which slit the photon passes through, the diffraction pattern dissapears because the act of measuring it collapses the quantum uncertainty and prevents the photon from passing through both slits and interacting with itself. The information about which slit the photon actually passed through simply does not exist, and canât be measured without destroying the quantum diffraction pattern.
It is teleportation, but the thing being teleported is information about a quantum state.
The particles that carry this information are in a quantum superposition, like Shrodingerâs Cat. Because of quantum physics, the information they carry doesnât exist until you open the box and measure it.
They call it âteleportationâ because it allows us to copy quantum information from one place to another without ever opening the box and collapsing the superposition at any point inbetween.
The optics are just the medium through which the qubits are entangled, the interesting part isnât the lasers but the interaction between physically-separated qubits.
You could theoretically accomplish the same thing by physically bonking the qubits together so that they interact via nuclear forces instead of the electromagnetic field, like they did with entire molecules at Durham University a few weeks back: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/world-first-quantum-entanglement-of-molecules-at-92-fidelity-uk-achieves-magic/ar-AA1xfHI9
âPrevious demonstrations of quantum teleportation have focused on transferring quantum states between physically separated systems,â said Dougal Main, from the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, who led the study.
"In our study, we use quantum teleportation to create interactions between these distant systems. By carefully tailoring these interactions, we can perform logical quantum gates â the fundamental operations of quantum computing â between qubits housed in separate quantum computers.
âThis breakthrough enables us to effectively âwire togetherâ distinct quantum processors into a single, fully-connected quantum computer.â
To simplify, theyâre not just entangling pairs of photons and sending them out to two systems, but entangling entire qubits that exist on separate systems. This allows the qubits on separate systems to interact with each other without collapsing their superposition, enabling the quantum equivalent of parallel processing.
Rather than two identical Shrodingerâs Cats as in entangled photons, the entangled qubits act as one Shrodingerâs Cat thatâs in two places simultaneously.
It might be counterintuitive, but thatâs genuinely how quantum systems work.
The entangled photons are in a state of quantum superposition until they are measured, and that measurement creates information about the state of both photons.
Itâs not a process that can be used to transmit classical information, itâs a process that transmits identical quantum random numbers to two places at once that canât be intercepted without breaking their identicalness.
Think of it like an identical pair of Shrodingerâs Cats. You canât know if the cat is alive or dead 'til you open the box, but because theyâre identical you know that the other box will show the same result as your own.
The lasers donât transmit information, they transmit a quantum superposition. The act of measuring this quantum state creates information, and because the photons are entangled, this information includes what was received at both ends.
So the photons that carry the information arenât teleported, but the information itself is because it doesnât exist until it is observed.
Correct. The speed of light is the speed limit of information in the universe.
Entanglement is neat because it allows us to transmit a quantum superposition to two places at once.
Itâs like an identical pair of Shrodingerâs Cats. You canât know if the cat is alive or dead until you open the box, but you do know that the other box will show the same result as yours regardless of where it ends up.
The new thing theyâve figured out in this article is how to entangle qubits between separate quantum computers, essentially creating a single Shrodingersâ Cat that exists in two computers simultaneously which allows them to do the quantum equivalent of parallel processing.
Allow me to oversimplify for the sake of understanding:
Quantum entanglement is a process where the measurable properties of two particles become linked. For example, an entangled pair of photons might share the same polarization, so that when you measure one, youâd also learn the polarization of the other without having to measure it.
Thatâs quantum teleportation in a nutshell, send out an entangled pair of photons and each of the recipients will know what the other got without having to ask. They call it âteleportationâ because the information about who got what doesnât exist until the photons are measured, and canât be intercepted in transit because the act of measuring an entangled particle breaks the entanglement. You physically cannot tap or eavesdrop on a QE link. To do so successfully you would have to be able to capture a photon on the line and transmit an identical copy in its place simultaneously, but the act of measuring takes a non-zero amount of time and even a nanosecond of delay would be obvious to the intended recipient.
Entangled photons are like a pair of identical Shrodingerâs Cats, you canât know if they are alive or dead until you open the box, but you do know that both boxes will show the same result regardless of where they end up.
Whatâs new in this article is that theyâve managed to entangle entire qubits between separate computers, like a single Shrodingerâs Cat that exists in two places at once. Theyâll be able to use this technique to develop the quantum equivalent of parallel processing.
Iâm still hoping for another season.