Quantum computing could head to 'the cloud', study says

I don't think "The Diamond Age" is a realistic prediction of the future. Quantum security systems can't protect anyone from intrusive governments which are already monitoring our phone calls, e-mails, and everything else. The US government even made it illegal at one point in the 90s to use encryption methods they couldn't crack. If necessary they'll make it illegal to own or use any computer that doesn't contain circuitry that allows them to monitor all activity, while still allowing quantum cryptographic systems that bar others outside the government from monitoring our activities.

Its not a question of privacy or ethics, but merely whatever gives any particular government a competitive edge at any given time. For example, the US has been studiously monitoring communications networks in Europe since WWII using everything from submarines tapping into underwater phone lines to monitoring cellphone towers. During the cold war this was considered a competitive advantage for the Europeans as well as the US, but with the cold war over now Europe has become a leader in the commercial applications of quantum cryptography. In particular their banks which like the US banks make a killing off routinely committing fraud and, in some cases, providing shelters and money laundering services for illegal drug cartels or whatever.

Whether a security system involves cryptography, a floor safe, or your own private army it always comes down to what you can afford, what you absolutely need, and whether or not it is advantageous for the government or whoever really runs the country.

i agree that "the diamond age" future isn't a good prediction per see, but the servers don't need to be in the US (and most of them aren't manufactured there anyway), and there are many countries that would change their politicaly role completely if property tax brought more money then income tax. countries where oil digging rights, mining rights and even fertile agricultural land puts them ahead of the US. it doesn't even have to be 3rd world countries, even canada would benefit from doing so.

and you really only need it to be done somewhere in the world.

Originally Posted by traceur

i agree that "the diamond age" future isn't a good prediction per see, but the servers don't need to be in the US (and most of them aren't manufactured there anyway), and there are many countries that would change their politicaly role completely if property tax brought more money then income tax. countries where oil digging rights, mining rights and even fertile agricultural land puts them ahead of the US. it doesn't even have to be 3rd world countries, even canada would benefit from doing so.

and you really only need it to be done somewhere in the world.

I'm not sure what you mean by "...you really only need it to be done somewhere in the world." Basically the US is an empire today and controls land distribution worldwide. The last people to resist the US hegemony and even hint they might redistribute the wealth were the Haitians and we immediately threatened to bomb them back to the stone age despite the fact they already lived in shacks.

Originally Posted by wuliheron

I'm not sure what you mean by "...you really only need it to be done somewhere in the world." Basically the US is an empire today and controls land distribution worldwide. The last people to resist the US hegemony and even hint they might redistribute the wealth were the Haitians and we immediately threatened to bomb them back to the stone age despite the fact they already lived in shacks.

ok just to make sure i'm not misunderstanding you...

is this going to lead to a PoV where all corporations and governments are viewed entirely as the same thing working together behind everyone's back and then its going to be either the masons or the elders of zion or something like that?

because... i'm not going there. sorry for the arogant tone, but for me the mental tendecy to make connections without filtering them through is something that i overcame when i was a teenager, and i am not planing to go back.

Originally Posted by traceur

ok just to make sure i'm not misunderstanding you...

is this going to lead to a PoV where all corporations and governments are viewed entirely as the same thing working together behind everyone's back and then its going to be either the masons or the elders of zion or something like that?

because... i'm not going there. sorry for the arogant tone, but for me the mental tendecy to make connections without filtering them through is something that i overcame when i was a teenager, and i am not planing to go back.

No, I'm not suggesting some sort of conspiracy theory or that progress isn't possible. Quite the opposite, I'm suggesting as usual reality tends to be much more complicated then we often portray it. I can imagine those countries with enough wealth and power eventually adopting quantum networks, but more likely it will be governments and corporations adopting their use first to exploit people and give themselves a competitive edge.

Originally Posted by wuliheron

No, I'm not suggesting some sort of conspiracy theory or that progress isn't possible. Quite the opposite, I'm suggesting as usual reality tends to be much more complicated then we often portray it. I can imagine those countries with enough wealth and power eventually adopting quantum networks, but more likely it will be governments and corporations adopting their use first to exploit people and give themselves a competitive edge.

thankyou for clearing that up.

why wouldn't corporations - let's say banks - use this to gain a competitve edge? offering your clients untracable transaction records that can't be audited or can be reported at a flat rate no matter the transaction amount? isn't that a huge competitve edge? and to continue the line of reasoning, why wouldn't cloud computing hosts, knowing that they have potential clients such as banks who would gladly use such services to gain a competitve edge, use quantum computing to gain a competitve edge themselves?

and why wouldn't these companies, seen that potential, lobby to ensure that they can do so? you can lobby a congressman for less of the price of a used car (bills have being passed by as low as 5000USD). these sort of companies would have huge stakes if such a process became feasible. why would they care if the taxation system would suffer?

Originally Posted by traceur

thankyou for clearing that up.

why wouldn't corporations - let's say banks - use this to gain a competitve edge? offering your clients untracable transaction records that can't be audited or can be reported at a flat rate no matter the transaction amount? isn't that a huge competitve edge? and to continue the line of reasoning, why wouldn't cloud computing hosts, knowing that they have potential clients such as banks who would gladly use such services to gain a competitve edge, use quantum computing to gain a competitve edge themselves?

and why wouldn't these companies, seen that potential, lobby to ensure that they can do so? you can lobby a congressman for less of the price of a used car (bills have being passed by as low as 5000USD). these sort of companies would have huge stakes if such a process became feasible. why would they care if the taxation system would suffer?

In the west there's a tendency to view war as merely grown men shooting at each other, however it can also be economic or anything else. For example, it was only after the US cut off Japan from their source of oil that they bombed Pearl Harbor. Whether people are threatened by bombs, starvation, or whatever doesn't matter if they're going to suffer and die. Corporations using unbreakable quantum cryptography to gain a huge competitive edge risk being attacked in every way imaginable. They've either got what it takes to fight off such attacks, go down fighting, or capitulate. The higher the stakes, the more vicious the attacks.

Originally Posted by wuliheron

Corporations using unbreakable quantum cryptography to gain a huge competitive edge risk being attacked in every way imaginable.

short selling? that doesn't actually work if their stocks are going up...
law suits? because that's why companies buy legal insurance...
or are you envisioning a world where F22s are targeting skyscrappers because a company rents one of its floors?

really, other then offering the exact same service in a welfare package, how would you go about attacking a corporate entity?

@wuliheron

the only potential commercial use for them anytime in the foreseeable future is for cryptographic purposes.

And I'm quite sure the government will use these. After all it requires a lot of processing capability to perform all of these mass-surveillance activities.


@unsung truth

World's first commercial quantum computer sold to Lockheed Martin

How does a 128 qbit processing compare to a typical supercomputer in terms of processing power?

Originally Posted by traceur

short selling? that doesn't actually work if their stocks are going up...
law suits? because that's why companies buy legal insurance...
or are you envisioning a world where F22s are targeting skyscrappers because a company rents one of its floors?

really, other then offering the exact same service in a welfare package, how would you go about attacking a corporate entity?

Corporations can be attacked in countless ways. Governments can take them over merely on the pretext of national security, endless lawsuits, espionage, and even assassination are not unheard of. In fact modern bureaucracy was in part deliberately designed to be large, slow, and unwieldy to prevent any single business from dominating all the others and turning local government into a banana republic. Today every type of corporation imaginable has strict limits placed on its activities to ensure the marketplace does not repeatedly collapse into anarchy.

Quantum cryptography is no different. If a corporation were to use it to sell government secrets, for example, it could be devastating. Even merely suppressing the competition too much is sometimes seen as a threat to national security because it can stifle innovation and technological progress. Make no mistake about it, corporations can be downright evil and are strictly regulated usually for good reasons.