Late last year there was an ominous series of reports which seeped into the various lubricious channels of internet tech media; whether this report was an accidental leak or a somewhat more contrived example of the moistest kind of media manipulation in order to drive up interest and the share-price of an ailing tech company, we can only speculate. From the many tech websites the same fevered phrase, worthy of Black Mesa and the scientific rhetoric of the understated apocalyptical disaster: an ‘unforeseen incident’.
The fact
that we are all still here and in no immediate danger of being attacked by jumping
head-crabs while taking the dog for a morning walk, and turning into a head-crab
zombie with clawed slashing arms and a maw of jagged teeth coming out of our
chest cavity by lunchtime, indicates that the worst scientific-disaster has
either been averted or just not happened yet.
Obviously, it’s hard to get serious or reliable information about
what might have taken place during NASA’s experiments with quantum computing, and why NASA reportedly shut down
their experiments with a D-Wave quantum computer at the
AMES research laboratory in California. Perhaps the most conservative report about the story, from Medium, states
that:
“…during
a recent test, the computer-generated results that were inconsistent with known
physical laws.”[1]
This sounds somewhat ambiguous and if you squint and have an
over-active imagination, just like I hope you do because I definitely do, then it
almost sounds like the quantum computer started operating on another level of
reality and managed to high-five God and had a chat with him and this freaked out
all the crazy bald-head boffins so they shut it down. On the other hand, since one
issue with quantum computing is that it is particularly ‘noisy’ it may be that
the quantum computer just started generating a load of old rubbish. Data and results
are easily corrupted due to the extremely sensitive nature of the quantum
state, and the fact that even inputting instructions, adds energy which temporarily
disrupts the quantum state which can only be maintained at extreme low
temperatures where atomic and vibrational activity is almost nill.
An apparent
source for all this appears to be an Indian tech writer called Gaurav Sharma
who writes for the Times Internet
group and also writes for Medium. He published an article for UdayIndia in December 2023 and an edited version
of this article appeared on a website called Techgig[2]
in February 2024
“The abrupt shutdown of NASA's quantum computing project was
triggered by an unforeseen incident during a routine test.”
This article also features its own example of a Shrödinger’s cat quantum
paradox since the article reports that the D-Wave computer both reportedly succeeded
and failed spectacularly at the same time:
“During the analysis of a complex simulation, the quantum
computer demonstrated unprecedented computational power, solving a previously
intractable problem. However, this remarkable achievement had an equally
alarming consequence: quantum computers began generating outputs that made no
sense and challenged conventional thinking.”
This is followed by a sudden hard swerve into the Twilight-Zone:
“Researchers and government officials were concerned that
the quantum computer might have connected with an extraterrestrial intelligence
or even entered an unknown realm of computation.”
I mean, it’s certainly possible. As I have tried to demonstrate, the quantum realm is the source of everything in the universe and is a kind of overworld God realm, but is it possible that quantum computers can meet and greet directly with God or hang with aliens exchanging top bants and dank memes in 4 dimensional chat-rooms?
An expert
in emerging technologies Scott L Hamilton who works at the ailing French multinational
multimillion Euro IT services and security company ATOS, writing for the Techshepherd blog refers
to the techgig.com article as an apparently authoritative source and Scott’s
analysis lapses wonderfully into just the kind of science-fiction
sensationalism that we all would love to believe is real, because after all, we
love to play video games about aliens coming in through dimensional portals and
blowing them into spray paint with the Tao Cannon, but always with the
understanding that when we turn the computer off the aliens go away.
“The quantum computing program was actually more successful
than expected and gave NASA some surprising results.”
He then adds
his own editorial to the Techgig source article:
“I
do not believe NASA’s quantum computer contacted extraterrestrial intelligence,
but rather became extraterrestrial intelligence.”[3]
He also notes that NASA’s Quantum Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (QuAIL) stopped reporting and posting its researches in April 2023, leading
him to suppose that the project had been abandoned, and his conclusions about
this are suitably melodramatic:
“To me this indicates that either they killed the program,
or found things too dangerous to share with the general public and have
silenced their research.”
A Reddit thread discusses this potentially mysterious shutdown and
posits three plausible possibilities for the apparent shut-down, but it should
be noted that in this more logical deductive approach there is regrettably no
mention of extra-terrestrials being one of the possible explanations.
“a) government/administrative/individual_senator interference
("this is dangerous"; "the existing infrastructure is not yet
ready for this")
b) it's a false report - but the work has gone undercover due to security
concerns
c) genuine loss of functionality: something has been damaged (possibly just one
qbit site), and software/hardware workarounds do not currently exist
NB that both failed sites and random ( often clustered) "soft" errors
are commonplace in conventional computing, and are dealt with by a mix of
isolation and error correction.”[4]
It might merely be a coincidence that ATOS is an IT services
company which deals with issues of AI and cyber security. Could it be an instance
of one company generating publicity for another which would be mutually beneficial
to their share prices? Is that being too paranoid? Or is it less paranoid to
believe that a computer became dangerously sentient and had to be switched off before
it took over the world?
In an article from ‘The AI Spectator’ page on Linkedin, published
in the same November 2023 time-frame, David Borish, whose precise scientific
credentials cannot be ascertained, but he describes himself as ‘Creative
Technologist & AI Strategist with 20+ years of experience building
companies & brands’, we find what I assume to be a different aspect to the
same story and presumably a different source but with no less salivating apocalyptical
rhetoric and more mention of extra-terrestrials which makes want to boot up my
Tor browser to try to procure some fresh depleted Uranium 235 for the Tau Cannon
which exists only in my mind, but at least I'll have the ammo:
“Government Shuts Down NASA Quantum
Research & OpenAI Staff Warn Board of a Discovery called Q*: Coincidence or
Connection?
In a surprising turn of events, the U.S. government made headlines
two weeks ago by ordering the shutdown of NASA's ambitious quantum research
projects. This move came at a time when OpenAI staff researchers had just
penned a letter to their board of directors, raising concerns about a powerful
AI discovery named Q* and its potential consequences for humanity. Are these
two seemingly unrelated events connected, and what could their convergence mean
for society?”
The article then pontificates inoffensively about the growth of quantum
computers in both the public and private sectors and the potential impact on
society and talks in vague terms about the growth of quantum mechanics and the
quantum revolution before using this as a springboard which the writer feels
bouncy enough to leap into the following:
“Detecting Advanced Alien Civilizations and Encryption Threats
One of the most intriguing possibilities presented by quantum
computing is the potential to detect advanced alien civilizations. The idea is
that these civilizations might utilize black holes as perfect environments for
quantum computing, driven by the laws of quantum physics and gravity. Such a
discovery could redefine our understanding of the universe and our place within
it.”
The writer then calms himself down a bit and returns to Earth and
resumes pontificating about ‘great responsibility’ and ‘double-edged swords’
but sadly fails to mention Tau Cannons, and talks in very general terms about
the possibility of malicious misuse of this technology for hacking and
attacking secure encryption and stealing private, top-secret and scientific
information. Until finally revealing that the ‘threat to humanity’ is
apparently something to do with AI software which frankly, comes across as a bit
of an anti-climax.
“The Government's Concerns and OpenAI's Letter
The sudden shutdown of NASA's quantum research projects has raised
eyebrows, especially when considered alongside the concerns expressed by OpenAI
staff researchers. The letter they wrote to the board of directors highlighted
a powerful AI discovery named Q*, which they believed could pose a threat to
humanity. While the exact details of the letter remain undisclosed, it's clear
that it raised significant concerns about the potential misuse of AI
advancements and the consequences of rapid commercialization.”
Reuters, who really should know better, released the same story
with a startling introductory paragraph, informing readers of some kind of
imminent threat to humanity called the Q star, which on first reading, could be
the long-anticipated extra-terrestrials come to either solve all the world’s
problems or else put us all out of our misery once and for all, but once the
sensationalist sheen is seen to be micron thin and blown away quickly once the
article starts to go into boring detail and the whole issue is revealed to be
not quite as exciting or dangerous to humanity as might have been hoped and
could well be just another exercise in brand moistening followed by an invigorating
massage:
“Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s four days in exile, several
staff researchers wrote a letter to the board of directors warning of a
powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten
humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.”
The last line in particular could just as easily read ‘a couple of
blokes in the pub told me so’. It’s only in the final paragraph that we
discover that the actual form of the apocalyptical threat to humanity from the
dreaded legion speeding through space from the Q-star, or something, is…. That possibly
Q* can perform some tasks better than humans, though I doubt it can make a
particularly good cup of tea.
“Some at OpenAI believe Q* (pronounced Q-Star) could be a
breakthrough in the startup's search for what's known as artificial general
intelligence (AGI), one of the people told Reuters. OpenAI defines AGI as
autonomous systems that surpass humans in most economically valuable tasks.”[5]
ATOS like
D-Wave has faced mixed fortunes lately and the fact that both companies are
struggling to survive indicates one of two possibilities, that the whole story
is partially manufactured to generate interest. Whether this news was an
attempt to drive interest in the D-Wave quantum computer and increase its share-price,
which had been glumly sitting below the 1 dollar range for a continuous period of 30 days and D-Wave Quantum
Systems Inc. had received a Notice of Non-Compliance, section 802.01C of
the New York Stock Exchange’s Listed Company Manual, and been given a six-month
window during which its stock price had to be above 1 dollar for a continuous
30 day period otherwise face the prospect of imminent delisting. In the third quarter of 2024 the company
was operating at a net loss of 22.7 million dollars with modest yearly revenue
of on average, about 5 million dollars and an operation staff of some 200
people. A thread, also on Reddit asks why D-Wave gone bankrupt yet?[6]
And one of the responses was that government money is probably involved. This
is particularly pertinent since Lockheed Martin purchased the first
commercially available quantum computer from D-Wave in May 2011 for 10 million dollars.[7]
It is worth remembering that Lockheed Martin is the CIA’s primary intelligence
contractor, providing surveillance and information processing services, and as
such is arguably part of the ‘shadow government’ and an aspect of the
deep-state, and there might be justifiable concerns about the implications of
quantum computers being somehow used to monitor and spy on private citizens. A fact
which, although not of apocalyptical world-ending import, such levels of
government computational power ought to fill us with the same dread that a
possible imminent alien invasion would, and perhaps whatever phantom enemies
are conjured perhaps our greatest enemy has always been and always will be, our
own governments.
At the beginning of November 2024, D-Wave regained compliance
with the NYSE[8],
and not only that but it is now being quietly touted as a hot-stock,[9]
certainly had you invested at the start of November 2024 you would have tripled
your investment in less than a month and this could even be the beginning of its race to the moon and it could
well become the next Nvidia. However, D-Wave’s
present stock value at 3 dollars 17 cents represents something of a significant
portfolio loss if you went in at 10 dollars thinking this company would be the
next big thing in tech, and far short of present price of tech-goliath Tesla
stock at 352.56 dollars. Funnily enough there are a string of goofy Youtube
videos claiming Elon Musk himself shut down the D-Wave quantum computer. To be
fair, as click-baity bullshitty as these videos may be, their producers using
whatever favourite AI voice profile tickles their fancy, do actually have a lot
of well researched facts about quantum computing and the videos are quite
interesting, though of course, there is nothing actually in the video to substantiate
that Elon Musk himself had anything to do with ‘shutting down’ the D-Wave
quantum computer.
Who knows
what might happen in the future and it might be worth watching D-Wave, assuming
any more news, whether real or fabricated, emerges from the obscure depths of
its quantum shenanigans, and try to maintain in your own mind, something of the
Schrodinger’s cat state or healthy quantum uncertainty. It could be true, but
at the same time, it could be bullshit.
[1] https://medium.com/@techezone657/nasa-shuts-down-quantum-computer-after-unexpected-results-dbd5e34b065c
[2] https://content.techgig.com/technology/nasas-quantum-computing-project-hits-pause-button-reason-is-shocking/articleshow/107532517.cms
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/QuantumComputing/comments/18nm1qo/what_was_all_that_news_last_month_about_nasa/
[5]
https://www.reuters.com/technology/sam-altmans-ouster-openai-was-precipitated-by-letter-board-about-ai-breakthrough-2023-11-22/
[7] https://www.engadget.com/2011-05-29-d-wave-sells-first-commercial-quantum-computer-to-lockheed-marti.html
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