random

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

A quantum computing future is unlikely, due to random hardware errors

Google announced this fall to much fanfare that it had demonstrated “quantum supremacy” – that is, it performed a specific quantum computation far faster than the best classical computers could achieve. IBM promptly critiqued the claim, saying that its own classical supercomputer could perform the computation at nearly the same speed with far greater fidelity and, therefore, the Google announcement should be taken “with a large dose of skepticism.” Artist’s rendition of the Google processor. Forest Stearns, Google AI Quantum Artist in Residence, CC BY-ND This wasn’t the first time someone cast doubt on quantu...

No fear: 13 random facts to get you through Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th can be spooky — if you’ve got paraskevidekatriaphobia. Both Fridays and the number 13 have a centuries-old tradition of being unlucky, according to Snopes, but the hubbub about Friday the 13th didn’t really get going until the 20th century. Here are 13 completely random facts about Friday the 13th to help you get through the day. 1. In 1908, a U.S. Senator from Oklahoma tempted fate by submitting 13 bills on Friday, March 13th. 2. You’re going to see a Friday the 13th at least every 14 months. That’s the way the math works. On the other extreme, there can be up to three Friday the 13ths in a year. (There are two this year.) 3. Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro was born on Friday, Aug. 13 in 1926. It didn’t appear to have affected his luck ... he lived to be 90 and survi...

How Do I Begin to Understand Random Violence?

To cure the violence, we must identify and heal the causes of hatred and violence. If we don't deal with the causes we will never be safe. ~Peter Yarrow~ The term random violence suggests that there is no explanation for such acts which have become all too commonplace recently. Acceptance that there is no explanation implies that that there is nothing we can do about it. The approach of placing more guns in the hands of civilians has been promoted as one possible solution although it sounds scary to me. Commentators and others have scratched their heads trying to clarify the reasons for this violence. Among the possibilities are parenting styles, the effects of mental illness, the proliferation of guns, violent video games, media sensationalism and violent lyrics in music. We would li...