alt Hacker NewsReplication of Quantum Factorisation Records with a VIC-20, an Abacus, and a Dog
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I guess I'll post it here as well. This is my personal take on the whole story: https://gagliardoni.net/#20250714_ludd_grandpas
A relevant quote: "this is your daily reminder that "How large is the biggest number it can factorize" is NOT a good measure of progress in quantum computing. If you're still stuck in this mindset, you'll be up for a rude awakening."
Related: this is from Dan Bernstein: https://blog.cr.yp.to/20250118-flight.html#moon
A relevant quote: "Humans faced with disaster tend to optimistically imagine ways that the disaster will be avoided. Given the reality of more and more user data being encrypted with RSA and ECC, the world will be a better place if every effort to build a quantum computer runs into some insurmountable physical obstacle"
on a related note the search space for https://www.qdayprize.org/curves seems far too small to be a meaningful contest and the rules dont seem to address how they judge the validity of the "quantumness" when sifting such small groups.
Call me crazy but I love this. Thanks teddyh.
Ha! Peter Gutmann is always fun.
After having read this paper I'm busy working on the replication of String Theory with a plate of Spaghetti, a packet of instant Ramen noodles and a pair of Octopuses. I would have used a single octopus but those 8 arms don't cover the 12 dimensions in String Theory. Technically a single squid might suffice - it has 8 arms, 2 tentacles and 2 fins which makes 12 - but that wouldn't be fair to the dimensions which get stuck with the fins while others get to walk away with those tentacles.
> We verified this by taking a recently-calibrated reference dog, Scribble, depicted in Figure 6, and having him bark three times, thus simultaneously factorising both 15 and 21. This process wasn’t as simple as it first appeared because Scribble is very well behaved and almost never barks.