{"id":96134,"date":"2019-09-12T16:43:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T23:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/is-the-universe-actually-a-giant-quantum-computer"},"modified":"2019-09-15T19:54:44","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T02:54:44","slug":"is-the-universe-actually-a-giant-quantum-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/is-the-universe-actually-a-giant-quantum-computer","title":{"rendered":"Is the Universe Actually a Giant Quantum Computer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/is-the-universe-actually-a-giant-quantum-computer5.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to MIT professor Seth Lloyd, the answer is yes. We could be living in the kind of digital world depicted in <i>The Matrix<\/i>, and not even know it.<\/p>\n<p>A researcher in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Lloyd is one of the leaders in the field of <i>quantum<\/i> <i>information<\/i>. He\u2019s been with the field from its very conception to its sky-rocketing rise to popularity. Decades ago, the feasibility of developing <i>quantum<\/i> computing devices was challenged. Now, as <i>quantum<\/i> computation is producing actual technologies, we are only left to wonder\u2014what kind of applications will it provide us with next?<\/p>\n<p>But, first things first. In a round-table discussion with undergraduates, Lloyd speaks of his early days in the field with a touch of humor, irony, and most surprisingly\u2014pride. When he just started to research <i>quantum<\/i> <i>information<\/i> in graduate school, most scientists told him to look into other areas. In fact, out of the postdoctoral programs he considered, not many were too invested in researching of <i>information<\/i> in <i>quantum<\/i> mechanics. Most universities and institutes were reluctant to take up <i>quantum<\/i> computing, but Murray Gell-Mann accepted Lloyd for a position at the California Institute of Technology. This is where many ideas behind <i>quantum<\/i> computation were born, and Lloyd is \u201cexcited by the popularity of the field today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to MIT professor Seth Lloyd, the answer is yes. We could be living in the kind of digital world depicted in The Matrix, and not even know it. A researcher in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Lloyd is one of the leaders in the field of quantum information. He\u2019s been with the field from its [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":513,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1523,38,23,1617,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computing","category-engineering","category-humor","category-quantum-physics","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96274,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96134\/revisions\/96274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}