It
is in the laws of how quantum systems register and process information
that we are to find the measure of the universe. Men used to
measure distance by the length between their elbow and outstretched
fingers—the cubit. Now we measure distances by the information
contained in the light emitted by two-level atoms—the
quantum bit or qubit. — Seth
Lloyd
Edge Qubit
Dinner 2006
New York
City — March 23, 2006
[click
to enlarge]
| (standing,
from left:) Laura Chang, Editor, New York Times, Science
Times; Steve Lohr, Tecnology Reporter, New YorkTimes;
Seth Lloyd, Physicist, MIT, Programming the Universe;
John Rennie, Editor, Scientific American; Jerry
Adler, Science Reporter, Newsweek; JB, Tracy Day,
Founder, New York Science Festival; John
Horgan, science
writer; Chris
Anderson, TED Conferences; (seated, from left:)
Brian Greene, Physicist, Columbia, The Fabric of the
Cosmos; Adam Bly, Publisher, Seed; Bob Guccione,
Jr,. Publisher, Discover |
Seth
Lloyd flew down from Cambridge as the keynote speaker at the
Edge Qubit dinner. He was supposed to talk about
quantum search engine algorithms. But he forgot. Steve
Lohr, technology correspondent at The
New York Times was
there and noted:
"I've
chatted with Seth before, of course, and even quoted him,
but I've never talked to him at this length. He's a stitch.
My personal favorite was his description of teaching quantum
computing to first graders: 'Arms up, arms down.'"
|
|
