When it comes to computers... I'm a pretty "Ones and Zeros" kinda guy. Regardless of the platform or processor architecture, binary is what I'm used to.
Quantum Computing? For me, that's Black Magic Funky Voodoo (tm).
Instead of 1's & 0's -- like a normal computer -- Quantum Computers use "qubits", a data type that can be either a 1 or a 0 (like binary). Or a "qubit" can be a 1 that has "aspects" that are "kinda sorta like" a 0. Or a 0 which is also, simultaneously, a 1.
In other words... Black Magic Funky Voodoo (tm).
But the number one thing that gives me pause about Quantum Computing is, I would wager, the exact same thing that is causing you to not currently be interested in buying a Quantum Computer.
The lack of DOOM.
Well, buckle up, Buttercup. Because someone has just ported DOOM to a Quantum Computer.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: QuanDOOM.
Ok, it doesn't look quite like a 256 color, VGA DOOM... but, still. Pretty cool!
According to the developer, there are some pretty significant differences to regular "DOOM". Namely (quoting the dev):
- It's only the first level, more could be added, it's just a matter of mapping them.
- Everything is x-ray due to reversibility shenanigans.
- No color because it'd make rendering a lot harder and the x-ray would look weirder.
- No music or sound.
- No level secrets, although again it's just a matter of mapping.
From the developer:
"Despite decades of active research, there is yet to be developed a single practical use for quantum computers. This changes today, with the release of Quandoom, a port of the first level of DOOM designed for a quantum computer, given as a single QASM file, using a mere 70,000 qubits and 80 million gates. Although such a quantum computer doesn't exist right now, Quandoom is efficiently simulatable on a classical computer, capable of running at 10-20 fps on my laptop using the accompanying lightweight (150 lines of C++) QASM simulator."
Wait. Wait. QuanDOOM requires 70,000 qubits?
70 thousand? How does that compare to the currently available Quantum Computers? Well, heh, the most powerful Quantum Computer in the world -- produced by Atom Computing -- currently handles roughly 1 thousand qubits.
In other words: QuanDOOM requires a Quantum Computer that is roughly 70 times more powerful than anything currently available.
Currently, it can be run within a simulator -- because a Quantum Computer capable of running it doesn't exist -- on both Linux and macOS. Gobbling up between 5 and 6 GB of RAM.
"The circuit needs 72,376 total qubits, 8,376 qubits not counting the screen, of which 6,986 are ancilla qubits. The circuit file has 83,651,224 lines, so at least that many gates (will actually be more, since many lines are subroutines)."
Now, QuanDOOM must function differently than regular DOOM. Because Quantum Computers, compared to Binary Computers, are really friggin weird.
So, how does QuanDOOM work?
"The game loop is as follows:
1. the user pressing a key sets the value of one of the input qubits
2. the QASM file containing all of the quantum gates is applied to the entire state
3. the last 64,000 qubits are measured and displayed as a 320 x 200 screen of binary pixels
4. the screen and input qubits are reset and the process repeats"
... weird.
I mean, don't get me wrong. Super, duper cool! I mean, heck! This is DOOM! On a Quantum Computer!
But. Wow. So weird.
This also leaves me wondering how far out Quantum Computers are from being truly useful. I hate to be "that guy", but if you can't run a crazily stripped down version of DOOM on the most powerful Quantum Computer on Earth... yet you can easily "simulate" it on a Thinkpad?
How useful can Quantum Computers actually be?
