Quantum Computers: Expectation vs Reality |
They say nature abhors a vacuum but a bullshitter absolutely adores a knowledge vacuum, that is, an area of expertise where most people don’t have a full or even partial understanding of the topic and this can be exploited to fill the knowledge gaps with outlandish and implausible rubbish by someone who is relying on the fact that their audience don’t know any better.
There are many examples in the tech-sphere these days, for instance, AI is not intelligence and likely never will be: it’s just a web trawler with a highly specialized algorithm or set of instructions, and it’s the fact that it has such a monumental dataset that it seems able to mimic human activity. Another one is Bitcoin which is a constant high-anxiety roller-coaster ride of sleepless nights for investors who can never truly rest and be peaceful with their investment for fear they miss the start of the rinse-cycle sell-off and find themselves one of the last poor chumps holding the empty bag. It was designed to be a medium of exchange beyond the control of the banking system, but it can never be that now; it has become an investment in itself, contrary to the whole ethos and rationale behind its creation. This subversion has turned it into a paltry but elaborate pyramid scam or Ponzi-scheme in high-tech camouflage, and it is due to enter the rinse and shrink cycle once all the suckers get on board again.
From what I noticed, it wreaked havoc on the economy of the UAE. I was there when the UAE went crazy for Bitcoin because everybody only saw the upward trend and the hype. I worked in the UAE as a school teacher during the growing Bitcoin bubble and eventual crash and my friend even taught a syllabus produced by the government, which taught the students that they couldn’t lose their money with Bitcoin. Then of course, the Bitcoin Ponzi scheme entered its shrink and rinse the suckers out phase, once the pension funds and major world governments had sunk enough money in it to pay off the players who got in earlier and who knew when to start selling, leaving the mugs holding the empty bag. Ultimately, its dramatic crash forced the UAE to implement a raft of new policies which can only have been a result of having to make backroom deals with the IMF and World Bank and might explain the reversal of several of its previous long-term policies.
For instance, at this time the UAE started shaking down their population for any bit of spare change they could get out of them; so the place I lived, a lovely seaside town called Khor Fakkan, suddenly implemented parking charges throughout the whole town and elsewhere in the country there was even a meanspirited 5 dirham charge to see the view from Jebel Jeis, the highest mountain in the country. It was clear that something had seemingly changed in the economy; it was about the same time, in 2020, that the UAE decided to officially recognize the state of Israel and allow Israelis to do business in their country, shortly afterwards an Israeli woman called Frida Kiwan was caught entering the country with half a kilogram of cocaine.
Clearly this was one of the IMF’s conditions. Furthermore, the woman had been sentenced to death, but was recently given a full pardon and released. Such is the power of Israel that its citizens can carry out specific drug crimes in the strictest country in the world for such crimes and get off Scot Free with a pardon from Sheikh Mohammed himself. The implication is clear and I won’t say anymore - I don’t want to get arrested and imprisoned myself next time I stop over at Dubai airport, and not being Israeli, it’s unlikely I will experience the same favourable personal munificence and leniency of the ruling royal family. Shortly after Frida’s initial arrest another Israel, Halil Dasuki, was also arrested in Dubai on suspicion of planning to smuggle half a ton of cocaine from Israel to the UAE. Isn’t it wonderful what quality of life improvements you get for your country when you open the door to Israelis to freely enter your country?[i]
Most of these new technologies are not improving the internet and our experience but ruining it. It now takes longer to weed out the AI voiced artificially generated Youtube videos than it does to actually watch a video based on the content you want to see and now websites can be created entirely using AI text generation, and there are more and more websites which have no real or authentic content whatsoever. Now the latest bogey and bullshit man is quantum computing. It has communicated with extra-terrestrial intelligence! It has become self-aware! It can end the world! It will replace humanity! All of these provocative ideas have been rolled out recently in the tech media fringe. Quantum computers have become a mystery box of possibilities but few people really have a clue what’s in the box.