Дарья Дмитриевна Роснина
The Hackers
‘Over a cup of tea I’ll tell you about the cricket match.”
The director’s personal recreation room was hidden behind that small door. It was quite spacious and well-designed. In addition, it was equipped with the special protective field, preventing any possibility of eavesdropping. Having closed the door firmly, Jagdish habitually walked towards a large armchair opposite a tea table with an old chess set.
“Raj, tell me what is going on here. The Curators that were pressed on us by the customer are now acting highly bizarrely. They are virtually spending whole nights in our labs while their bus is always waiting for them near the gates.
Have you seen the roof of their bus? It is packed full of electronics!
Who is this customer? I feel anxious about all this and the closer we get to the end of the works, the more intense this feeling gets.”
Is this all about the quantum processor? Atarva’s group has completed its development and tests. The results are more than impressing!
You should be happy about that! But instead you are being stressed out all the time! You think I don’t see this state of yours!”
“Waite a minute, Jagdish,” Raj cut short his friend’s lengthy speech, settling himself in a large cosy armchair. “First of all, I have always taken seriously your intuition. But you are right: I do need a piece of advice. Let’s go over the facts that beg questions: the quantum processor used to be our own development up to the moment when the information about it leaked out into the outside world. Then came that odd and generous customer and offered to buy out everything related to that processor, namely the rights to the concept and the technologies. We rejected his offer at the time, do you remember our meeting? Alright, I will go on. Then we began to face persistent calls and pressure from the above, as well as promises of new orders and funding. And here in this room, we both decided to take on the job, encouraged by the amount in the customer’s check. Am I right? So these facts beg the question: how come the confidential information on the technology that is ahead of our time and destined to change the world ended up beyond the limits of the Center? All this raises a red flag, doesn’t it?”
Jagdish nodded his head, looking fixedly at Raj.
“And then, out of the blue, appeared that company with an offer to select an appropriate development team for us. The best of the best, as they put it. That way, we acquired a group that we jokingly called the “Juniors”. However, we ceased making fun of them as we got to know them better; you yourself read me those data, sitting here in this armchair.
And as far as the Juniors are concerned, they’ve got extraordinary abilities coupled with the cause-and-effect relationships of their lives that seem to be accidently linked to the subject of the development. And then again comes this odd company that finds these specialists for us and then simply disappears. Doesn’t it seem to you that the story has too many coincidences? This is my second question!
And the third question is the most serious one, Jagdish!
A long time ago, we both recognized some sort of consistency in scientific events, but at the time that didn’t affect us immediately, and nothing went beyond words.
Remember I told you about certain oddity? That happened in the previous centuries and happens now days as well. Each time a new technology emerges, or even some scientific discovery that is ahead of its time, the same thing happens: the scientist who has made this discovery dies, his notes evaporate, as well as the machinery or the unit’s prototype. The giant shorea tree that grows opposite my window remembers those times.
Things are different these days, but this phenomenon with scientific discoveries is still there. Discoveries and technologies based on them are first bought up, and then they are locked down with the patent law, and the same thing happens to the authors of new ideas: at best they are clinically diagnosed as schizophrenics, and at the worst get involved in some tragic accidents.”
“The quantum processor is no news, Raj. And D-Wave 2000Q hasn’t been a sensation for a long time! Our development is doubtlessly ahead of…”
But the director took the liberty to interrupt his friend’s speech, which happened rather seldom.
“Do you remember the size of D-Wave? And its indicators? Our processor is not just quantum one, it’s virtually bio-processor the size of an orange and by dozens of times surpassing D-Wave! It does not require neuroelectronic interface at all! This is not merely the analogue of the human brain; this is the next stage of its evolution, if you will!”
–
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D-Wave Systems sell their fourth generation quantum computer
Published: 2017-01-29
D-Wave Systems made public the release of the commercial version of D-Wave 2000Q, fourth generation quantum computer. The firm also announced the company TDS, (Temporal Defense Systems) which specializes in the sphere of cyber security, as the first purchaser of the new device.
As compared with the previous generation of D-Wave 2X computers, the new device has twice as many qubits, and its productivity has increased thousand fold. Like all the rest D-Wave Systems computers, the device is designed to deal with specific optimization problems.
The prototype of the new D-Wave Systems quantum computer was presented in September 2016 at a specialized conference in Saint-Francisco (USA). The fact that the company’s devices are only suitable for resolving a narrow range of problems does not allow, in the opinion of some scientists, to consider them as full-fledged quantum computers.
However, this does not prevent Google and NASA to take interest in the technologies of the Canada-based D-Wave Systems, which currently is the world’s only company selling quantum computers of its own production.
Unlike classic-type computers, quantum computers operate on the basis of the quantum mechanics laws, since their calculations are conducted with the use of qubits – quantum analogues of classic bites.
–
Jagdish sat silently for a while looking his friend in the eye. As was his long-term habit, he took some time to think through the information before setting forth ways of resolving the problem. Raj knew that attentive Jagdish kept in mind each of his words. The usually energetic and cheerful like all Hindus, Jagdish was now sitting motionlessly deep in his armchair with a highly pensive air. Raj did not interrupt his thoughts, and complete silence fell upon the room for some time.
“Everything would have looked quite clear and simple, but for the seemingly random coincidences and cause-effect relationships with respect to Atarva’s group and both of us. I consider them as unknown and variable data, but these will change the outcome of this incredibly dangerous situation. What forces have created these coincidences? I believe they are more likely to be our allies! And now let’s talk about those who oppose us. Do you remember the historical records?
There exists some force that reveals certain systematic consistency in its activity. What idea did Alexander the Great carry?”
“He sought to subdue others by force, to set up colonies, and to enrich himself at the expense of the defeated.” Raj was trying to capture the course of his friend’s thoughts.
“Who stopped the spread of his idea?”
“India, the East, Raj was beginning to get the point.
“What’s the idea of the East?”
“Knowledge and spirituality.”
“That’s it! Jagdish raised his index finger and his eyes lit up with enthusiasm. “Let’s take this as a basis. And add only one thing! Did you ask me for a piece of advice? It will be brief.”
Looking his friend in the eye, Jagdish lifted up his palm with straddled fingers to the level of his eyes and then slowly began to curl them into a fist and then slightly nodded his head, smiling.
“We’ll unite our efforts and set reason against force. I got your point, my friend,” Raj interpreted his gesture and nodded in consent.
“Keep me informed about the course of events, Raj. Every single detail will be of significance now.”
“Whenever I invite you by phone for a game of chess, you know what I really mean. It will be our secret sign, okay?”
“I see. Like Nestor from Atarva’s group says, “we’ll make it”.
The Scientific Center’s labs represented huge rings divided into segments pierced through by shafts of high-speed lifts in their central parts. These grand-scale remarkable facilities were located below the ground level. One of such underground sectors housed a lab where Atarva’s group was based at the time. Each one of its members had a separate room, but at the moment all of them gathered in the central room of their leader.