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Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Cooking Up Quantum Computing: Is It Dinnertime Yet?
BANGKOK, THAILAND - 2004/10/01: A chef demonstrates how to cook Spring Rolls at the Peninsula ... More Hotel's cooking school in Bangkok. Opening one of their restaurant kitchens as a real to life kitchen, the Peninsula has joined ranks in Thailand's latest tourism trend: Thai cooking schools, where visitors to the kingdom can learn the secrets of one of the world's most favorite cuisines and then take them home. (Photo by Leisa Tyler/LightRocket via Getty Images) Quantum computing is something of an enigma. For many analysts, advocates and evangelists across the technology industry, the quantum mixture has been quite maturely and meticulously defined; all we're waiting for now is a hardware-first evolution of systems design and manufacturing to make these super-powerful services more readily available. At the same time, many hands-on practitioners see it as further afield and might list it as a still-embryonic technology, due to fact that its mass market ubiquity is clearly lower in terms of penetration. Let's stop short of explaining quantum computing from scratch again, but perhaps remember that in standard binary computing, there are heads and tails, on and off, ones and zeros… but in quantum, the coin is spinning in the air and the value is potentially both heads and tails at the same time, a measure which is further extended depending on what angle we view the money piece from. In search of a comparatively original analogy to explain where quantum computing is at SAS CTO Bryan Harris has likened quantum computing to cooking on a five-burner stove with just four pots, while trying to fix 10 different meals using a multiplicity of different ingredients, some organic, some store-bought, standard issue. The cook's challenge (if this scenario were real) would be working out what order to cook the dishes in, when and where pots and pans could be reused, which ones needed to be cleaned to avoid cross-contamination… and then perhaps which ones could be left unwashed to build an enriched flavor profile in the final meal. With so many enterprise technology vendors (mostly large-scale, but start-ups too) now laying down a menu for the quantum arena today, it's not outrageous to say that few Michelin stars are being handed out in this market right now. We don't quite know all the recipes yet; we might even see too many cooks spoiling the broth unless we start to agree on some standardization. In terms of which firms are most active in quantum computing from the software application perspective development end of the spectrum, the key list includes IBM with the IBM Quantum platform offering a cloud-based access route to its superconducting qubit systems. Alongside the aforementioned SAS, there is Cisco and of course Google's Quantum AI division, which also centralizes its research and development on superconducting qubit technology. Through Azure Quantum, Microsoft makes sure it has skin in the game, then there is AWS, with the cloud hyperscaler giant providing quantum computing services through Amazon Braket, a technology base intended to enable software engineering teams to play and experiment with different quantum hardware platforms including technology from D-Wave, IonQ and Rigetti. The list of quantum luminaries (or luminaries in waiting) also includes Quantinuum, PsiQuantum, the above-noted D-Wave. With a reputation for advancing quantum annealing technology, D-Wave has progressed this method of optimization in the quantum field, which involves processes such as 'tunneling' to find the lowest energy state for any quantum computation. Finally, let's mention Xanadu, an organization that has become known for its open source approach to photonic quantum computing methods (something NTT also works closely and extensively with), which makes use of light particles (photons) rather than electrical electrons for computation. Aiming to become what it calls the 'Microsoft of quantum' (which in our epicurean analogy might be the McDonald's of quantum) is Israeli start-up Classiq Technologies. Now with funding and four years of development under its belt, founding CEO Nir Minerbi, CTO Yehuda Naveh and his son CPO Amir Naveh, think they have a recipe for success. Classiq Technologies has designed and created a software operating platform (as opposed to an operating system) intended to be used with what the firm says is 'all major types' of quantum hardware. The technology is custom-aligned to enable software engineers who primarily define themselves as data science specialists and computational scientists to develop quantum algorithms and create software applications and data services that with high-performance computational power. The company's Minerbi is quoted on the Times Of Israel saying, 'We are building the Microsoft of quantum computing. [This is] a software layer that powers the next generation of quantum applications, just as Microsoft did for classical computing. Microsoft's Windows made computers easier to use and allowed millions of people to build software without worrying about the machine underneath. Quantum computing is at a similar point today as personal computing was back then: It's powerful but hard to use… and we are delivering the essential software stack to empower the development of real-world quantum applications.' Back at SAS - a company that has laid down an arguably established estate of hybrid quantum offerings for some years now - the company somewhat hopefully suggests that as many as three out of five businesses are exploring quantum AI. The company's latest market study of quantum and related technologies makes direct inroads towards the possibility of quantum AI. SAS defines quantum AI by reminding us that 'The early 2000s saw the establishment of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab by NASA, Google and the Universities Space Research Association. This initiative aimed to pioneer research on how quantum computing could enhance machine learning and other complex computational tasks. Around the same time, researchers began developing quantum machine learning algorithms, which leverage quantum computing to improve the speed and accuracy of AI models. In recent years, the focus has shifted toward the practical application of quantum AI.' SAS is sure that it has a handle on why firms struggle with quantum adoption and says that its research finds top concerns that include high cost, a lack of quantum skill sets and uncertainty around practical, real-world uses. The company thinks that while interest in quantum AI is on the rise, organizations need a clear roadmap and guide to make better use of this technology. Through pilot projects with customers, quantum AI research and work with leaders in quantum computing, SAS says it can provide guidance to businesses on applying quantum technologies as it seeks to make quantum understandable and approachable to a broad audience. It wants to help organizations get value out of emerging quantum services faster without having to understand the complex quantum market or the physics behind the technology. 'For decades, SAS has helped organizations across a host of industries find better answers faster and improve business decisions through data and AI. With the emergence of quantum technologies, companies can analyze more data than ever and achieve amazingly fast answers to very complex questions involving myriad variables,' said Bill Wisotsky, principal quantum architect at SAS. Wisotsky and team also detail the fact that a major consumer goods company is working with SAS on a proof of concept related to hybrid quantum-classical optimization, using quantum annealing and SAS classical optimization solvers. The company is now working with D-Wave Quantum Inc, IBM and QuEra Computing Inc. The latter is a specialist in neutral-atom quantum computing and SAS is a member of the QuEra Quantum Alliance Partner Program. 'SAS is already tackling real-world problems by applying hybrid architectures, which include both quantum and traditional (aka. classical) computing. Quantum AI brings together quantum computing and AI to develop new algorithms, models and systems that can process complex data, train complicated machine learning models and solve problems considered challenging or impossible with traditional computers,' detailed the company, in a press statement. Cisco has also been working hard to get the quantum dinner table set. The company's Quantum network entanglement chip is a research prototype that enables quantum networks to scale and connect quantum processors for practical applications. According to Vijoy Pandey, senior VP for Outshift by Cisco, just as Cisco helped build infrastructure for the internet, the organization is now focused on creating quantum networking technology that will be the foundation for the quantum internet, thereby (he claims) making quantum computing practical, 'years ahead of current timelines' with new milestone developments. The company recently opened Cisco Quantum Labs, a dedicated research lab in Santa Monica, CA, where quantum scientists and engineers are building tomorrow's quantum networking technologies. "Here's the challenge: today's quantum processors have only hundreds of qubits, while applications require millions. Even the most ambitious quantum computing roadmaps currently only target a few thousand qubits by 2030,' explained Pandey. 'Decades ago, classical computing faced similar challenges until we began to connect smaller nodes together through networking infrastructure to create powerful distributed systems within data centers and cloud computing. Just as the use of large classical monolithic computer systems phased out, the future of quantum does not lie in a single monolithic quantum computer. Scaled-out quantum data centers, where processors work together through specialized networking, will be the practical and achievable path forward. Companies building quantum processors will benefit from Cisco's quantum networking technologies to scale their systems. By building this infrastructure now, Cisco is helping to accelerate the entire quantum ecosystem.' Cisco's prototype quantum network entanglement chip generates pairs of entangled photons that enable instantaneous connection regardless of distance through quantum teleportation. That's a technology that Einstein described as 'spooky action at a distance' and is now becoming a reality. The company says its developments in this space work with existing infrastructures and operate at standard telecom wavelengths, so they can use existing fiber optic infrastructure. Crucially, here, this technology works effectively at room temperature as a miniaturized Photonic Integrated Chip (PIC), a significant development given the massive heat generated by quantum and the major cooling systems that are usually needed. 'Beyond the entanglement chip, we're using the lab to advance research prototypes of other critical components to complete our vision of the quantum networking stack, including entanglement distribution protocols, a distributed quantum computing compiler, Quantum Network Development Kit and a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) using quantum vacuum noise. More components of our quantum datacenter infrastructure roadmap will be announced soon as we complete our vision of the quantum networking stack,' blogged Pandey. So is it quantum dinnertime, is the table laid and are all the pots and pans ready to go into process in the right sequence? We might optimistically say yes, to a degree, but you might want to get your orders in early and wait for a few kitchen mishaps along the way. When the final dishes do arrive, they will be supersized, superfast and hopefully super tasty.
National Geographic
01-04-2025
- National Geographic
Ancient walking trails are back—and you can hike them
Mei Zhang grew up amid the emerald-cloaked mountains of Yunnan, China, where an old joke mentions that the gorges were so narrow, and their slopes so steep, that you could shout across the valleys to ask your nearest neighbors to dinner. The punchline—in a region where walking paths were the only links between some rural homes—is that it would still take them all day to arrive. 'The mountains and the trails shaped the way people lived,' recalls Zhang, a National Geographic Explorer and founder of the travel company WildChina. They defined Zhang's childhood, even as the landscape fired her yearning to see the world. 'When you looked out in front of you, it was mountains after mountains. And you didn't know what was beyond,' she says. Many of the trails that Zhang walked as a child fell into disrepair as modernizing China sprouted cities, railroads, and highways at a breakneck pace. But today, some are newly accessible to travelers, who can explore in the footsteps of those who forged them. In part, that's thanks to Zhang's work to revitalize one of the oldest and most iconic paths in Yunnan, the 1,000-year-old Tea Horse Road. Once a trade route joining lush Yunnan tea forests with markets in highland Tibet, it was gradually abandoned—and at times lost entirely. Reimagining the path as a hiking route, Zhang hopes the Tea Horse Trail will help sustain the mountain culture she grew up with and bring economic gains to little-visited rural areas. 'They offer this feeling of connection to the land, connection to tradition, connection to heritage,' Zhang says. 'I'm like … there's got to be a way to keep these going.' The question of how to do that is the subject of her dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley, where Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate studying the Tea Horse Trail; this spring, she's returning to Yunnan to walk and conduct research along it. (Related: Rediscovering China's ancient Tea Horse Road, a branch of the famous Silk Road.) Where to hike an ancient footpath Her work goes beyond academia, too. The Tea Horse Trail is a cornerstone of WildChina's GUDAO Project, which aims to restore the Tea Horse Trail and other largely forgotten paths across China. ('Gudao' means ancient trails in Chinese.') In February of this year, WildChina launched a series of new walking tours along those trails, from an overnight trek through the West Mountains outside Beijing to a 6-day Biluo Snow Mountain trip in the footsteps of early Catholic missionaries. Nuodeng, a former Tea Horse Trail town, has some of the best-preserved examples of traditional Bai architecture in China's Yunnan Province. Photograph by Leisa Tyler, Getty People hiking along the old Tea Horse Trail can witness this mountainous view from the small Yunnan town of Nuodeng. Photograph by Leisa Tyler, LightRocket via Getty Images If the initiative is a personal passion for Zhang, it also comes at a time when historic walking trails are making a comeback around the globe, backdropped by landscapes as varied as the cultures calling them home. In the dense forests of northern Sweden and Norway, the 149-mile Finnskogleden follows paths taken by 17th-century Finnish immigrants; many of the trail's 13 sections are accessible as day hikes, and you can walk the entire trail in around two weeks. Amid the rock formations and desert peaks of southern Jordan, the newly opened, 75-mile Wadi Rum Trail knits together old trade routes and Haj pilgrimage paths. In keeping with ancient Bedouin traditions, most hikers explore the trail alongside guides from local tribes. In the United Kingdom, the Slow Ways project aims to map and promote walking routes between every British town and city, including along prehistoric paths dating to the Neolithic period; visitors can use an online route planner to find nearby trails or plot multi-day adventures. The 250-mile Trans-Bhutan Trail, which opened in 2022, follows 16th-century Buddhist pilgrimage routes, winding from village to village across the mountain kingdom. The nonprofit that founded the trail offers guided hikes, including two annual departures that tackle the entire distance—an epic, 36-day trek. (Related: Why ancient pilgrimages are back in vogue in the UK.) From slow travel to slow living Hiking such trails offers more than a scenic walk in nature, says Daniel Svensson, an associate professor at Sweden's Malmö University who has studied the Finnskogleden and other heritage paths. 'There are these longer perspectives on history that you can find on these trails,' he says. '[They] are connected to a way of life where slow mobility was more common.' That way of life is within living memory in Yunnan and other places where the trails have reemerged. Construction on Bhutan's first road began only in 1960, notes Sam Blyth, founder of the Bhutan Canada Foundation, which led the initiative to restore the Trans-Bhutan Trail. Before the second half of the 20th century, walking paths were the only way to get from place to place in the country. When hiking the Trans-Bhutan Trail, Blyth says he met elders who recall how, as the old trails and bridges lapsed, villages were severed from their nearest neighbors, divided by a steep slope or rushing river. 'They lost touch with people who had been part of their lives, and communities, for decades,' Blyth says. By rebuilding bridges and paths, the Trans-Bhutan Trail helped restore such ties, while also delivering income sources to far-flung places. 'They're fixing up rooms in their house for travelers, they're opening cafes and small restaurants,' says Blyth, noting that a walking trail can more directly help local people than big resorts and hotels. 'We wanted to see real grassroots benefits.' (Related: Discovering misty peaks and monasteries on the newly restored Trans-Bhutan Trail.) Living traditions on the trail For nomadic Bedouin communities in Jordan and Egypt, meanwhile, guiding visitors on the ancient trails draws on skills passed down between generations, from navigation to desert survival, says Olivia Mason, a lecturer in geography at Newcastle University who has studied the geopolitics of walking trails. 'The trails can be really important, because they work with livelihoods that are mobile in some ways, and actually continue to promote that,' says Mason, contrasting the culturally relevant, meaningful work of guiding walkers with more typical tourism jobs, such as working in a gift shop. While doing research among Bedouin communities near trails in Jordan, Mason has noticed that for some families, guiding work has the potential to keep young people in rural places, offsetting a trend to seek jobs in urban areas. 'When I speak to the children of the trail guides, the children say, 'I want to be a guide, like my father,'' she says. That living history is vital because trails are heritage unlike any other. If left untended, trails swiftly vanish, whether swallowed by evergreen forests, or buried in desert sands, or wrapped in a spongy carpet of moss. It's only in the walking that trails survive for generations to come, says Daniel Svensson, the Swedish trails researcher. In that light, travelers on ancient trails aren't just seeking out history—they're actively participating in its preservation. 'You can't take a trail and put it in a museum … it's something you need to continue to use,' Svensson says. 'It's a physical manifestation of history.' (Related: Discover the real Transylvania on a new long-distance hiking trail.) Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Afar, CNN, and other outlets. Jen Rose Smith is a Vermont-based writer covering adventure, sustainability, and culture—she's reported stories from six continents and in places spanning the Sinai Desert and Bolivian Andes. Her work has appeared in the, the, CNN, and other outlets.
