There's nothing wrong with the binary state; Zeros and ones and not much of a wait. The data moves on at blistering speeds; On a bus big enough for most of our needs. To try something new would be a great sin; Computers that work on magnetic spin. Instead of one state ten-thousand or more; And no bunched up bytes to block up the door. Instant access will make us omniscient; Memory dots will prove they're sufficient. A thousand answers will likely abound; Playing a guess where electrons are found. Dancing on stars an instant commuter; Will be everywhere with a quantum computer. When this is all done we'll know where we're at... We've come face to face with Shrodeger's cat. a pictue that goes with this...a little too large for the forum, can be found on my artist page.

I applaud this

Oh, cool piece, TJ! Not to mention needing a special pat on the back just for finding something to rhyme with omniscient!

lol!!! So you've been playing with components again. Shame shame. Excellent capture of the both the idea and the problem.

You know I was liking the picture.. now you know too i took your advice and kind tip about hangin around this Forum too. I'll still a lurker mainly for a while though, ;) if ya don't mind. I love your poem btw :)

Great poem and image, but don't you mean Schrodinger's cat?

I thought it was Shrodeger with the two dots over the o... will have to look that up someplace. I remember the book Goodel Esher...Bach? and it was with the Buckminster Fuller? book on Synergetics, over in the math section got any ideas D? in any case a true quantum computer wouldn't just work on the spin of the electrons it would be able to detect a change in the energy level form a ground to an exited state. A change in state, falling back to ground, or change in spin would release energy as light...the dancing on stars. As I watch more of the series, I realize just how different a quantum computer would be. Charge, spin, location of electrons, detecting any change in thousands of possible variations of the above instantaneously. The possibilities boggle the bean. (SPD effect, where electrons detect?) Orbital, orbital where for art thou orbital.

nitpickin... It is Schroedinger's cat -- the cat that walks through walls because it fails to know it is there (or boxes, in the case of his cat. Pictures were rumored, but I've never shred the nega--- er, um, well, box in any case.) Goodel Escher Bach. Always hated math, never very good at doing it, but philosphy and I are another matter...

Then what is one and one? You can't add one and one because as a singular quantity everything exists within that quanity. Hence one and one is one still. ( I always thought it was 11).

But the one doesn't know that's a singularity, and thus is, in and of itself, an entire universe of possibilities. sophism. And Eclaire said I'd never see the day.... sigh.... lol

And nothing can not exist because if it existed it would be something.

Cute poem. Definitely shows that poetry isn't confined to melancholy walks around the moor while lamenting a lost love. ;-) My programming teacher once said, "Computers are idiots that can add at the speed of light." And if anyone needs a picture of Schroedinger the cat, let me know. He loves having his picture taken. ;-)

TJ- It is Schringer's cat, and it knows it is there, just not whether it is alive or not! I did like the poem. Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine ran a letter to the editor piece commenting on the analog vs. digital nature of quantum computers in the January issue. And their sister mag, Asimov's, runs a lot of science-related poetry. I'd send yours in!

Oops. Make that the December Analog, page 140.

I understand but where exactly is an electron at any particular point in time when it is a constantly moving target of very little mass which may or may not be going clockwise or counterclockwise and may or may not have enough charge to propell itself to a higher plane of existance(a higher orbital).

Then again, the quantum mechanical model says an electron is not really a moving target existing at a point, but a probabilistic wave function describing possible locations for the electron, all of which are actually occupied simultaneously in a quantum uncertaintly until collapsed by an observation, and hence Schringer's paradoxical cat. I find Bohr's "planetary" model much more intuitively comfortable, yet I have no problem with the quantum leaps between energy levels of orbitals. (Just noticed that you mentioned the charge, which is actually constant, rather than energy.) I find it fascinating how you've turned DNA and quantum computers into poetry and metaphysical speculation !) Mr I