To do in LA: Quantum Computing for Dummies — er, Beginners

A delightfully geeky event on Saturday night in LA. Mark Allen of machineproject.com 'splains:

Have you been feeling down lately about your lack of knowledge of quantum computing? Confused about how quantum entanglement could reduce lag time for online gaming? Or curious how high speed integer factorization could make most encryption technologies the betamax of tomorrow?

Well, wonder no longer. Matt Shaw, enthusiast and graduate student has gracefully agreed to come to Machine Project Saturday for an entertaining talk on quantum computing for beginners. Mr Shaw is a first year graduate student in physics at the University of Southern California. He is doing his research in experimental quantum computation at the Jet Propulsion Lab.

Covering what quantum mechanics is, what makes it different from the physics of the everyday world, and why one might be motivated to use quantum systems for information processing. In particular, a brief discussion about quantum probabilities, entanglement, and some of the experimental challenges of trying to actually build a quantum computer, with a focus on the broad concepts and not assuming any background in math.

8pm, Saturday May 28th, 2005 at Machine Project downtown. Link to details.