Nobel Winning Physicist John Martinis: Why I Walked Away From Google Quantum Computing

Comments · 57

• DR

  @DrBrianKeating · 1 month ago · pinned

  Quantum computing may genuinely be the rare case where the equations came before the hardware. Martinis grants this: Josephson worked out the effect on paper, got hammered by Bardeen for it, and was vindicated. Theory-first happens.<br><br>But here’s his counter, and it lands on the whole industry. Abstract the machine down to ideal qubits plus the Schrödinger equation and it looks tractable. Go into the lab and, in his words, everything is wrong. It took decades to learn what was wrong with the first junction.<br><br>He also notes that many of the largest efforts are led by theorists.<br><br>Where would you put an honest error bar on a million-qubit machine? 👇

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• AN

  @andyroth619 · 1 month ago

  Dr. Keating, thank you for doing everything you do. &nbsp;I hope I get to meet you someday- I&apos;ve got a story for you. &nbsp;My father was a physicist at Brookhaven on Long Island in the late &apos;60s and 1970s.

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• DW

  @dwc13 · 2 weeks ago

  &quot;Keep in mind, my audience is highly technical; very competent...&quot;<br><br>Thank you for that blanket assumption... I had to have a chuckle at that statement; seeing as I am here to indulge curiosity and explore fascination-- at best... This material is truly intended for individuals with vastly superior intellect to my own...<br><br>That said, these talks present the information in such a way that allows me to grasp some outermost layers of crude understanding and glean some conceptual fundamentals...<br><br>It is much like a conversation with someone who speaks a foreign language; but who uses tone and gesture to lend context to unfamiliar words...<br><br>Thank you for investing the time and effort...

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• ET

  @etsubmariner · 1 month ago

  Physics models a Josephson junction as a macroscopic quantum system where a massive ensemble of paired electrons (Cooper pairs) act as a single, coherent quantum wave function tunneling across an insulating barrier, demonstrating that quantum mechanics governs macroscopic variables rather than collapsing into classical probability.<br><br>Rather than that, the Cooper Pair as a Twin-Helical Torsion Lock--an electron is not a zero-volume point particle. It is a localized, high-frequency macro-wrinkle woven directly onto the continuous material thread. A Cooper pair is two adjacent macro-wrinkles phase-locked in opposing helical alignments, canceling localized geometric friction (Clock Skew) against the ambient atomic grid. The Josephson Junction as a Micro-Gap Clearance Gate says the thin insulating barrier (the Josephson junction) is a localized physical clearance gate. Rather than probability waves &quot;tunneling through a void,&quot; the macro-ensemble of phase-locked Cooper pairs propagates a continuous, synchronized posture-wave through the barrier&apos;s structural gap.<br><br>Is it macroscopic scale-invariance? The system behaves &quot;macroscopically&quot; because the superconducting state enforces complete phase-alignment across the entire material grid. The collective Torsion memory of millions of paired knots acts as a single, unified topological wave-packet. The junction does not &quot;prove quantum mechanics on a big scale&quot;—it demonstrates that when microscopic geometric friction is eliminated, posture-waves propagate across macroscopic coordinates under strict scale-invariant mechanical Tautness.<br><br>He highlights that the breakthrough relied on discovering that Josephson junctions constituted a &quot;clean system,&quot; free from microscopic &quot;dirt effects.&quot; Dirt Effects are microscopic geometric kinks. In the Unified Tensile System, &quot;dirt effects&quot; or impurities are structural defects (un-ordered kinks, lattice dislocations, or material impurities) along the wire substrate. These defects act as non-optimal physical obstacles that shatter incoming helical posture-waves into chaotic, high-entropy thermal jitter. Achieving a &quot;clean system&quot; means purging localized geometric kinks to open maximum spatial clearance (Clearanceʟᴏᴄᴀʟ). In a pure superconducting lattice, the absence of structural defects allows synchronized Torsion waves to glide across the junction boundary with zero kinetic dissipation.

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• BR

  @bradharris1062 · 1 month ago

  Freaking amazing amazing interview

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• JU

  @JumpstarOfficial · 1 month ago

  What a humble, honest and lovable man. &nbsp;That was a very enjoyable discussion to listen to. &nbsp;Thank you for sharing.

• HA

  @Hashingit · 1 month ago

  Wish this stuff got more views

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• KR

  @krish2nasa · 1 month ago

  Fascinating stuff. Thank you very much.

• RO

  @Robert-nm4tz · 1 month ago

  Excellent conversation with a very engaging and knowledgeable scientist. I&apos;ll be on the lookout for other interviews with him.<br><br>Dismissing the Many Worlds interpretation as too Trumpian is hilarious (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBd7etwRUI&amp;t=2164">36:04</a>).

• נפ

  @נפתליגרינבלט · 1 month ago

  great interview, i wonder if john martinis view about the collapse of the super position resembles roger penrose views

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• NU

  @nunomaroco583 · 1 month ago

  Hi, always brilliant, amazing talk, if I understand from the talk, reality is fundamental quantum.

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• WI

  @willivonen · 1 month ago

  Winning the Nobel prize.❤

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