Purva Thakre
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purva.bsky.social
Purva Thakre
@purva.bsky.social
400 followers 840 following 99 posts
Quantum Open Source

Working on QEM + QEC

https://purva-thakre.github.io/
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purva.bsky.social
Indeed, the possibility of selection bias rears its head. How many times did someone do some totally unprincipled, stab-in-the-dark comparison of a specific quantum learning method against a specific classical method, and get predictions from the quantum method that were worse than whatever they got classically … so then they didn’t publish a paper about it? If it seems like I’m being harsh, it’s because to my mind, the entire concept of this sort of study is fatally flawed from the beginning, optimized for generating headlines rather than knowledge. The first task, I would’ve thought, is to show the reality of quantum computational advantage in the system or algorithm under investigation, even just for a useless benchmark problem. Only after one has done that, has one earned the right to look for a practical benefit in algorithmic trading or predicting financial time-series data or whatever, coming from that same advantage. If you skip the first step, then whatever “benefits” you get from your quantum computer are overwhelmingly likely to be cargo cult benefits.
September 28, 2025 at 9:04 AM
purva.bsky.social
Scientific American with a great analogy for comparing physical qubits and encoded topological qubits.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/negl...
Screenshot states: Unlike ordinary qubits, which store information in the state of a single particle, topological qubits store it in the arrangement of several particles—which is a global property, not a local one, making them far more robust. Take, for example, braided hair. The type and number of braids that a person has are global properties that remain the same regardless of how they shake their head. In contrast, the position of an individual hair strand is a local property that can shift with the slightest movement.
September 3, 2025 at 2:13 AM
purva.bsky.social
But even corporations with large R&D budgets don’t typically fund open-ended inquiry into fundamental scientific questions. With the possible exception of Bell Labs in its heyday, they focus on projects that have immediate commercial promise. Their shareholders would riot if they dumped $10 billion into a space telescope or particle collider that takes decades to build and generates little revenue.
August 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
purva.bsky.social
I did not know about this particular motivation for creating the NSF.
Screenshot from the article: During the postwar period, Vannevar Bush, head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development under FDR, sought to make America’s advantage in the sciences permanent. Bush hadn’t liked the way that the U.S. had to scramble to staff up the radar and atomic-bomb projects. He wanted a robust supply of scientists on hand at American universities in case the Cold War turned hot. He argued for the creation of the National Science Foundation to fund basic research, and promised that its efforts would improve both the economy and national defense.
August 5, 2025 at 4:48 PM
purva.bsky.social
'BOOL' is not in the word list of NYT Spelling Bee 🤔?

#nytspellingbee
April 20, 2025 at 8:41 PM
purva.bsky.social
@quantiki.bsky.social Is the website down? I keep getting this message on Firefox.
Error The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later. PDOException: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] Connection refused in lock_may_be_available() (line 186 of includes/lock.inc).
February 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM
purva.bsky.social
Why does a mention of quantum computing in popular media always rely on 'multiple calculations at once' explanation?

NYT article talks about how long it will take for the federal government to migrate to quantum-resistant standards.

www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/u...
Screenshot of a paragraph in an article in the NYT. Text in the screenshot: Researchers have known since the 1990s that quantum computing — which draws on the properties of subatomic particles to carry out multiple calculations at the same time — might one day threaten the encryption systems in use today. The line "which draws on the properties of subatomic particles to carry out multiple calculations at the same time" is highlighted in the screenshot.
October 26, 2023 at 9:28 AM