Video Interview with Dr. Robert Sutor, VP of IBM’s Quantum Ecosystem & Author of ‘Dancing With Qubits’
(ZDNet) Summary of ZDnet’s Tonya Hall’s interviews with Bob Sutor, VP of IBM’s Quantum Ecosystem. They also discuss Dr. Sutor’s book “Dancing with Qubits: How Quantum Computing Works & How It Can Change the World”. The entire discussion is very much worth the time to click through for the entire video.
Sutor explained that IBM Quantum has had quantum computing available for almost four years on the cloud and that 210,000 people are registered. The computations on the service are up to 75 Billion.
IBM is currently working with clients on future use cases.
When Dr. Sutor planned his book, he explained “personally wanted something timely and has a shelf life.”
He said that many of the existing quantum books error at extremes. They are either very high level and talk about great concepts and sacrificed correctness. The other extreme requires the reader to have had three years of college physics. Sutor said his book is comfortable to read, but cautioned he brings the reader along and learn the technology.
Hall commented that ‘Dancing With Qubits” seems more than a book with 480 pages. She said it is almost an encyclopedia.
Hall asked Dr. Sutor, “What job title did you write this book for?”
He explained that originally he planned only 300 pages for anybody who had a good high school education. My editor suggested that was over-ambitious. There are a lot of people interested in learning more but don’t know where to start. . The length isn’t so much as number of topics, it’s about the pacing. Imagine being at a whiteboard and working together.”
How does programming quantum computers differ from classical? Will become easier in time.
Sutor importantly explained that the reader must understand how hardware and circuits work and understand those function in different ways in quantum. He cautioned with this phrase against “thinking too classical. . ” and promised “Quantum is a different way of thinking but you will get there”.
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