Given the presence of various forms of noise, I’m not sure what it would mean to measure a voltage to kilobits worth of precision. At some point I start asking how you ensure that the noise from electrons tunneling into and out of your experimental apparatus is handled. I’m also not sure that there’s even a theoretical sense in which you can make your machine cold enough to reduce the noise enough to get that sort of precision.
I understand what a nine-digit voltmeter looks like. And I can extrapolate based on that, assume some things about improved materials, temperature controls, reduced temperature, extended measurement times, and so on, and would be willing to believe that the next nine digits are “mere engineering”. Maybe even the nine digits after that, and the next nine. But taking that to mean you can extend it out to infinity—literally! -- seems like a logical and physical fallacy.
Fair enough. In the low-noise limit, a continuous computer actually has to become a type of quantum computer, where the output is just some continuously-valued quantum state.
But that’s a doable thing, that we can actually do. Hm. Sort of.
Given the presence of various forms of noise, I’m not sure what it would mean to measure a voltage to kilobits worth of precision. At some point I start asking how you ensure that the noise from electrons tunneling into and out of your experimental apparatus is handled. I’m also not sure that there’s even a theoretical sense in which you can make your machine cold enough to reduce the noise enough to get that sort of precision.
I understand what a nine-digit voltmeter looks like. And I can extrapolate based on that, assume some things about improved materials, temperature controls, reduced temperature, extended measurement times, and so on, and would be willing to believe that the next nine digits are “mere engineering”. Maybe even the nine digits after that, and the next nine. But taking that to mean you can extend it out to infinity—literally! -- seems like a logical and physical fallacy.
Fair enough. In the low-noise limit, a continuous computer actually has to become a type of quantum computer, where the output is just some continuously-valued quantum state.
But that’s a doable thing, that we can actually do. Hm. Sort of.