Quantum Computers

Quantum computers (QCs) have been used by the Sceen even before they made contact with the Zambarau. They were developed over many years in response for their desperate need for more computing power.
==History==
Before QCs the Sceen used high density integrated circuits that used fibre-optics (rather than electricity) in processing to increase processing speed; however, these circuits had reached the limits of their processing power, shrinking further made the fibre-obtics so small and close together that quantum effects that take place only at minute scales started to cause errors in processing, making the computer systems useless.The Sceen had already had this problem earlier in their history, when electrical circuitry had reached the limit of its processing power. The solution then had been to develop a completely new computing system (hence the production of fibre-optic circuitry).
The solution had eventually been quantum computing. QCs use quantum effects to compute data. For example, QCs use 'qubits' instead of conventional 'bits,' qubits are in a quantum entangled state between '0' and '1,' so 'x' number of qubits can be expressed as 2^x conventional bits, representing massive computing potential! However, there was a problem, quantum entanglement is extremely tricky to perform; it takes place at an atomic or subatomic scale and if any of the atoms that are entangled is interacted with (even by photons) the entanglement is broken. This meant that the Sceen could initially only entangle 4 molecules (they used caffeine for its stability and useful quantum properties) at a time, a measly processing power of 2^4 = 16 bits at a time.
A solution was eventually found that at first was thought near-impossible and not worth further study, but the idea soon came to fruition. When a group of atoms is supercooled to a few millionths of a degree kelvin they turn into a 'Bose-Einstein condensate,' which means the group of atoms behaved like one super-atom. This meant that quantum effects could be produced on a macro-scale, making them much more stable and controllable!
==Hardware==
Current Concord QCs operate at about 30 qubits (2^30 = about 1 billion bits) but more advanced models are starting to reach a massive 40 qubits (2^40 = about 1.1 trillion bits). They are made up of a piece of artificial sapphire with 30 (or 40, depending on the number of qubits) aluminium strips measuring just a third of a millimetre across embedded in it positioned just a few nanometres apart. This part (which actually performs the computing) is tiny compared with the staged cooling system it is encased in, which provides the immesurably low temperatures required for the QC to run. Standard QCs are used in conjuction with a Sceen petaflop fibre-optic processing block, providing a total processing power of 1.07 yottaflops. The advanced models run at nearly 1.1 xonaflops. 
==Software==
Most of the software that runs on quantum computers can be fit into a small number of categories.
===Simulated Intelligence===
Simulated Intelligence (SI), sometimes referred to as artificial intelligence (AI) in layman's terms, is the oldest set of alogrithms used in QCs and after just a few decades of improvement from their first development the basic software has remained the same until this day.
SI is a set of alogrithms that allows people to more easily interact with QCs and is essential to the running of the modern Concord; the alogrithms are informally referred to as 'command multiplyers' by those experienced in the running of QCs, as they allow QCs to almost instantly carry out a task given by a user, tasks which would take the user many minutes or even hours on 'manual' QCs that do not posess SI alogrithms.
For example, it would take a very long time for a person to organise an efficient repair team for asteroid damage to a habitat, or find the right combination of musicians who have the right instruments and playing style to form a classical retro-style Astatine band (it's happened before), but a QC (with access to the correct information) could perform these tasks in a fraction of a second.
Today there are many types of SI software made especially for interacting with races of different psychologies. SI is very socially adaptable and QCs that use the software will quickly become better at social interaction with different individuals as they 'get to know them' better.
SI alogrithms are most famously present in the software of Commissioners, which run whole solar systems and are interacted with by over a trillion people on a daily basis.
===Intuitive Computing===
It is a common misconception that SI alogrithms are the most common form os software on QCs, but it is actually Intuitive Computing (IC) alogrithms. While SI is only used in QCs that are designed to interact with people, IC alogrithms run on billions of QCs across the Zambarau Concord, working constantly in the background to make the Concord's economy and society work more smoothly.
While SI is socially adaptable, IC is 'everything-adaptable,' constantly monitoring the environment to find patterns or pseudo-patterns in what anything else would percieve as chaos. IC software is therefore able to 'predict the unpredictable' and use small changes to produce big effects via the butterfly effect, only with IC software the outcome is predictable.
Another misconception about IC is that it is capable of precognition. It isn't. If IC software had an infinite amount of time with an omniscient awareness of a closed system it would be able to predict the future of that closed system with 100% accuracy. In reality IC systems have a finite amount of time with limited awareness of open systems, giving them a variable accuracy. A recent study showed that the mean accuracy of all of the QCs with IC software in the Concord was just over 76%.
The most famous use of IC software is in predicting the likelihood of a person committing a crime. Commissioners monitor these likelihoods and take appropriate action if this likelihood goes over a certain threshold, from increased monitoring to a pre-emptive arrest. In the most closely monitored habitats and planets with the most 'paranoid' Commissioners a record of 97.72% of crimes were prevented before they were committed, though some point toward the fact that many of the people arrested in these 'paranoid' scoieties were later determined to be 'safe' (and have continued to live licit lives since).
A more dubious use of IC is in SI-IC or 'social engineering' systems. Powerful QCs with a high awareness of a populance (Commissioners being a prime example) can, over many years, use subtle 'hints' to steer the ideas and attitudes of a population. It is hypothesised by many that social engineering has been taking place over the whole Zambarau Concord for many centuries, allowing the sociaty to 'hold together' as a single political entity despite the long interstellar journey times. It is expected that the Zambarau have been aware of this all along.
===Extradimensional Awareness ===
Category:Articles by User:Mr.Robbo
Category:Technology
Category:Articles by User:Mr.Robbo
Category:Technology