C64 claimed to outperform IBM's quantum system

[sysop]

A paper released during the SIGBOVIK 2024 conference details an attempt to simulate the IBM ‘quantum utility’ experiment on a Commodore 64. The idea might seem preposterous - pitting a 40-year-old home computer against a device powered by 127-Qubit ‘Eagle’ quantum processing unit (QPU). However, the anonymous researcher(s) conclude that the ‘Qommodore 64’ performed faster, and more efficiently, than IBM’s pride-and-joy, while being “decently accurate on this problem.”
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In conclusion, the researcher(s) asserts that the ‘Qommodore 64’ is “faster than the quantum device datapoint-for-datapoint… it is much more energy efficient… and it is decently accurate on this problem.” On the topic of how applicable this research is to other quantum problems, it is snarkily suggested that “it probably won’t work on almost any other problem (but then again, neither do quantum computers right now).” Overall, it is difficult to know whether the results are entirely genuine, though a lot of detail is provided and the linked research references in the paper seem genuine.

Link to article...

[Mr SQL]

Interesting research paper, I wonder if the RISC architecture of the 6510/6502 made these results possible.

IBM also sometimes makes stuff up like Deep Blue which they dismantled it before anyone could examine it after beating Kasparov at Chess and boosting IBM stock. It appeared to be more like the Turk automated Chess player that had a grand master hidden inside.

The Grand Master assisting the IBM team was supposed to be limited to advising how to improve the algorithms between moves but could not resist helping out and moving for the machine during the match. That meant Kasparov had to play against another Grand Master assisted by a powerful Computer, which is different than playing either one alone.

IBM could be looking for a quantum stock boost.