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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 3h

The cited discoveries were not enough for quantum computing because of the huge amount of charge noise present in these devices. The transmon with its charge noise insensitivity was the breakthrough discovery that enabled quantum computing in superconducting circuits.

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Reposted by Alexander Schuckert

Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 6d

I am so dismayed a the statement today from the President of the @royalsociety.org that I want to publish here the letter I wrote to him yesterday urging him to address the clear concerns of the UK scientific community.

Screenshot of first part of letter (continues in next image). Text reads:

Dear Sir Adrian

I write to request that in its deliberations tomorrow the Council resolves to take a principled stand to defend the scientific values written into its code of conduct.

In its attempts to deal with the actions of Elon Musk FRS, the Royal Society has repeatedly failed to explain how his repudiation of those values is consistent with the code of conduct that all Fellows must adhere to as a condition of their fellowship. As is now well established, these actions include attacking Antony Fauci FRS without good cause; spreading scientific misinformation on X [through his own utterances and by relaxing controls on the platform]; recklessly and unlawfully degrading the research ecosystem of the US as part of DOGE; and bragging publicly about "feeding USAID into the wood chipper", which the Lancet estimates will cause the deaths of 14 million people, many of them children under the age of five, by 2030.

The Society’s inaction extends to the recent brief exchange of correspondence between Prof Sir Paul Nurse and Mr Musk. Although there was some initial contact, when Sir Paul laid out the Society’s specific concerns there was no reply or explanation from Musk. For reasons that I’m afraid I cannot fathom, you chose once again not to enforce your code of conduct.

Screenshot of letter. Text continues:

"You will be aware that the sense of bewildered dismay over this affair is shared by Royal Society Fellows, medallists and journals editors, and many thousands within the scientific community here and abroad. The Royal Society still claims to speak for scientists in the UK, but on this vital issue, its inaction represents an inexplicable rupture with values that our community holds very dear.

In all this my primary concern is has been for the good standing of the Royal Society as the UK’s national academy. As I am sure you understand all too well (given your recent remarks in the wake of Mr Musk’s ill-judged speech at the Tommy Robinson rally), the country, the world at large, and the very practice of science itself face severe challenges from technologies and populist politics that foment division and ignorance. In such troubled times, people look to our established institutions to have the courage to stand by long-held values of truth and decency.

It is my sincere hope the Royal Society will demonstrate tomorrow that it is just such an institution.

Yours faithfully,

Stephen"

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 6d

The tragic is that there is some real, accelerating progress in this field but these announcements overshadow those actual breakthroughs (such as googles surface code demo), which are harder to make sound flashy

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 7d

I guess I was thinking academically, he’s old enough so that his PhD students now have PhD students themselves ;)

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 7d

They did not. Read the facts from one of the grandfathers of quantum computing: scottaaronson.blog?p=9170

HSBC unleashes yet another “qombie”: a zombie claim of quantum advantage that isn’t

Today, I got email after email asking me to comment on a new paper from HSBC—yes, the bank—together with IBM. The paper claims to use a quantum computer to get a 34% advantage in predic…

scottaaronson.blog

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 7d

They did not. Read the facts from one of the grandfathers of quantum computing: scottaaronson.blog?p=9170

HSBC unleashes yet another “qombie”: a zombie claim of quantum advantage that isn’t

Today, I got email after email asking me to comment on a new paper from HSBC—yes, the bank—together with IBM. The paper claims to use a quantum computer to get a 34% advantage in predic…

scottaaronson.blog

Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 7d

They did not. Read the facts from one of the grandfathers of quantum computing: scottaaronson.blog?p=9170

HSBC unleashes yet another “qombie”: a zombie claim of quantum advantage that isn’t

Today, I got email after email asking me to comment on a new paper from HSBC—yes, the bank—together with IBM. The paper claims to use a quantum computer to get a 34% advantage in predic…

scottaaronson.blog

Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 7d

There should be no misunderstanding that this is utter and complete corporate BS. No quantum computers are needed for whatever they did in this work. It's a shame to see IBM depart from their fact-based approach. See Scott Aaronson's blog post: scottaaronson.blog?p=9170

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 13d

HSBC claims quantum trading breakthrough on.ft.com/4mDbeYG

HSBC claims quantum trading breakthrough

Europe’s largest lender tested a tool developed by IBM on bond market data

on.ft.com

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 14d

When you realize the whole yearly budget for Quantum journal is equal to 8 Nature APCs - and they don't even wreck your paper in proof stage because...there is none

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Reposted by Alexander Schuckert

Francesco Arzani @frarzani.bsky.social · Aug 26

Looking for a postdoc to work on bosonic quantum error correction!
Join me and the QAT team at ENS & INRIA Paris — flexible start date.
Details here 👉 recrutement.inria.fr/public/class... or feel free to reach out!

Post-Doctoral Research Visit F/M Senior postdoctoral researcher in bosonic quantum error correction

Offre d'emploi Inria

recrutement.inria.fr

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 24d

Just donated to this, is a true archive containing irreplaceable scientific “soft” knowledge

Bob Coecke @coecke.bsky.social · Sep 8

Nobel Prize Laureate Roger Penrose, Yvette Fuentes, and myself, request your help in order to save an archive of incredible scientific and historical value. Please raise awareness by *sharing*, or *contribute*:

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/roger-penr...

Roger Penrose & Friends Appeal for Unique Archive

To digitise and restore the worlds largest collection of audio and visual recordings within the scientific community, spanning over 50 years

www.crowdfunder.co.uk

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jul 30

I don’t think it’s “shut up and calculate” - as long as all the interpretations are not distinguished by different predictions for experiments, they are one and the same physical theory. Interpretations in physics are only useful if they lead to differing quantitative predictions.

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jul 24

Interesting precedent of Science retracting a paper solely based on the fact that interpretations were likely overclaiming, but without scientific misconduct. A bit torn about this, it’s difficult to draw the line and really, that’s the job of the referees go.nature.com/44MQsQI

Controversial ‘arsenic life’ paper retracted after 15 years — but authors fight back

The journal Science retracts a headline-grabbing study, but the authors vigorously defend their data and say the retraction is unwarranted.

go.nature.com

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jul 8

I‘d also say that a lot of the services provided by journals are obsolete. Who needs copy editing into a format that you don’t want anyway and that introduces sometimes serious errors? Arxiv wrapper journals (like quantum) are the future.

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jul 6

Also these red eagle eyes just look evil.

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jul 5

Very interesting article that raises a problem beyond just AI: that researchers can overhype any topic with almost impunity. Even after grants have finished the question of „have you really achieved what you promised?“ isn’t seriously asked as long as some papers came out that get cited

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jul 2

A first step would be to provide access to SN journals free of charge to members of the affected institutes.

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jul 1

Just wrote a little script that extracts your availability in a certain time frame from a google calendar: schuckert.medium.com/extract-your...

Extract your availability from your Google calendar

Did you ever want a script that extracts the available times in a certain time window from your Google Calendar? Look no further!

schuckert.medium.com

Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jun 27

@bullshitquantum.bsky.social

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jun 25

A quantum computer is a device that fails like a physical quantum computer. No emulator can do this and testing resilience to noise is the only reason we run stuff on non-advantage-scale QC (eg to test error correction). More morally problematic: selling stuff for which free solutions exist (qiskit)

Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jun 23

Not me personally unfortunately, but some friends who are presenting a joint work.

Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jun 23

This article fundamentally misses the point of a PhD: instead of specific knowledge, its goal is to learn the scientific method, i.e. the formulation of an hypothesis, its testing based on experiments, (dis-)proving it. This is a universal skill foundational to having impact in a job.

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Reposted by Alexander Schuckert

Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · Jun 16

Use Signal. We promise, no AI clutter, and no surveillance ads, whatever the rest of the industry does. <3

Image of a screenshot of news headline, saying, "WhatsApp is getting ads using personal data from Instagram and Facebook
Forced Consent & Consent Bypass
/
16 June 2025
Meta announced today that it also wants to introduce ads on WhatsApp, which will be based on personal data from Facebook and Instagram. This further integrates WhatsApp into other Meta services - an originally independent app, which initially was available for just $1 per year without ads or data usage. This also means that Meta is consolidating its social networking monopoly. EU law was actually supposed to prevent this."

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jun 20

I WANT ONE

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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · Jun 19

When it gets to cracking every single encrypted piece of information on Earth, 10-15 years is soon