In the community of scholastic scholars, it is very dangerous to speak openly about the endless lies and machinations of the members of this community! Quickly weaned from the trough! But not all people in this community are liars or morons. There are honest and intelligent people among them. And they want the truth to be known outside the community. Apparently this thought pushed one of the scientists working for the benefit of the pseudoscience of quantum mechanics to oppose his colleagues. This is how a mysterious virtual figure called the Quantum Bullshit Detector entered the Twitter scene. Sophia Chen contributed an article about this. (The article is abbreviated here.)
Anonymous posts began to appear in the Quantum Bullshit Detector account commenting on supposed breakthroughs in computing using quantum computers. A lot is said about these “successes” today: that this technique accelerates artificial intelligence algorithms, manages financial risks in banks and breaks any encoding. This account prefers to express its opinion in one single word: “Shit”.
Such provocations puzzled the experts in this field. Since the Detector is familiar with the terminology and intelligently selects the accounts it follows, the impression arose that the person or people behind it belonged to the community of specialists in quantum computing. No matter how scientists get used to such impudent trolling from their own ranks. “So far, everything is being done reasonably enough, but lynching is a risky business,” wrote physicist Scott Aaronson in his blog a month after the debut of the wow detector. And people began to discuss on the Internet how seriously to take the opinions expressed in this account.
“There is some confusion here. The quantum shit detector cannot argue with you. He can only bring out quantum shit. That is why we call ourselves Quantum Bullshit Detector! ” – such a record appeared in the account in response to the discussion that began.
In the months that followed, account writers called statements in scientific journals like Nature, journalistic publications in Scientific American, Quanta, and my article on the pages of WIRED as crap. Google’s “demonstration of quantum superiority”? Shit. Tweet from businessman Andrew Yang about this demonstration? Shit. Quantum computing founder Seth Lloyd takes money from financier Jeffrey Epstein? Shit.
Now people ask the detector what his opinion is about certain articles, and he helpfully and uncomplicatedly answers: “Shit.” And sometimes – “Not shit.” The “detector” was not appreciated by everyone. One kind of physicist called him “ignorant” and condemned him for “mediocrity and bad taste” in response to a negative review of his work. But some believe that this account is providing a service to the community.
The anonymous account emerged as a response to growing concerns in the quantum community as investment in the industry increases and the hype rises accordingly.
The governments of the United States, Britain, the EU and China have pledged over a billion dollars in investment (each) in quantum computing and related technologies.
This week, the account erupted in a whole series of comments. “Shit,” he shouted into the internet space eight times in one hour. Who this time caused his displeasure? Conference in Silicon Valley called “Practical Quantum Computing”.