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Supercomputing Hardware Technology

Iran Unveils 'Quantum' Device That Anyone Can Buy for $589 on Amazon (vice.com) 67

Posted by BeauHD from the slow-clap dept.
What Iran's military called "the first product of the quantum processing algorithm" of the Naval university appears to be a stock development board, available widely online for around $600. Motherboard reports: According to multiple state-linked news agencies in Iran, the computer will help Iran detect disturbances on the surface of water using algorithms. Iranian Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari showed off the board during the ceremony and spoke of Iran's recent breakthroughs in the world of quantum technology. The touted quantum device appears to be a development board manufactured by a company called Diligent. The brand "ZedBoard" appears clearly in pictures. According to the company's website, the ZedBoard has everything the beginning developer needs to get started working in Android, Linux, and Windows. It does not appear to come with any of the advanced qubits that make up a quantum computer, and suggested uses include "video processing, reconfigurable computing, motor control, software acceleration," among others.

"I'm sure this board can work perfectly for people with more advanced [Field Programmable Gate Arrays] experience, however, I am a beginner and I can say that this is also a good beginner-friendly board," said one review on Diligent's website. Those interested in the board can buy one on Amazon for $589. It's impossible to know if Iran has figured out how to use off-the-shelf dev boards to make quantum algorithms, but it's not likely.
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Iran Unveils 'Quantum' Device That Anyone Can Buy for $589 on Amazon More

Iran Unveils 'Quantum' Device That Anyone Can Buy for $589 on Amazon

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  • Seriously? Classical and Quantum computing are very different, and classical experimental computer boards - are not chilled to near absolute zero - to be able to work at all.

    • Technically... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Immerman ( 2627577 ) on Monday June 12, 2023 @11:59PM (#63597476)

      Technically every transistor is a quantum mechanical system - it wouldn't work at all otherwise. So doesn't that technically make every transistor-based device a quantum device?

      Now if you'll excuse me I need to put on my quantum shoes and haul some quantum trash to the quantum curb.

      • Funny, but in all seriousness. IF (and I will be the first to admit, it is a very big if) Iran managed to make a quantum computer, which would be room sized with a mechanical yard to rival that of a plant to operate, do you think they would display it for all the world? No. But, they need a propaganda component to bolster support among the locals. Thatâ(TM)s what this is.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Not really unless you claim all matter is a quantum mechanical system. Technically true, but not very useful.

        Transistors (FET and bipolar) do not need quantum effects to work. Both essentially rely on electric fields and electron mobility in some materials (no tunneling, no entanglement). There is some remote similarity to vacuum tubes, which also do not need quantum effects.

        There are some rare exceptions. For example a reversed PN junction in breakdown produces noise which in part is quantum tunneling ampl

        • Poppycock, without QM you don't have the band-gaps and discrete energy states that transistors rely on.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Without QM you do not have a physical world. If any QM involved makes something a "quantum Device", then my glass of water here is one. Technically true, bit makes the term "Quantum Device" entirely useless.

        • Transistors rely on QM effects (particularly, the QM behavior of electrons, and their quasi-particle in a semiconductor- the hole) and were invented to utilize those effects.

          You are correct that you can also model their behavior using electron mobility, but that's not how they actually work.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            The question really is what qualifies as a "Quantum Device". Doing that for anything using QM in any way is not useful, because then anything physical becomes a "Quantum Device" and in particular every computer would be a "Quantum Computer". That is obviously nonsense. So what you want is some very specific "bizarre" quantum effects like tunneling and entanglement. With that, a regular transistor is not a Quantum Device.

            But yes, you can call all of electricity a QM effect. It is just not very useful to do s

            • You've moved the goalposts--the originals were "Transistors (FET and bipolar) do not need quantum effects to work."

              Then others pointed out that they do need quantum effects to work (let me add -- they need reverse biased pn junctions for the source and drains). NAND memory cells depend on QM effects.

              Your new goalposts are correct -- it doesn't make them "quantum devices" for use in "quantum computation".

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Tunneling only really happens in reverse PN junctions in breakdown mode. That is not done in regular use, except for some very specific special cases like voltage regulation (Z-diodes) and noise generation. Non-breakdown PN junctions are used as insulators. In some applications with E-field variable geometry (FETs, varicap diodes), in some applications just as straight insulators.

                But yes, the trick in the Irani claim is to not say "Quantum Computing", but "Quantum Device" and make everybody without much of

            • I understand the distinction you're making, but transistors don't work via what one would call "standard electricity", and modeling by electron mobility is kind of good, but not accurate (particularly in the case of having many transistors).

              I'm ignoring the breakdown voltage regime (since you've explicitly precluded it, which is fine) but even before it, their behavior does rely specifically on the Pauli Exclusion Principle and discrete electron energy values.
              It's a minor nit, but silicon semiconductors

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Thank you. I can live very well with that. Obviously my original statement was a simplification and maybe simplified too much in this case.

        • Well, that is kinda the reason I joked about my quantum shoes - but it's legitimately not possible to explain how transistors work without understanding quantum mechanics. Sure they don't do anything *super* weird like superposition, etc., butt according to classical electromagnetism they shouldn't do anything at all.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      To be fair, a quantum device can work at room temperature. Just not for anything useful beyond producing noise (reverse breakdown of PN junction is part tunneling effect amplified via avalanche) or pretty colors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot).

      For any type of computation, you need those very low temperatures or noise kills things immediately.

      That said, the board seems to be a legitimate FPGA development board, no "quantum magic" included.

  • They wanted to mock the Iranians so bad they forgot to have anybody competent look at the slides
    https://media.farsnews.ir/Uplo... [farsnews.ir]
    so they look dumb instead.

    It's not hard to figure out what's going on here and how an FPGA would help.

    I don't even speak Persian.

    • That potato quality picture really isn't helping their case, either. Regardless of how much truth there is to this story, it is still pretty silly to be showing off an FPGA developer board when you're claiming you've built a quantum something-or-other. That's like Tweeting you've just cooked a gourmet meal, but then only posting a picture of your oven mitt.

      • It's possible to emulate quantum computing perfectly on an FPGA, but are they actually doing that and implementing it for useful work?

      • That potato quality picture really isn't helping their case, either. Regardless of how much truth there is to this story, it is still pretty silly to be showing off an FPGA developer board when you're claiming you've built a quantum something-or-other. That's like Tweeting you've just cooked a gourmet meal, but then only posting a picture of your oven mitt.

        Seems more to me like claiming to have made a gourmet meal, then forgetting to throw away the Kraft box and having it show up in the background when you take a picture of the plate.

    • lol- ya, that diagram with English legends on it totally wasn't ripped from a pdf somewhere online, either.

    • Re:"Look how dumb he is!" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DamnOregonian ( 963763 ) on Monday June 12, 2023 @11:22PM (#63597428)
      No wait, it was. [eurekalert.org]

      I don't even speak Canadian.
    • It could also be an internal bluff by Iranian techies concerned about their ability to avoid seeing the inside of Evin Prison. "Ayatollah Burnemalive has just turned up and wants some magic tech to wave around to the media. Quick Hamid, grab something impressive-looking and invent a story for it and hope he goes away again".
  • We were this close to bringing them out of their shell via diplomacy and instead we tossed all that work out for cheap political gain.

    If you want to mellow religious fanatics out you give them jobs and education. Not threats. They positively *thrive* on threats. Threats and fear.

    • they must have some enemy for which they need wapons?

      • Yeah, they do.

        Problem is, their key enemies are Israel and Saudi Arabia.

        Then again, it wouldn't be the first time we deliver weapons to both sides...

        • I thought their "key enemy" is USA?

          • Mostly because the USA is the buddy of those other two.

            Plus of course rhetoric and propaganda. After all, what's a good de facto dictatorship if you can't have a proper 10 minute hate?

    • They will eschew education and use the jobs as a way to get to you.

      You can't mellow a religious fanatic except by making them feel like their group is insignificantly small. If they just feel threatened but have numbers, they can rile themselves up to be dangerous, but if you stomp the ever loving fuck out of them wherever they pop up before they have numbers, you can keep a lid on it.

      Education generally liberalized, but it's a preventative measure, not a cure.

      • ignorant.

        USA supported terrorist bombings in Iran in 1950s, and then meddled with their internal politics for decades.

        Look what that got us, a monster.

        Your way doesn't work

        • Just 'cause the Shah was a pussy. Imagine getting the fourth largest military on the planet rammed up your ass and then not being willing to use it to gun down a couple hundred thousand protesters...

          That would NEVER have happened with China, I tell you that much!

        • I'm sorry you're illiterate and were unable to notice that I wrote specifically about religious fanatics and not Iranians.

          Or maybe you think they're the same thing?

          • You don't think Iran is run by religious fanantics? It is.

            I'm just saying they're a monster we made and continue to antagonize. Better to leave them alone.

    • Threats and fear are what religion is about.

    • Sorry, no can do. Iran did something nobody ever dared to do: Take top notch US military hardware, say "thanks" and point it at the US.

      This is also why to this day we have the US doctrine that a country where the US doesn't have a solid military presence itself will NEVER receive top-shelf military hardware. Which is by the way the reason why we only send outdated crap to Ukraine.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        You forgot to mention the part where the CIA executed a coup that overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader, Mossadegh and then installed the brutal puppet Shah. They did this at the behest of the British who were angry that Mossadegh nationalized the Anglo-American oil company, which was owned by the British and was selling Iran's oil with something like 95% profit for the Brits and 5% for Iran. Mossadegh proposed 50/50 split, Brits said hell no, so the rest is history. A great book on this is

        • Hey, if we overthrow a democratic government it's one thing, but if some towelhead overthrows our puppet, we get pissed!

    • If you want to mellow religious fanatics out you give them jobs and education. Not threats. They positively *thrive* on threats. Threats and fear.

      Because giving them jobs and education worked so incredibly well in Afghanistan...

      Has it ever once, in your entire life, occurred to you that not everybody has the same priorities as you? For one thing, most people work to live, not live to work.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Giving religious fanatics education? How would that work? Like the conditioning in "Clockwork Orange"?

      They will simply discount anything that they do not like. Any fanatic has already proven willingness to holt extreme views without ever having seen sound supporting evidence.

      • Giving religious fanatics education? How would that work?

        The same way it works on the religious fanatics in any country, a little bit at a time.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Well, my impression is it does not work at all and things are instead getting worse. I may be wrong. Do you have any statistics on this?

      • I vote for the Clockwork Orange method.

    • We might be a lot better off with them if Bush 43 hadn't labeled them as part of the "axis of evil" along with North Korea and Iraq. Prior to that, the moderate Katani was in power. That one stupid speech probably put Ahmadinejad in power, because even if the typical Iranian didn't care much for the mullahs nobody liked what was said, and he played that perfectly.

      Prior to that of course, our overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh [wikipedia.org] laid the groundwork for Iran to hate the USA for decades to come, and frankly why s

  • Digilent, not diligent.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by edis ( 266347 )

      Yep, nothing to do with the company named Diligent. While board shown in the link is ARM/FPGA SoC Development Board to serve AMD Xilinx Zynq®-7000 All Programmable SoC, with the reviews to the product been left as far back, as year 2018. Can we apply "unveils" there?

  • Maybe it comes with Q# installed (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Geez, folks, it doesn't actually have to be a quantum computer to run quantum algorithms, it's just not going to run them at speed.

  • I hoped to see a kitty in a box.

    Then again, I was kinda afraid to open that box, dead kitties make me sad.

  • If it contains transistors, it contains quantum devices,, just a different sort of quantum device to one one expected.

  • You know, the ones with no function: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
    This fake device here is using a different marketing approach by using a lower price and trying for wider distribution.

  • What matters more is the proposed application (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sonoronos ( 610381 ) on Tuesday June 13, 2023 @05:33AM (#63597846)

    I find it rather unsurprising that the meta-article summarizing the article written in arabic focuses on the board, rather than the more important point, which is the application. The quantum claims are laughable, for sure, but really, it seems to be a bit of a smokescreen.

    âoethe computer will help Iran detect disturbances on the surface of water using algorithmsâ implies what exactly? Anti Submarine Warfare? Why do the Iranians care about ASW? What disturbances are they looking for and why?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by noodler ( 724788 )

      Anti Submarine Warfare? Why do the Iranians care about ASW?

      Why not? Iran connects to both the caspian sea and through the arabian sea to the oceans.

  • Just nope. You can't do quantum computing at room temperature reliably. Shove your algoritms up your wherever. Pick a hole. :)

  • Fuck Digilent (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Puls4r ( 724907 ) on Tuesday June 13, 2023 @09:48AM (#63598436)
    This is the same company that took it upon themselves to copy a well known hobbyist speed controller for robotics competition.

    Literally copied it down to the transistor, including silicon errors that had been made in the design. Then they copied the software (which had been open before that) line for line, including comments and even left the previous companies name in the comments!

    Then they marketed it and sold it undercutting the hobbyist company.

    https://www.courtlistener.com/... [courtlistener.com]
  • This is a pretty impressive website for me. It's as simple as [url=https://dumbwaystodiegame.com]dumb ways to die[/url] but it makes a lot of people think more positively.

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