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Daily Archives: November 4, 2020
Friedman: When my president sang ‘Amazing Grace’ – The Register-Guard
Posted: November 4, 2020 at 10:52 am
Thomas Friedman| The New York Times
This is my last regular column before Election Day, so what is there left to say? Instead of giving you an answer, let me leave you with a question, which I think is the question. What would you do if your kid came home from school and said:
Mom, Dad, my teacher said President Obama ordered the killing of the U.S. Special Forces team that supposedly killed Osama bin Laden. My teacher said bin Laden is actually still alive, that the guy the Navy SEALs killed was a body double. He also claimed that Obamas aides got Iran to send bin Laden to Pakistan so Obama could have a trophy kill. Whats a trophy kill? My teacher said he had heard all of this somewhere on the internet, and he just thought hed pass it along to our class. Mom, Dad, is this true?
I know how Id respond. Id immediately call the school principal and ask how someone peddling such vile and fraudulent conspiracy stuff could be teaching in any classroom in America. Who wouldnt? It violates the most basic judgment and norms of decency that we expect of anyone teaching in public school or serving in public office.
And that is really the question Donald Trumps voters cant ignore: Why would you be ready to fire your kids teacher for passing along such disgusting nonsense but be willing to rehire the nations teacher in chief our president, the man with the most-read blackboard in the world after he peddled exactly these crazy conspiracy theories to some 87 million people on Twitter the other day? Is there anything more warped?
On Oct. 13, Trump retweeted a post from an account linked to QAnon, a collective of online conspiracists, which has since been suspended, CNN reported. The tweet alleged Biden and Obama may have had SEAL Team 6 killed, that Osama bin Laden was still alive, and that the man killed in the Obama-directed raid led by SEAL Team 6 was actually a body double. Later that night, Trump retweeted a post claiming top Obama administration officials colluded to bring bin Laden from Iran to Pakistan for Obamas trophy kill.
The CNN story continued: Trumps initial retweet was rebuked by one of the Navy SEAL members of the raid, who is very much still alive. Very brave men said goodby (sic) to their kids to go kill Osama bin Laden, Robert J. ONeill tweeted following Trumps retweet. We were given the order by President Obama. It was not a body double.
ONeill, who has previously expressed support for Trump, told CNNs Chris Cuomo that the promotion of these conspiracy theories for the purpose of politics is really trampling on the graves of some of the best heroes I have ever personally worked with.
When NBC News Savannah Guthrie asked Trump why he would spread such a lie, Trump shrugged: That was a retweet; Ill put it out there. People can decide for themselves.
In other words, Trump sees as part of his job as president with the worlds best global intelligence network at his disposal not to discredit malicious conspiracy theories, so Americans can better navigate a confusing world, but rather to spread this bile, without even asking the CIA or the FBI if its true. Let people sort it out for themselves, he says as if their resources match his.
I understand that many Americans stand by Trump because of his policies on immigration, taxes, political correctness or selection of judges, or because they feel he gives voice to their grievances against elites who may look down on them. None of that resonates with me, but those are legitimate positions shared by some 40% of the country.
But our president is not just a policy robot. Hes also a role model, whether he or we like it or not. So, for all of you who plan to cast your ballot for Trump, I beg you to ask yourselves: How can you tolerate behaviors in a president that you would never tolerate in your kids seventh-grade teacher or babysitter?
Trump has so redefined decency down that we have forgotten what is normal, let alone optimal, in an American president. We have forgotten what it is like to have a truth-teller, a healer, in the White House, someone who starts his day with at least the inclination to unite the country and to project America at its best for the world not someone who has lived every day in office aspiring to be president only of his base, while offering anyone at home or abroad looking to the United States for inspiration just one message: Show me the money.
As I was reflecting on all this last weekend, my friend Elena Park, an executive producer for Stanford Live, sent me a YouTube video an incredible performance the other day by singer Meklit and the Kronos Quartet of The President Sang Amazing Grace.
The song was written by Zoe Mulford about the 2015 murders of nine people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white supremacist. It was debuted by Mulford in 2017, telling in song how a different president, Barack Obama, came down to that church for a memorial service and during his eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney sang Amazing Grace, one of the most moving and healing moments of his presidency.
As Meklit sang:
We argued where to lay the blame
On one mans hate or our nations shame
Some sickness of the mind or soul
And how those wounds might be made whole
But no words could say what must be said
For all the living and the dead
So on that day and in that place
The President sang Amazing Grace
My President sang Amazing Grace
So, theres your choice in a nutshell, folks. You can vote for a president who retweets sick conspiracy theories claiming that his predecessor murdered U.S. Navy SEALs. Or you can vote for Joe Biden, a man who, like Obama, will strive each day to make our wounds whole, and do it, Im sure, with dignity and grace.
Thomas Friedman writes for The New York Times.
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Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything – ZDNet
Posted: at 10:49 am
Supermarket aisles filled with fresh produce are probably not where you would expect to discover some of the first benefits of quantum computing.
But Canadian grocery chain Save-On-Foods has become an unlikely pioneer, using quantum technology to improve the management of in-store logistics. In collaboration with quantum computing company D-Wave, Save-On-Foods is using a new type of computing, which is based on the downright weird behaviour of matter at the quantum level. And it's already seeing promising results.
The company's engineers approached D-Wave with a logistics problem that classical computers were incapable of solving. Within two months, the concept had translated into a hybrid quantum algorithm that was running in one of the supermarket stores, reducing the computing time for some tasks from 25 hours per week down to mere seconds.
SEE: Guide to Becoming a Digital Transformation Champion (TechRepublic Premium)
Save-On-Foods is now looking at expanding the technology to other stores, and exploring new ways that quantum could help with other issues. "We now have the capability to run tests and simulations by adjusting variables and see the results, so we can optimize performance, which simply isn't feasible using traditional methods," a Save-On-Foods spokesperson tells ZDNet.
"While the results are outstanding, the two most important things from this are that we were able to use quantum computing to attack our most complex problems across the organization, and can do it on an ongoing basis."
The remarkable properties of quantum computing boil down to the behaviour of qubits -- the quantum equivalent of classical bits that encode information for today's computers in strings of 0s and 1s. But contrary to bits, which can be represented by either 0 or 1, qubits can take on a state that is quantum-specific, in which they exist as 0 and 1 in parallel, or superposition.
Qubits, therefore, enable quantum algorithms to run various calculations at the same time, and at exponential scale: the more qubits, the more variables can be explored, and all in parallel. Some of the largest problems, which would take classical computers tens of thousands of years to explore with single-state bits, could be harnessed by qubits in minutes.
The challenge lies in building quantum computers that contain enough qubits for useful calculations to be carried out. Qubits are temperamental: they are error-prone, hard to control, and always on the verge of falling out of their quantum state. Typically, scientists have to encase quantum computers in extremely cold, large-scale refrigerators, just to make sure that qubits remain stable. That's impractical, to say the least.
This is, in essence, why quantum computing is still in its infancy. Most quantum computers currently work with less than 100 qubits, and tech giants such as IBM and Google are racing to increase that number in order to build a meaningful quantum computer as early as possible. Recently, IBM ambitiously unveiled a roadmap to a million-qubit system, and said that it expects a fault-tolerant quantum computer to be an achievable goal during the next ten years.
IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna and director of research Dario Gil in front of a ten-foot-tall super-fridge for the company's next-generation quantum computers.
Although it's early days for quantum computing, there is still plenty of interest from businesses willing to experiment with what could prove to be a significant development. "Multiple companies are conducting learning experiments to help quantum computing move from the experimentation phase to commercial use at scale," Ivan Ostojic, partner at consultant McKinsey, tells ZDNet.
Certainly tech companies are racing to be seen as early leaders. IBM's Q Network started running in 2016 to provide developers and industry professionals with access to the company's quantum processors, the latest of which, a 65-qubit device called Hummingbird, was released on the platform last month. Recently, US multinational Honeywell took its first steps on the quantum stage, making the company's trapped-ion quantum computer available to customers over the cloud. Rigetti Computing, which has been operating since 2017, is also providing cloud-based access to a 31-qubit quantum computer.
Another approach, called quantum annealing, is especially suitable for optimisation tasks such as the logistics problems faced by Save-On-Foods. D-Wave has proven a popular choice in this field, and has offered a quantum annealer over the cloud since 2010, which it has now upgraded to a 5,000-qubit-strong processor.
A quantum annealing processor is much easier to control and operate than the devices that IBM, Honeywell and Rigetti are working on, which are called gate-model quantum computers. This is why D-Wave's team has already hit much higher numbers of qubits. However, quantum annealing is only suited to specific optimisation problems, and experts argue that the technology will be comparatively limited when gate-model quantum computers reach maturity.
The suppliers of quantum processing power are increasingly surrounded by third-party companies that act as intermediaries with customers. Zapata, QC Ware or 1QBit, for example, provide tools ranging from software stacks to training, to help business leaders get started with quantum experiments.
SEE: What is the quantum internet? Everything you need to know about the weird future of quantum networks
In other words, the quantum ecosystem is buzzing with activity, and is growing fast. "Companies in the industries where quantum will have the greatest potential for complete disruption should get involved in quantum right now," says Ostojic.
And the exponential compute power of quantum technologies, according to the analyst, will be a game-changer in many fields. Qubits, with their unprecedented ability to solve optimisation problems, will benefit any organisation with a supply chain and distribution route, while shaking up the finance industry by maximising gains from portfolios. Quantum-infused artificial intelligence also holds huge promise, with models expected to benefit from better training on bigger datasets.
One example: by simulating molecular interactions that are too complex for classical computers to handle, qubits will let biotech companies fast-track the discovery of new drugs and materials. Microsoft, for example, has already demonstrated how quantum computers can help manufacture fertilizers with better yields. This could have huge implications for the agricultural sector, as it faces the colossal task of sustainably feeding the growing global population in years to come.
Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking and cybersecurity are often cited as sectors that quantum technology could significantly transform. "In principle, quantum will be relevant for all CIOs as it will accelerate solutions to a large range of problems," says Ostojic. "Those companies need to become owners of quantum capability."
Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking or cybersecurity are among the industries that are often pointed to as examples of the fields that quantum technology could transform.
There is a caveat. No CIO should expect to achieve too much short-term value from quantum computing in its current form. However fast-growing the quantum industry is, the field remains defined by the stubborn instability of qubits, which still significantly limits the capability of quantum computers.
"Right now, there is no problem that a quantum computer can solve faster than a classical computer, which is of value to a CIO," insists Heike Riel, head of science and technology at IBM Research Quantum Europe. "But you have to be very careful, because the technology is evolving fast. Suddenly, there might be enough qubits to solve a problem that is of high value to a business with a quantum computer."
And when that day comes, there will be a divide between the companies that prepared for quantum compute power, and those that did not. This is what's at stake for business leaders who are already playing around with quantum, explains Riel. Although no CIO expects quantum to deliver value for the next five to ten years, the most forward-thinking businesses are already anticipating the wave of innovation that the technology will bring about eventually -- so that when it does, they will be the first to benefit from it.
This means planning staffing, skills and projects, and building an understanding of how quantum computing can help solve actual business problems. "This is where a lot of work is going on in different industries, to figure out what the true problems are, which can be solved with a quantum computer and not a classical computer, and which would make a big difference in terms of value," says Riel.
Riel points to the example of quantum simulation for battery development, which companies like car manufacturer Daimler are investigating in partnership with IBM. To increase the capacity and speed-of-charging of batteries for electric vehicles, Daimler's researchers are working on next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries, which require the alignment of various compounds in the most stable configuration possible. To find the best placement of molecules, all the possible interactions between the particles that make up the compound's molecules must be simulated.
This task can be carried out by current supercomputers for simple molecules, but a large-scale quantum solution could one day break new ground in developing the more complex compounds that are required for better batteries.
"Of course, right now the molecules we are simulating with quantum are small in size because of the limited size of the quantum computer," says Riel. "But when we scale the next generation of quantum computers, then we can solve the problem despite the complexity of the molecules."
SEE: 10 tech predictions that could mean huge changes ahead
Similar thinking led oil and gas giant ExxonMobilto join the network of companies that are currently using IBM's cloud-based quantum processors. ExxonMobil started collaborating with IBM in 2019, with the objective of one day using quantum to design new chemicals for low energy processing and carbon capture.
The company's director of corporate strategic research Amy Herhold explains that for the past year, ExxonMobil's scientists have been tapping IBM's quantum capabilities to simulate macroscopic material properties such as heat capacity. The team has focused so far on the smallest of molecules, hydrogen gas, and is now working on ways to scale the method up to larger molecules as the hardware evolves.
A number of milestones still need to be achieved before quantum computing translates into an observable business impact, according to Herhold. Companies will need to have access to much larger quantum computers with low error rates, as well as to appropriate quantum algorithms that address key problems.
"While today's quantum computers cannot solve business-relevant problems -- they are too small and the qubits are too noisy -- the field is rapidly advancing," Herhold tells ZDNet. "We know that research and development is critical on both the hardware and the algorithm front, and given how different this is from classical computing, we knew it would take time to build up our internal capabilities. This is why we decided to get going."
Herhold anticipates that quantum hardware will grow at a fast pace in the next five years. The message is clear: when it does, ExxonMobil's research team will be ready.
One industry that has shown an eager interest in quantum technology is the financial sector. From JP Morgan Chase's partnerships with IBM and Honeywell, to BBVA's use of Zapata's services, banks are actively exploring the potential of qubits, and with good reason. Quantum computers, by accounting for exponentially high numbers of factors and variables, could generate much better predictions of financial risk and uncertainty, and boost the efficiency of key operations such as investment portfolio optimisation or options pricing.
Similar to other fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for the financial industry. In fact, when solving smaller problems, scientists still run quantum algorithms alongside classical computers to validate the results.
"The classical simulator has an exact answer, so you can check if you're getting this exact answer with the quantum computer," explains Tony Uttley, president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions, as he describes the process of quantum options pricing in finance.
"And you better be, because as soon as we cross that boundary, where we won't be able to classically simulate anymore, you better be convinced that your quantum computer is giving you the right answer. Because that's what you'll be taking into your business processes."
Companies that are currently working on quantum solutions are focusing on what Uttley calls the "path to value creation". In other words, they are using quantum capabilities as they stand to run small-scale problems, building trust in the technology as they do so, while they wait for capabilities to grow and enable bigger problems to be solved.
In many fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for quantum computing in industry.
Tempting as it might be for CIOs to hope for short-term value from quantum services, it's much more realistic to look at longer timescales, maintains Uttley. "Imagine you have a hammer, and somebody tells you they want to build a university campus with it," he says. "Well, looking at your hammer, you should ask yourself how long it's going to take to build that."
Quantum computing holds the promise that the hammer might, in the next few years, evolve into a drill and then a tower crane. The challenge, for CIOs, is to plan now for the time that the tools at their disposal get the dramatic boost that's expected by scientists and industry players alike.
It is hard to tell exactly when that boost will come. IBM's roadmap announces that the company will reach 1,000 qubits in 2023, which could mark the start of early value creation in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, thanks to the simulation of small molecules. But although the exact timeline is uncertain, Uttley is adamant that it's never too early to get involved.
"Companies that are forward-leaning already have teams focused on this and preparing their organisations to take advantage of it once we cross the threshold to value creation," he says. "So what I tend to say is: engage now. The capacity is scarce, and if you're not already at the front of the line, it may be quite a while before you get in."
Creating business value is a priority for every CIO. At the same time, the barrier to entry for quantum computing is lowering every time a new startup emerges to simplify the software infrastructure and assist non-experts in kickstarting their use of the technology. So there's no time to lose in embracing the technology. Securing a first-class spot in the quantum revolution, when it comes, is likely to be worth it.
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Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything - ZDNet
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Honeywell fires up the H1, its second-generation quantum computer – CNET
Posted: at 10:49 am
An ion chamber houses the qubit brains of Honeywell's quantum computers.
Honeywell's second-generation quantum computer, the H1, is in business. The powerful computer performs calculations by carefully manipulating 10 ytterbium atoms housed in a thumbnail-size package called an ion trap.
Honeywell, a surprise new entrant intoquantum computers, is one of a several companies hoping to revolutionize computing. Tech giants IBM, Google, Intel and Microsoft also have serious quantum computing programs, and startups such as Rigetti Computing and IonQ are in the fray with their own machines.
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A host of other startups like QC Ware, Zapata, Cambridge Quantum Computing, Rahko, and Xanadu are working to make quantum computers easier to use for those that don't have a bunch of Ph.D.s on staff to wrestle with the weird laws that govern the ultra-small scale of the quantum physics realm.
The continued progress is essential if quantum computers, still in their infancy, are to meet their potential. Years of investments will be required to carry today's early designs to a more practical, profitable phase.
The heart of a quantum computer is called a qubit, a data storage and processing element that unlike conventional computer bits can store an overlapping combination of zero and one through one quantum computing phenomenon called superposition. Honeywell's H1 machine today has 10 qubits, charged ytterbium atoms arranged in a line.
Those qubits can be tickled electromagnetically to change the data they're storing, shift positions and reveal their state to the outside world when a calculation is finished. Qubits can be connected through a phenomenon called entanglement that exponentially increases the number of states a quantum computer can evaluate.
That's why quantum computers promise to be able to crack computing problems that conventional machines can't. One big expected use is molecular modeling to improve chemical processes like fertilizer manufacturing. Quantum computers are also expected to take on other materials science challenges, such as creating efficient solar panels and better batteries. Other uses focus on optimization tasks like overseeing the financial investments and routing a fleet of delivery trucks.
Honeywell pioneered this trapped-ion design with the H0 quantum computer prototype. "Because of demand from partners and customers, we transformed H0 into a commercial system," said Tony Uttley, president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions. Customers who've used H0 include Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Texas at Austin, oil-and-gas giant BP and financial services company JPMorgan Chase.
The H0 set a record for an IBM-designed quantum computing speed test called quantum volume, a measure that combines the number of qubits and how much useful work they can accomplish. In August, IBM reached a quantum volume of 64, part of a plan to double performance annually. But in October, Honeywell announced its H0 reached a quantum volume of 128. That's part of its plan to increase performance at least by a factor of 10 annually, reaching 640,000 by 2025.
Honeywell also detailed H2, H3, H4 and H5 quantum computer design plans extending through 2030. They'll replace today's straight-line ion trap with increasingly complicated arrangements, including a looped "racetrack" in the H2 already in testing today and increasingly large crisscrossing lattices for the H3, H4 and H5.
One big motivation for the new designs is cramming in more qubits. That'll be important to move beyond today's kicking-the-tires calculations into more serious work. It'll be essential for one of the big challenges for future quantum computers, error correction, which designers hope will let easily perturbed qubits perform calculations for longer before being derailed.
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Honeywell fires up the H1, its second-generation quantum computer - CNET
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Quantum Computing Is Bigger Than Donald Trump – WIRED
Posted: at 10:49 am
Just this week the Senate had a hearing, ostensibly about speech on internet platforms. But what the hearing was really about was our continuing inability to figure out what to do with a technological infrastructure that gives every single person on the planet the ability to broadcast their thoughts, whether illuminating or poisonous. We know that solutions are elusive, especially in the context of our current electoral issues. But this is actually one of the less vexing conundrums that technology has dropped on our lap. What are we going to do about Crispr? How are we going to handle artificial intelligence, before it handles us? A not-encouraging sign of our ability to deal with change: While we werent looking, smart phones have made us cyborgs.
Heres another example of a change that might later look more significant than our current focus: Late last year, Google announced it had achieved Quantum Supremacy, This means that it solved a problem with its experimental quantum computer that couldnt be solved with a conventional one, or even a supercomputer.
Its a forgone conclusion that quantum computing is going to happen. When it does, what we thought was a speed limit will evaporate. Nobodynobody!has an idea of what can come from this. I bet it might even be bigger than whatever Donald Trump will do in a second (or third or fourth) term, or the civil disorder that might erupt if he isnt returned to the Peoples House.
A few days after the election, on that same West Coast trip, I had a random street encounter with one of the most important leaders in technology. We spoke informally for maybe 15 or 20 minutes about what had happened. He seemed shattered by the outcome, but no more than pretty much everyone I knew. He told me that he asked himself, should I have done more? Like all of the top people in the industry, he has since had to make his accommodations with the Trump administration. But as with all his peers, he has not relented on his drive to create new technology that will continue the remarkable and worrisome transformation of humanity.
The kind of people who work for him will keep doing what they do. Maybe they will no longer want to work for a company thats overly concerned about winning the favoror avoiding the disfavorof a president who they think is racist, a president who despises immigrants (wife and in-laws excepted), a president who encourages dictators and casts doubts on voting. If things get bad in this country, a lot of those engineers and scientists will leave, and a lot of other countries will welcome them. The adventure will continue. Even if the United States as we know it does not last another generation, scientists will continue advancing artificial intelligence, brain-machine interfaces, and, of course, quantum computing. And thats what our time will be known for.
Yes, a thousand years from now, historians will study the Donald Trump phenomenon and what it meant for our gutsy little experiment in democracy, as well as for the world at large. I am still confident, however, that historians will find more importance in learning about the moments in our lifetimes when science changed everything.
What I am not confident about is predicting how those future historians will do their work, and to what extent people of our time would regard those historians as human beings, or some exotic quantum Crispr-ed cyborgs. Thats something that Donald Trump will have no hand in. And why its so important, even as politics intrude on our everyday existence, to do the work of chronicling this great and fearsome adventure.
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Australia’s Archer and its plan for quantum world domination – ZDNet
Posted: at 10:49 am
Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair and quantum technology manager Dr Martin Fuechsle
Quantum computing will revolutionise the world; its potential is so immeasurable that the greatest minds in Redmond, Armonk, and Silicon Valley are spending big on quantum development. But a company by the name of Archer Materials wants to put Sydney, Australia, on the map alongside, if not ahead, of these tech giants.
Universal quantum computers leverage the quantum mechanical phenomena of superposition and entanglement to create states that scale exponentially with the number of quantum bits (qubits).
Here's an explanation: What is quantum computing? Understanding the how, why and when of quantum computers
"Quantum computing represents the next generation of powerful computing, you don't really have to know how your phone works on the inside, you just want it to do things that you couldn't do before," Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair told ZDNet.
"And with quantum computing, you can do things that you couldn't necessarily do before."
There is currently a very small set number of tasks that a quantum computer can do, but Choucair is hopeful that in the future this will grow to be a little bit more consumer-based and business-faced.
Right now, however, quantum computing, for all intents and purposes, is at a very early stage. It's not going to completely displace a classical computer, but it will give the capacity to do more with what we currently have. Choucair believes this will positively impact a range of sectors that are reliant on an increasing amount of computational power.
"This comes to light when you start to want to optimise very large portfolios, or perform a whole bunch of data crunching, AI and all sorts of buzzwords -- but ultimately, you're looking for more computational power. And you can genuinely get speed-ups in computational power based on certain algorithms for certain problems that are currently being identified," he explained.
"The problems that quantum computers can solve are currently being identified and the end users are being engaged."
Archer describes itself as a materials technology company. Its proposition is simple at heart: "Materials are the tangible physical basis of all technology. We're developing and integrating materials to address complex global challenges in quantum technology, human health, and reliable energy".
There are many components to quantum computing, but Archer is building a qubit processor. 12CQ is touted by the company as a "world-first technology that Archer aims to build for quantum computing operation at room-temperature and integration onboard modern electronic devices".
"We're not building the entire computer, we're building the chipset, the processer at the core of it," Choucair told ZDNet. "That really forms the brain of a quantum computer.
"The difference with us is that we really are looking at on-board use, rather than the heavy infrastructure that's required to house the existing quantum computing architectures.
"This is not all airy-fairy and it is not all of blue sky; it's real, there's proven potential, we've published the workwe have the data, we have the science behind us -- it took seven years of immense, immersive R&D."
Archer is building the chip inside a AU$180 million prototype foundry out of the University of Sydney. The funding was provided by the university as well as government.
"Everyone's playing their role to get this to market," he said.
Choucair is convinced that the potential when Archer "gets this right" will be phenomenal.
"Once you get a minimal viable product, and you can demonstrate the technology can indeed work at room temperature and be integrated into modern-day electronics. I think that's, that's quite disruptive. And it's quite exciting," he said.
Magnified region observing the round qubit clusters which are billionths of a meter in size in the centre of qubit control device components (appearing as parallel lines).
Choucair found himself at Archer in 2017 after the company acquired a startup he founded. Straight away, he and the board got started on the strategy it's currently executing on.
"There is very, very small margin for error from the start, in the middle, at the end -- you need to know what you're getting yourself into, what you're doingthis is why I think we've been able to be so successful moving forward, we've been so rapid in our development, because we know exactly what needs to get done," Choucair said.
"The chip is a world firstscience can fail at any stage, everybody knows that, but more often than not, it may or may not -- how uncertain do you want something to be? So for us, the more and more we develop our chip, the higher chances of success become."
Read more about Archer's commercial strategy here: Archer looks to commercialisation future with graphene-based biosensor tech
Choucair said materials technology itself was able to reduce a lot of the commercial barriers to entry for Archer, which meant the company could take the work out of the university much sooner.
"The material technology allowed us to do things without the need for heavy cooling infrastructure, which costs millions and millions of dollars and had to be housed in buildings that cost millions and millions of dollars,' he explained. "Massive barrier reduced, material could be made simply from common laboratory agents, which means you didn't have to build a billion-dollar facility to control atoms and do all these crazy scientific things at the atomic level.
"And so, really, you end up with the materials technology that was simple to handle, easy to make, and worked at room temperature, and you're like, wow, okay, so now the job for us is to actually build the chip and miniaturise this stuff, which is challenging in itself."
The CEO of the unexplainable has an impressive resum. He landed at Archer with a strong technical background in nanotechnology, served a two-year mandate on the World Economic Forum Global Council for Advanced Materials, is a fellow of both The Royal Society of New South Wales and The Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and was an academic and research fellow at the University of Sydney's School of Chemistry.
Choucair also has in his armoury Dr Martin Fuechsle, who is recognised for developing the world's smallest transistor, a "single-atom transistor".
"Fuechsle is among the few highly talented physicists in the world capable of building quantum devices that push the boundaries of current information processing technology," Choucair said in January 2019, announcing Fuechsle's appointment. "His skills, experience, and exceptional track record strongly align to Archer's requirements for developing our key vertical of quantum technology."
SEE:Guide to Becoming a Digital Transformation Champion(TechRepublic Premium)
Archer is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, but Choucair would reject any claims of it being a crazy proposition.
"20 years ago, a company that was maybe offering something as abstract as an online financial payment system would have been insane too, but if you have a look at the top 10 companies on the Nasdaqa lot of their core business is embedded in the development of computational architecture, computational hardware," he said.
"We're a very small company, I'm not comparing myself to a Nasdaq-listed company. I'm just saying, the core businessI think it's a unique offering and differentiates us on a stock exchange."
He said quantum technology is something that people are starting to value and see as having potential and scale of opportunity.
Unlike many of the other quantum players in Australia and abroad, Archer is not a result of a spin-off from a university, Choucair claimed.
"The one thing about Archer is that we're not a university spin out -- I think that's what sets us apart, not just in Australia, but globally," he said. "A lot of the time, the quantum is at a university, this is where you go to learn about quantum computing, so it's only natural that it does come out of a university."
Historically, Australia has a reputation of being bad at commercialising research and development. But our curriculum vitae speaks for itself: Spray-on skin, the black box flight recorder, polymer bank notes, and the Cochlear implant, to name a few.
According to Choucair, quantum is next.
"We really are leading the world; we well and truly punch above our weight when it comes to the work that's been done, we lead the world," he said.
"And that quantum technology is across quantum computing and photonics, and sensing -- it's not just quantum computing. We do have a lot of great scientists and those who are developing the technology."
But as highlighted in May by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in its quantum technologies roadmap, there are a lot of gaps that need to be filled over the long term.
"We just have to go out there and get the job done," Choucair said.
"In Australia we have resource constraints, just like anywhere else in the world. And I think there's always a lot more that can be donewe're not doing deep tech as a luxury in this country. From the very top down, there is an understanding, I believe, from our government and from key institutes in the nation that this is what will help us drive forward as a nation."
Archer isn't the only group focused on the promise of quantum tech down under, but Choucair said there's no animosity within the Aussie ecosystem.
Read about UNSW's efforts: Australia's ambitious plan to win the quantum race
There's also a partnership between two universities: UNSW and Sydney Uni quantum partnership already bearing fruit
"I think we all understand that there's a greater mission at stake here. And we all want, I can't speak on everyone's behalf, but at Archer we definitely have vision of making quantum computing widespread -- adopted by consumers and businesses, that's something that we really want to do," he said.
"We have fantastic support here in Australia, there's no doubt about it."
A lot of the work in the quantum space is around education, as Choucair said, it's not something that just comes out of abstractness and then just exists.
"You have to remember this stuff's all been built off 20, 30, 40 years of research and development, quantum mechanics, engineering, science, and tech -- hundreds and thousands of brilliant minds over the course of two-three generations," the CEO explained.
While the technology is here, and people are building algorithms that only run on quantum computers, there is still another 20-or-so years of development to follow.
"This field is not a fast follower field, you don't just get up in the morning and put your slippers on and say you're going to build a quantum computer," he added.
Archer is also part of the IBM Q Network, which is a global network of startups, Fortune 500 companies, and academic research institutes that have access to IBM's experts, developer tools, and cloud-based quantum systems through IBM Q Cloud.
Archer joined the network in May as the first Australian company that's developing a qubit processor.
Choucair said the work cannot be done without partnerships and collaboration alongside the best in the world.
"Yes, there is a race to build quantum computers, but I think more broadly than a race, to just enable the widespread adoption of the technology. And that's not easy. And that takes a concerted effort," he said. "And at this early stage of development, there is a lot of overlap and collaboration.
"There's a bit of a subculture that Australia can't do it -- yeah, we can.
"There's no excuses, right? We're doing it, we're building it, we're getting there. We're working with the very best in the world."
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Australia's Archer and its plan for quantum world domination - ZDNet
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Quantum Computing Market Analysis By Market Size, Share, Revenue Growth, Development And Demand Forecast To 2028 – The Think Curiouser
Posted: at 10:49 am
According toCanadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the total revenues generated by telecom industry in Canada was USD 38.79 billion in 2017.
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The increasing number of innovations and advancements in technology globally has provided various business opportunities and is predicted to drive the growth of the market over the forecast period (2019-2028). The introduction of 5G accompanied by other technologies such as digital reality comprising of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) or the fast growing Quantum Computing are setting new trends for the continuously evolving IT & Telecom industry. The total number of cellular IoT connections are anticipated to reach 3.4 billion by 2023. The globalQuantum Computing Marketis estimated to attain noticeable growth over the next 6-7 years, owing to digital transformation taking place across several services such as R&D & Testing, Information Technology (IT), Telecom and Internet. The Information & Communication Technology (ICT) goods exports recorded a growth of 11.51% in 2017 as against 11.20% in 2016. Through 5G connection, about one billion enhanced mobile broadband subscriptions are anticipated to be covered by 2023.
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To provide better understanding of internal and external marketing factors, the multi-dimensional analytical tools such as SWOT and PESTEL analysis have been implemented in the global Quantum Computing market report. Moreover, the report consists of market segmentation, CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate), BPS analysis, Y-o-Y growth (%), Porters five force model, absolute $ opportunity and anticipated cost structure of the market.
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Will Quantum Mechanics Produce the True Thinking Computer? – Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence
Posted: at 10:49 am
Some hope that quantum mechanics can explain human consciousness.
Maybe we are all quantum computers but dont know it? Maybe quantum computers could think like people?
There is an odd relationship between the human mind and quantum mechanics, the science of entities like electrons that are too small to be governed by ordinary physics.
Some aspects of consciousness appear to be mediated by such elementary particles. Science writer Philip Ball explains,
Nobody understands what consciousness is or how it works. Nobody understands quantum mechanics either. Could that be more than coincidence?
Quantum mechanics is the best theory we have for describing the world at the nuts-and-bolts level of atoms and subatomic particles. Perhaps the most renowned of its mysteries is the fact that the outcome of a quantum experiment can change depending on whether or not we choose to measure some property of the particles involved
To this day, physicists do not agree on the best way to interpret these quantum experiments, and to some extent what you make of them is (at the moment) up to you. But one way or another, it is hard to avoid the implication that consciousness and quantum mechanics are somehow linked.
This might, of course, be at least one part of the reason that consciousness remains a mystery.
But now, is a quantum computer smarter than the conventional machine that just computes numbers?
In Gaming AI, tech philosopher George Gilder notes that the resourceful AI geniuses believe that they can effect an astronomical speedup by changing the ordinary 1 or 0 bit to the quantum bit, or qubit:
The qubit is one of the most enigmatic tangles of matter and ghost in the entire armament of physics. Like a binary digit, it can register 0 or 1; what makes it quantum is that it can also register a nonbinary superposition of 0 and 1.
But before we get carried away by the possibilities, Gilder goes on to say that theres a hitch. An endless superposition works fine for Schrodingers cat. But, to be useful in the real world, the quantum computer must settle on either 0 or 1. If the needed number is your paycheck, to be cashed, it must be a number, not an infinite debate.
In any event, quantum computers come with real world problems that conventional computers dont have:
the chip can no longer function as a determinist logical device. For example, today the key problem in microchips is to avoid spontaneous quantum tunneling, where electrons can find themselves on the other side of a barrier that by the laws of classical physics would have been insurmountable and impenetrable. In digital memory chips or processors, spontaneous tunneling can mean leakage and loss.
Quantum computing has advantages and disadvantages. In any event, consciousness is still a mystery and its not clear at this point how quantum computers help us understand much. But stay tuned!
Note: You can download Gaming AI for free here.
You may also wish to look at:
Quantum supremacy isnt the Big Fix. If human thought is Turings halting oracle, as seems likely, then even quantum computing will not allow us to replicate human intelligence (Eric Holloway)
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Quantum Computing Technologies Market : Information, Figures and Analytical Insights 2020-2025 – Eurowire
Posted: at 10:49 am
The research report focuses on target groups of customers to help players to effectively market their products and achieve strong sales in the global Quantum Computing Technologies Market. It segregates useful and relevant market information as per the business needs of players. Readers are provided with validated and revalidated market forecast figures such as CAGR, Quantum Computing Technologies market revenue, production, consumption, and market share. Our accurate market data equips players to plan powerful strategies ahead of time. The Quantum Computing Technologies report offers deep geographical analysis where key regional and country level markets are brought to light. The vendor landscape is also analysed in depth to reveal current and future market challenges and Quantum Computing Technologies business tactics adopted by leading companies to tackle them.
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Torah & Rationalism: Understanding Torah and the Mesorah – The Jewish Voice
Posted: at 10:48 am
Edited by: Moshe Avraham Landy] (Feldheim, 2020)By: Rabbi Dr. Aharon Chaim HaLevi ZimmermanReviewed by: Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein
For the uninitiated, Rabbi Aharon Chaim Zimmerman is known as an eccentric Rosh Yeshiva and Jewish intellectual who flourished in the second half of the twentieth century. Rabbi Zimmerman was born in 1914 into an illustrious rabbinic family, as he was a nephew of Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebowitz (1862-1939)the famed Rosh Yeshiva of Kaminetz and author of Birkas Shmuel. As a young teenager, Rabbi Zimmerman, already recognized as a prodigy, was sent to study under his venerated uncle. Afterwards, he studied under Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik (1879-1941) at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, where he received rabbinic ordination in 1939. At the tender age of 24, Rabbi Zimmerman became the youngest member of the RCA.
He was later tapped to serve as Rosh Yeshiva of the Hebrew Theological College (Skokie Yeshiva) in Chicago until his controversial dismissal in 1964. Subsequently, Rabbi Zimmerman served as Rosh Yeshiva in various other institutes, finally making Aliyah in 1972 and opening a Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Rabbi Zimmerman passed away in 1995, but his student Moshe Landy undertook to print some of his Rebbes unpublished works posthumously.
Rabbi Zimmerman penned numerous books and monographs, both in English and Hebrew, on various intricate topicsmostly relating to Halacha and Jewish Philosophy. Many of his Hebrew articles were published in the scholarly rabbinic journal HaPardes (originally edited by Rabbi Shmuel Aharon Pardes, and, from 1947, by Rabbi Simcha Elberg). Most of those articles concern various minutiae in the Halachos regarding ritual sacrifices and related laws of ritual purity/impurity. Rabbi Zimmerman also famously penned an important work entitled Agan HaSahar concerning the placement of the international dateline in Halacha. He also wrote extensively about Zionism and how the ideal Jewish State should be structured. Many of Rabbi Zimmermans English essay were originally published in the Jewish Press and were later culled together and republished as complete books.
Besides Rabbi Zimmermans prowess in Torah Studies and Halacha, he was also quite well-versed in the sciences, including advanced mathematics, philosophy, and physics. Dr. Harry Maryles relates that it was said about Rabbi Zimmerman that he understood quantum theory as well as Niels Bohr did at a time when most of the scientific community had barely even heard of it yet! Nonetheless, this eclectic Torah Scholar focused his energies and devotion to Torah Studies, and viewed that discipline as the most important of all.
This newly-published book represents only a small part of the greater edifice that makes up Rabbi Zimmermans approach to Jewish theology/philosophy. The basic premise of this book is that Halacha and Talmudic study are built on a precise logical system, which is akin to the systems of reasoning behind any of the hard sciences, like mathematics. Rabbi Zimmerman offers a thorough epistemological defense of this staunchly traditionalist view, buttressing his arguments with philosophical terms and ideas.
As mentioned above, Rabbi Zimmerman was quite at home when discussing philosophy. In this book, he cites such classical philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, and Machiavelli to bolster his assertions, while he also references later philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russel, and even Ayn Rand.
Another recurrent theme in Rabbi Zimmermans new book concerns the idea of insiders versus outsiders. In fact, Rabbi Zimmerman treats this idea at greater length in two of his previous books, Torah and Reason (1979) and Torah and Existence (1986). This aspect of Rabbi Zimmermans weltanschauung maintains that the true study of Torah must follow the time-tested traditional methodology of the mesorah, and Torah content can only be assessed through that internal logic. He makes the point that just as other disciplines can only be understood from within their own ontological system, so can Torah only be truly understood by the insider.
To illustrate this point, Rabbi Zimmerman draws an analogy in which he cites the following anecdote: Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky once proclaimed that as intelligent as Albert Einstein might be, he cannot understand the situation of the Jewish people unless he understands two languages that are read from right to leftHebrew and Yiddish. In the same way, Rabbi Zimmerman argued, one who is an outsider to the notion of Torah Study and has not been initiated in its inner logic/methodology cannot grasp the ideas and concepts discussed therein.
The brunt of Rabbi Dr. Zimmermans criticism is levelled against people in the mold of Heinrich Graetz, Leo Strauss, and Gershon Scholem. He polemicizes against these Jewish scholars for imposing their own manmade framework on the Torahs Divine structure, and then framing the Halacha and Jewish tradition through subjective considerations rooted in history, politics, sociology, and the like. Rabbi Zimmerman reserves his harshest condemnations for Levi (Louis) Ginzberg, one of the founders of Conservative Judaism. In fact, a 40-page section of this book is devoted to outing Ginzberg as a plagiarizer and falsifier.
In this work, Rabbi Zimmerman argues time and again how these outsiders and others like them misunderstood the original intent of the traditional rabbinic authorities and misconstrue their words to fit with their own preconceived (biased) notions. Such Jewish scholars often attribute Halachic rulings or positions to the machinations of political/social engineering, instead of to the learned conclusions of applying a traditional methodology of study.
This book, like most of Rabbi Zimmermans previous books, is actually a sort of apologetic defense of traditional Judaism. The drawback of his style is that he often makes very strongly-worded assertions without actually backing them up. In this reviewers opinion, the entire book feels like it consists of off-the-cuff remarks that Rabbi Zimmerman made without meaning to actually get into the topics he broaches. It sometimes feels as if Rabbi Zimmerman could have written an entire chapter to explain just one single sentence in this book. The reader must bear in mind that Rabb Zimmerman did not originally prepare these essays with the intention to create the book at hand, so the ambiguities and vagueness are more the editors doing than the authors.
Furthermore, in this book, Rabbi Zimmerman makes many general, sweeping statements, without going into more detail about how they play out and what exactly he means, or what examples of those ideas we can find. For example, in several chapters throughout this book, Rabbi Zimmerman variously claims that many parts of the Aggadah, Kabbalah, and Rambams philosophy are all just meshalim (parables), but he fails to tell us what the nimshal is. This comes from Rabbi Zimmermans aversion to spoon-feeding his readers/students with information. He instead tries to make certain points, but leaves the reader to do the leg work and work out the exact details. In this way, the assertions he makes are really just starting points from which the reader can begin his own personal exploration and intellectual inquiry into the subject matter.
This reviewer feels that if Rabbi Zimmerman would have buttressed his name-dropping and supped-up appeals to authority with more substantial arguments to prove his points, then this book could be an important guide to understanding Judaism from the inside. Similarly, if this book would have provided more examples of how the Halacha is based on a logical system instead of having us take his word for it, it could have a far greater impact.
In this reviewers final assessment, Rabbi Zimmermans new book is a great introduction to some of the sophisticated ideas behind traditional Judaism, and how it ranks knowledge/rational thought. The editor of this work graciously took the time to locate and provide us with footnotes that contain the exact Hebrew text for most of the sources that Rabbi Zimmerman quotes (as well as Hebrew excurses probably deemed too provocative for the English reader). Indeed, Mr. Landy prepared for publication another small part of Rabbi Zimmermans greater overarching philosophy, and we hope to see more of his unpublished writings see light in the future.
For other reviews of this work that take a different approach, see:
Torah & Rationalism – Writings of the Gaon Rabbenu Aaron Chaim HaLevi Zimmerman zt”l
Torah & Rationalism Writings of the Gaon Rabbenu Aaron Chaim HaLevi Zimmerman ztl
http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2020/08/torah-dogmatism.html
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Torah & Rationalism: Understanding Torah and the Mesorah - The Jewish Voice
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Title: Torah & Rationalism: Understanding Torah and the Mesorah – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com
Posted: at 10:48 am
Photo Credit: Rabbi Dr. Zimmerman / Feldheim Publishers
Title: Torah & Rationalism: Understanding Torah and the Mesorah Author: Rabbi Dr. Aharon Chaim HaLevi Zimmerman (edited by Moshe Avraham Landy)Publisher: Feldheim
For the uninitiated, Rabbi Aharon Chaim Zimmerman is known as an eccentric rosh yeshiva and Jewish intellectual who flourished in the second half of the 20th century. Rabbi Zimmerman was born in 1914 into an illustrious rabbinic family and was a nephew of Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebowitz (1862-1939), the famed rosh yeshiva of Kaminetz.
As a young teenager, Rabbi Zimmerman, already recognized as a prodigy, was sent to study under his venerated uncle. Afterwards, he studied under Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik (1879-1941) at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, where he received semicha in 1939.
At the tender age of 24, Rabbi Zimmerman became the youngest member of the Rabbinical Council of America. He later served as rosh yeshiva of the Hebrew Theological College (Skokie Yeshiva) in Chicago until his controversial dismissal in 1964.
Subsequently, Rabbi Zimmerman served as rosh yeshiva in various other institutes, finally making aliyah in 1972 and opening a yeshiva in Jerusalem. Rabbi Zimmerman passed away in 1995, but his student Rabbi Moshe Landy has undertaken to print some of his rebbes unpublished works posthumously.
Rabbi Zimmerman penned numerous books and monographs, both in English and Hebrew. Many of his Hebrew articles (mostly concerning karbanos and tumah and taharah) were published in the scholarly rabbinic journal HaPardes. Rabbi Zimmerman also famously penned an important work, Agan HaSahar, on the international dateline and wrote extensively on Zionism and how an ideal Jewish state should be structured. Many of Rabbi Zimmermans English essays were originally published in The Jewish Press and later culled together and published in book form.
Rabbi Zimmerman was also quite well-versed in the sciences, including advanced mathematics, philosophy, and physics. Rabbi Harry Maryles relates that it was said about Rabbi Zimmerman that he understood quantum theory as well as Niels Bohr at a time when most of the scientific community barely even heard of it!
The basic premise of Rabbi Zimmermans new book, Torah & Rationalism: Understanding Torah and the Mesorah, is that halacha and Gemara are built on a precise logical system akin to the systems of reasoning behind the hard sciences. Rabbi Zimmerman offers a thorough epistemological defense of this staunchly traditionalist view, buttressing his arguments with philosophical terms and ideas and citing such classical philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, and Machiavelli and referencing later philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russel, and even Ayn Rand.
A recurrent theme in the book revolves around insiders versus outsiders. (Rabbi Zimmerman treats this theme at greater length in Torah and Reason [1979] and Torah and Existence [1986].) He maintains that true Torah study must follow the traditional methodology of the mesorah. Just as other disciplines can only be understood from within their own ontological system, so too Torah can only be truly understood by an insider.
To illustrate this point, Rabbi Zimmerman cites the following anecdote: Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky once proclaimed that as intelligent as Albert Einstein might be, he cannot understand the situation of the Jewish people unless he understands two languages that are read from right to left Hebrew and Yiddish.
The brunt of Rabbi Zimmermans critique is leveled at people in the mold of Heinrich Graetz, Leo Strauss, and Gershon Scholem. He criticizes these scholars for imposing their own manmade framework on the Torahs divine structure and then framing halacha and Jewish tradition with subjective considerations rooted in history, politics, sociology, and the like.
Rabbi Zimmerman reserves his harshest condemnations for Levi (Louis) Ginzberg, one of the founders of Conservative Judaism. In fact, a 40-page section of this book is devoted to outing Ginzberg as a plagiarizer and falsifier.
Rabbi Zimmerman argues time and again that these outsiders and others like them misunderstood the original intent of the traditional rabbinic authorities and misconstrue their words to fit their own preconceived (biased) notions.
This book, like most of Rabbi Zimmermans previous works, is actually a sort of apologetic defense of traditional Judaism. Unfortunately, he often makes very strongly-worded assertions without backing them up. In this reviewers opinion, the entire book feels like a series of off-the-cuff remarks that Rabbi Zimmerman made without meaning to actually get into the topics he broaches.
It sometimes feels as if Rabbi Zimmerman could have written an entire chapter to explain just one single sentence in this book. (The reader should bear in mind that Rabbi Zimmerman did not prepare these essays for publication as a book.)
Rabbi Zimmerman also makes many general, sweeping statements without going into detail on what exactly he means. For example, in several chapters in the book, Rabbi Zimmerman claims that many parts of the Aggadah, Kabbalah, and Rambams philosophy are meshalim (parables), but he fails to tell us what the nimshalim are.
This lack of detail perhaps comes from Rabbi Zimmermans aversion to spoon-feeding his readers/students with information. He instead make certain points, leaving the reader to do the leg work and work out the exact details.
This reviewer believes that if Rabbi Zimmerman had buttressed his name-dropping and appeals to authority with more substantial arguments to prove his points, this book would have been an important guide to understanding Judaism from the inside. It also would have had greater impact had it provided more examples of how halacha is based on a logical system rather than having the reader take his word for it.
Ultimately, though, this book is a great introduction to some of the sophisticated ideas of traditional Judaism. The editor graciously took the time to provide footnotes that contain the exact Hebrew text of most of the sources Rabbi Zimmerman quotes. With this book, Rabbi Landy has prepared for publication another small part of Rabbi Zimmermans greater overarching philosophy, and we hope more of his unpublished writings see the light of day in the future.
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Title: Torah & Rationalism: Understanding Torah and the Mesorah - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com
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