Library of Babel quantum state

[Rayitsu18]

Hello!

If the Library of Babel has 10^(2,000,000) books, does anyone think that it is possible to create a quantum state (with a quantum computer) that represents this Library? I think that in a classical way it is impossible, but in a quantum way?

I find it quite interesting! What about you?

[dimreepr]

9 minutes ago, Rayitsu18 said:

Hello!

If the Library of Babel has 10^(2,000,000) books, does anyone think that it is possible to create a quantum state (with a quantum computer) that represents this Library? I think that in a classical way it is impossible, but in a quantum way?

I find it quite interesting! What about you?

You seem to be asking, can science fiction become real science?

To which the answer is sometimes, but not when you invoke quantum woo or a special type of radiation (or magic).

[Doozel]

10^(2000000) is an immensely large number. There are around 10^80 atoms in the universe, just saying: you couldn't even remotely represent it even if you assign a single atom to every book. In the future maybe we'll discover a powerful tool to get around it, but I feel like it'll remain sci fi for a long while.

Edited May 6, 2018 by Doozel

[Sensei]

16 hours ago, Doozel said:

10^(2000000) is an immensely large number. There are around 10^80 atoms in the universe, just saying: you couldn't even remotely represent it even if you assign a single atom to every book. In the future maybe we'll discover a powerful tool to get around it, but I feel like it'll remain sci fi for a long while.

You could represent it, if number is not irrational and has repeatable parts which can be compressed. e.g. 1.(234) means 1.234234234234.... ("234" part repeated infinite number of times)

You don't need to store entire book in raw format, like ASCII/UTF. You can use indices to words together with library of words or entire sentences instead (lossless compression).

 

[John Cuthber]

Yes, we can choose to represent the whole Library by the character "#"

Unfortunately, the system for expanding that character back to the original books will be longer than the books were and thus not useful.

[Rayitsu18]

4 hours ago, Sensei said:

You could represent it, if number is not irrational and has repeatable parts which can be compressed. e.g. 1.(234) means 1.234234234234.... ("234" part repeated infinite number of times)

You don't need to store entire book in raw format, like ASCII/UTF. You can use indices to words together with library of words or entire sentences instead (lossless compression).

 

I was thinking about calculating the number of bits which would correspond to 10^(2,000,000) books and see if it is possible to represent it with a quantum computer.

[dimreepr]

7 minutes ago, Rayitsu18 said:

I was thinking about calculating the number of bits which would correspond to 10^(2,000,000) books and see if it is possible to represent it with a quantum computer.

How is this not, quantum woo?