I wish I had mod points. That obviously wasn't a troll.
At risk of damaging my karma: guys, just because you disagree with it doesn't mean it's trolling. There is no -1 Disagree mod. The poster is pretty obviously arguing a genuinely held opinion and coming back to support it, and yet even their reply post later on has been modded Troll.
I also don't think it's that contentious to claim that parts of our economy are dependent on copyright law. I'd take issue with the insane lengths of copyright periods, not with its mere existence. But that's beside the point!
which means I can tell that I wouldn't have understood it from reading that article.
It's not one of those nonsense articles; the author clearly has some idea what she's talking about, but don't feel like you should be able to get some basic understanding of quantum computing from reading this. The information really isn't there. It starts with 'what is quantum physics' and very quickly moves on to 'what are quantum computers used for'. How they actually work is I think glossed over in the sentence "This shared state means that a change applied to one entangled object is instantly reflected by its correlated fellows - hence the massive parallel potential of a quantum computer. ", and if that was enough explanation for you, you're psychic.
David Mermin's lecture notes in an earlier comment though look great! Thanks for the link.
Also if anyone can explain to me what the article means by:
One more thing, there is a minority of scientists who believe that building a quantum computer will turn out to be out-and-out impossible. However, if those scientists are right, the implication of not being able to build such a machine is that quantum mechanics itself, as a description of nature, is wrong. Either way, the stakes could not be higher.
let me know. I'm guessing that this is a simplistic reference to something real, but I have no idea what, and I can't understand how it's consistent with the fact mentioned earlier in the article that 'toy' (i.e. few-bit) quantum computers have been demonstrated to work in the lab.
The name of T. J. Watson means a courage none can stem,
And we feel honored to be here to toast the I. B. M.
"All the people are so happy now, their heads are caving in. I'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber skin" -- They Might Be Giants