Also, don't underestimate wiring in a quantum computer. I don't know the details of Google's system but Quantum computers uses analog RF pulses to interact with the Qubit system which are then later digitized. The design of a wiring system in a Quantum computer is similar to what you would see designing a high end phased array radar system with the need for everything to be phase matched, highly stable, and temperature controlled except that a quantum computer is also extremely susceptible to cross talk at the interfaces. Wiring a system of Google's scale can easily run into the $100k+ range in just material and manufacturing costs. If the other person didn't have any experimental experience like Martinis says, then he would almost certainly run into problems.
Re:Google's top quantum scientist explains why he resigned
by Junk_Collector on Friday May 01, 2020 @12:58PM
(#23044092)
The wiring thing highlights the problem I think. He was the hardware manager but he didn't actually have control over the direction of the hardware team. That's a terrible position to be in.
Re:Google's top quantum scientist explains why he resigned
by mleonhard on Friday May 01, 2020 @05:21PM
(#23046634)
Yes. People usually leave jobs because their boss doesn't meet their needs. Hartmut hired Martinis to be a manager and then didn't give him authority to do his job. Martinis tells how he had several meetings with Hartmut about this problem but nothing was done. It's clear to me that Hartmut failed in his role.
Re:Google's top quantum scientist explains why he resigned
by jl2718 on Friday May 08, 2020 @11:34AM
(#23115924)
Yes, we built an IC just for the wiring. I think I have a guess at what the argument was about, essentially expert heuristics versus learned optimization. It's been my experience with Google on other RF projects that they prefer naïveté versus expertise. This was explained to me as advantageous for scaling teams and minimizing technical debt, which actually makes sense.
Martinis seems like a very focused leader. The problem chosen was very specific to what they knew they could do with the technology, assuming only that the theory works. He had to say no to business units asking for application value, no to easier paths to publication, no to other people trying to build their careers on a different problem, because he needed everybody’s best ideas on the one problem. But many people can’t adapt to a new problem, and many leaders can’t tell the difference between an idea for solving the problem, and an idea for solving a different problem.
The wiring thing sounds petty, but maybe it was really a divergence. I don’t know. It sounds like part of the problem is that he achieved the goal and didn’t know what to lead with next.