March 25, 2017

How many qubits would we have needed to install in the Basel Committee in order to avoid its monstrous mistake?

Sir, Jeremy O’Brien writes: “The catch is the need to correct the inevitable errors experienced by qubits. Because quantum computers are prone to errors in ways that conventional computers are not, it is currently understood that to create a quantum computer with 100 logical qubits, we would need a system with about a million actual qubits.” “The future is quantum” March 25.

Our bank regulators created capital requirements based on ex ante perceived risks of assets, instead of on the risks that assets might pose for banks ex post. That is why they came up with risk-weights of only 20% for what is AAA rated, where there could be the buildup of dangerously excessive exposures, and 150% for the so innocuous below BB- rated.

Sir, I wonder how many qubits a scientist like Jeremy O’Brien believes we would have to install in the Basel Committee, or in the quantum computer controlled bank regulations we might have in the future, in order to avoid costly errors like that.

I guess it should not take too many… I guess IBM’s Watson would already not make such a mistake… as it would clearly start by asking: “what is the purpose of banks?” and what has caused major bank crisis in the past.


@PerKurowski