Glenn Cole quotes a C|Net article:

>   Joel Birnbaum, director of HP Labs, said that DNA-based computers may
>   be one way to accomplish quantum computing. By using DNA sequences,
>   researchers can execute millions of simultaneous equations.

Somehow, I don't think that Joel Birnbaum said that DNA-based computers
may be a way to accomplish quantum computing. The article's author (who
made several other mistakes in the piece) has erroneously equated large
parallel systems like Birnbaum's DNA computer with the ability of a
quantum computer to be in many states simultaneously.

For a more complete description of quantum computing, see
<http://www.economist.com/issue/22-02-97/st4174.html>. This is a very
good (and quite entertaining) review of recent research in quantum
computing, written for the nonspecialist. (It's not every day that you
meet a computer that requires coffee in order to work properly. And no,
decaf won't do!)

-- Bruce


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Toback    Tel: (602) 996-8601| My candle burns at both ends;
OPT, Inc.            (800) 858-4507| It will not last the night;
11801 N. Tatum Blvd. Ste. 142      | But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
Phoenix AZ 85028                   | It gives a lovely light.
[log in to unmask]                   |     -- Edna St. Vincent Millay