Physical Computing: when will it replace your desktop?

Short absrtact:

Not in the near future.

 

Long abstract:

In the last decade there have been several efforts to use physical systems as 'physical computers': D-Wave is using super-conducting qubits as an `adiabatic (quantum?) computer', the Israeli company Light-Solver uses lasers to find optimal solutions to optimization algorithm, HP is developing `memristor computation', and companies like Toshiba and Fujitsu are commercializing their products: `Bifurcation machines', `Digital annealers' and others. In the talk I will review this topic, show some results (D-wave and laser systems), discuss what we do/don't understand, and try to provide some intuition on what physical mechanisms are expected to give real benefits.