Words in italics indicate ideas from the author, rather than established facts, and are not easily verifiable.
Anyon - A special type of quasi-particle in Quantum Physics that occurs only in a two-dimensional environment. Anyons in a Two Dimensional Electron Gas can, in theory, interact in ways that perform logical operations, including Topological Quantum Compution. Anyons are a manifestation of standing waves, or solitons, in a 2DEG.
Associative Memory - also known as Autoassociative memory, Associative memory is a generic term that refers to all memories that enable one to retrieve a piece of data from only a tiny sample of itself. Some classes of neural network have associative memory. Internet search may be related to associative memory.
Braid Theory - In topology, a branch of mathematics, braid theory is an abstract geometric theory studying the everyday braid concept. Braid theory can mathematically describe topological entanglement in a physical system of anyons interacting in a 2DEG environment. This would be one way to build a theoretical QNN logic gate.
Cellular Automata - A model studied in mathematics, physics, complexity theory, theoretical biology, and others. It consists of a regular grid of cells, each in a finite number of states, such as 'on' or 'off'. The grid can be in any finite number of dimensions. Some rules for cellular automata lead to very complex behaviors that are Turing Complete, and thus capable of performing logical operations. Cellular automata are generally simulated on a computer, and are not known to exist in the real, physical world. This author asserts that anyons braiding about each other in a two dimensional electron gas are a real-world physical system, mathematically related to cellular automata, that allows structures and patterns which can and do perform universal logic operations.
CNOT gate- The quantum computing analog to the XOR gate. Just as one can build a computer with multiple XOR gates, so, too, can one build a quantum computer with CNOT gates.
Complex System - A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties (behavior among the possible properties) not obvious from the properties of the individual parts.
DARPA - US Government agency that conducts [mostly] classified scientific and technical research for the US Military. DARPA promotes itself as "100 geniuses connected by a travel agent". DARPA invented the internet.
Emergence - The way in which complex systems and interactions arise out of a multitude of relatively simple interactions.
EPR paradox - Thought Experiment famously written in 1935 by Einstein, Podalsky, and Rosen. Albert Einstein never liked nor trusted Quantum Mechanics. The EPR thought experiment showed that, if quantum mechanics was real and correct, then the universe was a preposterously strange place. In 1976, after Einstein’s death, it was experimentally proven that the EPR paradox was real, reality was non-local, and showed that things like Quantum Teleportation and Wormholes in space are theoretically possible.
Evolutionary Programming - A programming method first used in 1960 that uses simulated evolution as a learning process aiming to generate artificial intelligence.
Field Effect Transistor - The field-effect transistor (FET) is a transistor that uses an electric field. This invention enabled modern information technology.
Five Eyes - A military intelligence consortium (e.g. spies) associated with the five major English speaking nations: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States. The USA's National Security Agency, or NSA, is the USA's representative to Five Eyes.
Fractional Quantum Hall Effect - Special case of the Quantum Hall Effect, lead to the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics. Certain FQHE states lead to the emergence of quasiparticles, called anyons, with exceptional quantum mechanical properties.
General Technology - A technology used to derive other technologies. General technologies, also called general purpose technologies, have the potential to drastically alter societies through their impact on preexisting economic and social structures. Examples include fire, agriculture, the steam engine, railroad, electricity, electronics, the automobile, computers, and the internet. This author asserts that Topological Quantum Neural Network technology, and the strong AI it leads to, is a new General Technology.
Hall Effect - The Hall Effect, also known as electromagnetic induction, is the production of an electric current by a conductor moving through a magnetic field. Discovered experimentally in 1879, before the discovery of the electron. This discovery allowed humans to harness electricity.
Hopfield Net - a form of recurrent artificial neural network invented by John Hopfield. Hopfield nets serve as content-addressable memory systems with binary threshold units. They are guaranteed to converge to a local minimum, but convergence to one of the stored patterns is not guaranteed. Hopfield networks provide a model for understanding human memory.
Knot Theory - In Topology, the mathematical study of knots.
Mathematical and theoretical biology - an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, biotechnology, and medicine. The field may be referred to as mathematical biology or biomathematics to stress the mathematical side, or as theoretical biology to stress the biological side. It includes at least four major subfields: biological mathematical modeling, relational biology/complex systems biology (CSB), bioinformatics and computational biomodeling/biocomputing.
Morphogenesis Problem - The biological process that causes an organism to develop its shape, which includes brain and nervous system development. Understand this process, and you have the key to artificial brain technology.
MOSFET - The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a transistor used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. Most electronic devices contain MOSFETs.
Neuron - The primary cell type in the nervous system, and also the basic unit in an artificial neural network.
Neural Network - Term that includes both natural biological neural networks (brain and nervous system) and artificial neural networks. Note that a Neural Network can perfectly emulate a Turing Machine, and vice versa. They derive their ability to perform logic from the same emergent phenomenon. In other words, a Neural Network can duplicate all functions of an electronic computer, and vice versa.
NKS - A New Kind of Science is a best-selling, award-winning, controversial book by Stephen Wolfram, published in 2002. It contains an empirical and systematic study of computational systems such as cellular automata. Wolfram calls these systems simple programs and argues that the scientific philosophy and methods appropriate for the study of simple programs are relevant to other fields of science.
Recurrent Neural Network (RNN)- A class of neural network where connections between units form a directed cycle. This creates an internal state of the network which allows it to exhibit dynamic temporal behavior. An RNN is an advanced neural network.
Quantum Computer - Computational device that explicitly uses the principles of quantum mechanics to perform logical operations. A quantum computer (QC) is capable of solving certain problem sets that are intractable to non-quantum computers. One known application is cracking codes, as most modern encryption methods use a mathematical technique that is effectively unsolvable by standard computers, but that falls rapidly to application of a QC. In cinema, the Magic Decoder Box in the 1992 Robert Redford movie Sneakers was probably a Quantum Computer. Current accepted state of the art is that QCs are routinely built and used experimentally, but are not yet advanced enough for practical applications.
Quantum Entanglement - Quantum entanglement is a property of the quantum mechanical state of a system containing two or more objects, where the objects that make up the system are linked in such a way that one cannot adequately describe the quantum state of any member of the system without full mention of the other members of the system, even if the individual objects are spatially separated. Albert Einstein called this ‘spooky action at a distance’. Quantum entanglement is the principle used to perform quantum teleportation.
Quantum Hall Effect - Quantum mechanical version of the Hall Effect. The 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of this effect.
Quantum Mechanics - (QM – also known as quantum physics, or quantum theory) is a branch of physics dealing with physical phenomena at microscopic scales, where the action is on the order of the Planck constant. Quantum mechanics departs from classical mechanics primarily at the quantum realm of atomic and subatomic length scales. Quantum mechanics provides a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter.
Quantum Neural Network - A neural network that exploits quantum mechanical effects, either by operating on a very small scale, or by otherwise explicitly using quantum mechanical principles. For example, a theoretical topological quantum neural network (QNN) might use quantum teleportation and quantum entanglement for communication and node weighting, respectively. Just as a Neural Network is able to emulate a Turing Machine (Computer), a QNN is able to emulate a Quantum Turing Machine, also known as a Quantum Computer. If a large, operative QNN exists then so, too, does a large working QC. No more secrets. If this has ever been done in the real world then it must surely be classified. This author finds it fascinating that the Wikipedia article is a stub.
Quantum Superposition - Quantum superposition refers to the quantum mechanical property of a particle to occupy all of its possible quantum states simultaneously.
Quantum Teleportation - technique used to transfer quantum information from one quantum system to another. Experimentally proven in 1997 (officially), but first discussed by the famous EPR Paradox paper of 1935. This technique is now used routinely for high security communication networks in government, military, and banking. One can buy an off-she-shelf system starting at around US$100,000.
Qubit - A quantum bit, for processing by a quantum computer. Quantum version of a digital bit, which is either a one or a zero. A Qubit, however, uses the principle of quantum superposition to simultaneously be a one, a zero, and everything in between. A qubit can be held within a variety of physical systems, including a single electron, a photon, the nucleus of an atom, or a quantum neural network.
Rule 110 - A particular type of cellular automata (CA), simulated in a computer, that exhibits unusual emergent behavior. This instance of cellular automata exhibits very complex behavior that is functionally equivalent to a Turing Machine, thus capable of performing logical operations. Many other similar rules are also equivalent to a Turing machine, Rule 110 is just the simplest and easiest for a human to understand. This author hypothesizes that an instance of Rule 110-like behavior was discovered, around 1991, that exists in a real-world physical substrate, not in a computer simulation. Specifically, this author hypothesizes that this 'Rule 110-like' behavior manifests in the real world as Anyons braid about each other within a Two Dimensional Electron Gas.
Scientific Revolution - A change in the basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. Example: The transition in cosmology from a Ptolemaic cosmology, where the Earth was the center of the Universe and the heavenly bodies circle the Earth, to the Copernican cosmology, where the Sun is the center of the Solar System and the Earth and other planets circle the Sun.
Shor's Algorithm - A quantum algorithm, designed to be run on a quantum computer, that efficiently factors very large numbers. The difficulty of factoring large numbers is the basis of modern cryptography. Published by Peter Shor in 1994, based on work first published by David Deutch in 1985.
Soliton - A self-reinforcing solitary wave, also known as a Standing Wave. Solitons can exist in many different fluid media, including water and air. A special case of soliton, the topological soliton, can exist in certain other media, including protein molecules, a two dimensional electron gas, mammalian nervous systems, and certain crystalline lattice structures. Mathematical research on solitons is active and ongoing. Solitons have these unusual characteristics, worthy of mention:
1. They are of permanent form;
2. They are localised within a region;
3. They can interact with other solitons, and emerge from the collision unchanged, except for a phase shift;
A soliton wave within a two dimensional electron gas is an anyon.
Strong Artificial Intelligence - Artificial intelligence that equals or exceeds human intellectual ability.
Synthetic Life - Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research and technology that combines science and engineering. It encompasses a variety of different approaches, methodologies, and disciplines with a variety of definitions. The common goal is the design and construction of new biological functions and systems not found in nature.
Topological Entanglement - A type of quantum entanglement described by Topological Order. Topological entanglement can be particularly long lasting and resilient to disturbances, compared to other types of quantum entanglement.
Transistor - The building block of modern electronic devices.
Turing Completeness - A system is said to be 'Turing Complete' if it can emulate any single-taped Turing machine. For example, Rule 110 is known to be Turing Complete, so it is possible to build a Turing Machine using only Rule 110.
Turing Machine - A Turing machine is a logical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Physical manifestations of a Turing Machine can be built with popsicle sticks, Tinkertoys, gears and pistons, transistors, and via several other methods. Current technology mostly uses silicon-based transistors. Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) inside a computer. Invented by Alan Turing in 1936. Interested readers are encouraged to read the Biography of Alan Turing, who is widely considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.
Two Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG) - A physical system whereby electrons can move freely in two dimensions, but are tightly constrained in the third dimension. Ideal environment to experimentally observe the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect. Nearly all semiconductors have a 2DEG in them. The most commonly encountered 2DEG is the layer of electrons found in MOSFETs. Most electronic devices manufactured since 1998 contain one or more 2DEG environments.
Ultra Secret - Military Secret during and after World War II, classified above Top Secret. Involved intercepting and decoding encrypted military communication from the German and Japanese armed forces. These intercepts possibly altered the course of World War Two from an Axis Victory to an Allied Victory, or at least shortened the war by several years. The key component was the invention, manufacture, and use of computing machines, based on the theoretical Turing Machine invented by Alan Turing. The ultra secret was kept until 1975, thirty years after the end of the war.
Weak Artificial Intelligence - Artificial intelligence that is inferior to human mental ability. This includes most current routine use of AI. Examples are chat-bots, chess programs, optical character recognition, and all sorts of expert systems.
XOR gate - A digital logic gate. It is possible to assemble a Turing Machine from many XOR logic gates.
