The APS March Meeting story

10:29um this was a meeting where this technology had its big debut to the outside world. All of the stuff that you see on this paper for the first time the outside world got to see it at this meeting. >> Okay. >> Um there's a juicy little backstory that we'll get into. But that night, okay, so after that after that um presentation, I'm feeling good. A lot of people said it was a great presentation. You know, I'm having I'm I'm I'm riding high, right? So, I snag an invite to the Allison Bob party >> at a bar in Denver. Allison Bob is a quantum computing company out of Europe. >> Yes. >> And um they like, you know, I guess rented out a bar and then you

11:09you got to get get like mailin invites and then one of my friends um from PhD days, Elliot Boore, shout out to Elliot. Elliot, long time fan, long time listener. >> Yeah. And he he got me the he forwarded me the email invite. So then I I got to go. They had some great drinks at the bar, by the way. Um, and they were all quantum themed. So, I took a photo of the cocktail menu. You got Mango Collider, uh, Strawberry Field Theory, >> Bellini Barrier, >> Bini Barrier, >> like a tunneling barrier, um, uncertainty principle. That one's kind of lazy. Just the uncertainty principle. Dark matter. >> Um, mocking bellini. I didn't understand that to be honest. If someone if someone has an idea of why that's quantum related. Um, anyways, I wanted to be a

11:51good guest, [laughter] >> right? You got to be a good guest. So, you got to try everything. They put a lot of thought into the cocktail menu. So, I got to try every single cocktail. You're not trying to disrespect. >> I'm not going to disrespect as a guest. Um, I try every single cocktail. I'm feeling good. Just had a great talk. Um, been getting compliments all day and this is a nice like day ender. Um, me and my friends, we see the traditional group of Europeans outside the bar in the smoking section. This is true for any um international physics and even just science conference in general. There's going to be a gaggle of Europeans outside the bar just chain smoking. Okay. And um I wanted to enjoy some fresh air in Denver. So we we head

12:34over there to to socialize. >> Yes. With our international collaborators. >> Yes. Ex Exactly. Um to to for our colleagues to to get some fresh air straight into my lungs. And um again, I've had a couple of beers, so I'm away from home, so uh some fresh air in my lungs is not, you know, >> it's it's >> it's it's it's permissible. And I had a great talk, you know, whatever. We join them. >> We get to socializing, find find out that they're all from Munich, Germany. >> Okay. Um the conversation turns to work. >> Okay. >> And one of the scientists, yeah, one of the scientists asked me, you know, what do you work on? And I said, automation in spin cubits. >> And they go, spin cubits? What's that? And it's as if I had said like like

13:15cubits made out of cheese. >> Yeah. >> Like they just had no idea. >> Right. >> Right. They never even heard of spin cubits. Um I'm like okay. You know I try to keep the conversation going. I return the courtesy. I'm like all right. What do you work on? They say neutral atoms. And I say oh yeah, okay. And then the killer, this German person, they say, "Yeah, see uh you know about my technology, >> but uh I don't know about yours. So maybe that says something. There is a reason. Yeah. [laughter] And everyone starts laughing and I'm like an idiot, you know? I'm I I don't I can't like it's I'm I caught off guard so much that I'm just laughing at myself. I was so illprepared.

13:55>> Yeah. >> For this ambush. >> For for the quip. >> Yeah. For the quip. I I thought we were having a good time. >> It was a cool whip. >> Yeah. Like you could you could have just been nice, >> right? Like if somebody if somebody comes up to me at APS and they're like, I work at Microsoft on topological cubits. I'm not gonna be like, "What topological cubits?" Right? I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna say, "Are the topological cubits in the room with us?" Right? Like I mean, it's I could think it, but I'm not going to say it. And the background around that joke is Microsoft has these things that they call topological cubits. Not not everyone in the industry is convinced that it's even a cubit. It's a two-level system, but they might have something. They just haven't shown it yet. And there's a

14:35there's a running joke that the only people who believe that Microsoft has a cubit is Microsoft. Microsoft. >> Okay. So that's a joke. But if if I'm at a bar like I'm having a good time, I'm not going to say that. >> Yes. Right. >> But you also don't have a German sense of humor. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And these Germans, right, it's it's also hard to have a comeback to I haven't even heard of that. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Right. Like >> he doesn't even go here. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's like remember in Pirates of the Caribbean when um the Jack Sparrow gets captured by the British dude and the British guy's like, "You must be the worst pirate I have ever heard of." And then Jack Sparrow goes, "But you have heard of, [laughter] >> you know, I couldn't even do that.

15:16>> That's good. >> Never even heard of me." >> Yeah. Right. Right. >> Right. Right. And so what do you And so what do you There there's no clapback. >> There's no like possibility. Even Even in the moment, I couldn't think of anything. So, I go back to my hotel room and I don't know if you do this, but whenever like things like that happen, you take a long shower and you just start like fantasizing and rehearsing like all the different ways that that could have gone down like like Doctor Strange in all the all the multiveres. >> All the many worlds. >> Yeah. All the many worlds that we don't exist in. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of like where I'm like I look like Shah Ruk Khan [laughter] and I'm like I'm I'm just you know there's a comeback after comeback. I started thinking about like stuff I could have said, you know. Um, one of them could

15:57have been like, you know, okay, so you haven't heard m you haven't heard of me. Maybe I know more than you. >> That that was the that was the like the the layout. >> Yeah. Like maybe like maybe read the literature. >> Oh, I'm sorry that you're not well verssed in the >> subject. [clears throat] Yeah, exactly. It's like it's like I thought like not knowing stop being cool in like middle school. Remember those guys who just like love to not know? Like I don't know. Like, [laughter] how is that something that we're still doing at APS March meeting? >> Sorry, I'm I'm getting a little >> No, it's okay. The I The PTSD is palpable, >> bro. It's it's it's ridiculous. >> But guess what? Who's on the cover of Nature? >> That's right.

16:37>> Do you like apples? Well, I got a nature cover. [laughter] How about them apples? >> I I guess I guess you should have known, >> right? I Yeah. I mean um so what I what I would like the audience to do right now is try to figure out just using neutral atoms right like some something I could have said it doesn't have to it it can be about Germany and how they lost the war it can be just anything I want to read these comments because I don't pay attention to my mental health and this is going to be my therapy to get over this okay so in the comments drop something about neutrality neutral atoms Switzerland anything I want to read all about it you you don't have to know about the physics A little later I'll get into the physics and maybe you can work that in. But this is a ask for

17:19the audience for for help in my uh in in my PTSD recovery. And I I think part of what you're sort of setting up here is the methodology that you all were working on was below zero even in just theor like awareness idea that it was possible. Yeah. You were you were not even in the boat that was in the race. >> Yeah. Like a lot there's really like people say there's three. Maybe photonics can be the fourth one, but for a long time it's just been those four and those are the four that are taken seriously. Now the serious practitioners in those four know what a dark horse quantum silicon is. Okay. And what

18:00silicon cubits can do. I think this person was just like maybe a early grad student, you know, just starting out trying to trying to be funny in front of his [clears throat] lab, >> whatever, you know, like >> Yeah, >> whatever. I'm I'm over it. No, I'm not. But, you know, it's >> I've been thinking about that event ever since >> because I think it sort of reflects the idea of this the state of play in the race. >> Yeah. >> For what is the best approach? >> Yeah. >> And that person clearly thinks it's it's Neutral Adams, right? It's been in the back of my mind ever since that day because I knew that I'd be doing this episode. I knew that the the work was going to come out. I knew that it was big enough that it was definitely going to get into one of the top journals. I

18:41there it was it was it's always a crapshoot to get on the cover, but there was a chance that we would be on the cover and I knew that, you know, at some point I would cover it on the podcast. And I was just trying to think like >> how the clapback episode like how how was I going to structure this in that one hourong shower, you know? I was thinking about all the different ways [laughter] that I could that I could clap back. And so this this is um that clapback. Yeah, this episode is that clapback, you know. Um I think that story, right, it gives a good sense of like where the field was and what people thought about spins. Um but now um I get to talk about it on my show. >> Yes. >> So with that, let's actually get

19:22started.