I don’t know about you but it feels like there’s mixed signals coming from our North American neighbours across the Pacific.
There were words to the effect that QE will taper off soon. Then, in a decidedly different angle, the assertion on Wednesday was that for the ‘foreseeable future‘ there would still be easy money.
As a result, the S&P/ASX 200 finished up 1.3%, the Dow up 1.1%, DAX, FTSE, Nikkei and Hang Seng all up by the end of play. What does ‘foreseeable future’ mean? I don’t know, but I do know that it’s good for stocks…
Actually most things are good for stocks, if you know which ones to pick. Of course, before companies list on an exchange, they exist privately. Therefore it’s often important to look for an unknown company before they make it onto the big stage, so you can be ready to invest when they make their debut. This is part of what Kris Sayce and I do for our subscribers in Revolutionary Tech Investor.
Every now and then something pops up out of nowhere that’s quite unexpected. Initially when you hear or read about it you don’t believe it. It ‘bucks the trend’ – sometimes it’s so unrealistic it’s unbelievable.
And when this happens, there’s two schools of thought to explain it. It was a fluke, or this could be the start of something bigger.
This hit home last night. Like many patriotic Australians I shunned my circadian rhythm to watch a young Melbournian Ashton Agar. Young Ashton is a 19 year old debutant in the Australian cricket side. He’s a spin bowler playing his first Test match in an Ashes series.
Now conventional wisdom says a 19 year old kid, playing his first Test, as a bowler, batting at number 11, is not going to make runs. In fact, conventional wisdom says if he made it to double figures it would be a miracle.
But no, every now and then something unbelievable happens. 98 runs later, a couple of world records under his belt and the highest runs score for a number 11 batter ever, the unbelievable had actually happened.
When watching him in action, I thought, ‘Hang on this kid has technique, he’s actually quite good with the bat. I don’t think this is a fluke, I think he could actually be a very good batsman.’
It reminded of something I’ve came across in the last few days. It’s a small, private Canadian company. I listened to the CEO of the company, Vern Brownell, talk about what they were doing.
You see Brownell is the CEO of DWave. They make quantum computers. To give you a very brief explanation, a quantum computer has the processing power of about a million normal computers. The technical explanation is more complex than that. But what you really need to know is that conventional science still thinks quantum computing doesn’t exist.
So on one hand we have a fully-fledged company that claim to be the world’s first true quantum computer maker. And on the other hand it’s too unbelievable for some to conceive of as a reality.
DWave’s customers read like a run sheet of innovation all-stars. Google, Lockheed-Martin, Harvard and NASA are all companies that now use DWave’s quantum computers.
The benefits quantum computers will bring to the world is truly astounding. We live in a world advancing at a rapid pace.
However, there are computational limitations of existing technology and even of the human brain. If computers (as we know them today) can’t get more powerful and faster they will restrict the development of modern civilisation.
As an example, in a molecular age, information sets being analysed are so huge scientists need lots of computing power. Scientists need to solve problems faster than what’s currently possible using ‘normal’ computers.
The aerospace industry also needs more computing power. To explore outside our own solar system, we need to compute and figure out ways to make it possible. With existing computers, that’s going to take a lot longer than we probably have the patience (or lifespan) for. That’s where DWave and quantum computers can bridge the gap. What might take supercomputers weeks to compute will take a quantum computer minutes.
And that’s why a company like Lockheed-Martin has a DWave quantum computer in their research lab.
When Brownell spoke about DWave this week he made a short and simple statement that pinpointed exactly where DWave is at. Brownell said, ‘we’re at [the point] where Intel was when they made the first microprocessor.‘
The other interesting thing he mentioned is they will be looking to list the company at some stage…in the foreseeable future.
In other words, DWave are at the beginning of their innings. They’re like our young Melbournian off-spinner who went to The Ashes as an enigma. But in his first outing broke records and did what everyone thought wasn’t possible.
It’s no fluke that DWave have a functioning quantum computer. It’s just the start of something much bigger.
Sam Volkering+
Technology Analyst, Revolutionary Tech Investor
From the Port Phillip Publishing Library
Special Report: The Sixth Revolution
Daily Reckoning: Why Natural Gas Could Save Us From an Impending Energy Crisis
Money Morning: Red Alert: Why This Stock Market Rally is a Trap
Pursuit of Happiness: Make Sure You’re Not a Property Investing ‘Loser’