Thanks for your brilliant answers, Hal! What you say makes a
lot of sense to me. Do you have any kind of references to where I
could read more about these "many studies showing how this kind of
environmental interaction transforms the state from a quantum
superposition to a classical mixture"? Maybe even a source
approachable by someone as stupid about physics as I am?
So, then, is a quantum computer merely something that gets
quantum physical phenomenon to represent and logically operate on
information like a regular computer does with "classical" hardware?
If so, then why couldn't this "superposition" information simply be
represented by a sufficiently complex and appropriately programmed
"classical" machine? Maybe it would be easier with "quantum"
machinery but why couldn't it be done with classical hardware?
Thanks,
Brent Allsop