On 23 Nov 2004, at 15:02, Florian Weimer wrote:
> * Andrew Farmer:
>> Especially considering that there aren't enough atoms in the universe
>> to
>> store all that precalculated data, nor enough energy to do all the
>> calculations.
>
> Typically, such estimates ignore the possibilities of quantum
> superpositions.
On the other hand, we have yet to create a practical quantum computer.
>> (Schneier says that there's enough energy in a supernova to do about
>> 2^224 operations on a 100% efficient computer. And remember that AES
>> or PGP take multiple operations to calculate results...)
>
> Schneier's estimates are wrong. They are based on the incorrect
> assumption that all bit operations are irreversible and
> entropy-increasing. There is no hard evidence that this is true in
> general.
On the other hand, we have yet to discover a way to circumvent the
second
law of thermodynamics.
If quantum computing comes through (and I doubt it will), we'll all
start
using quantum encryption. Until then, 256 bits is good enough for me.
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Received on Nov 24 2004
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