We examine the foundational assumption shared by quantum computing, classical analogcomputing, billiard-ball computing, and biological computing (soldier crabs): that continuousphysical variables can be controlled with sucient precision to perform useful computation. Weintroduce concrete error-correction schemes for billiard-ball systems (BBEC) and crab-basedsystems (CEC), demonstrate that their failure modes are structurally identical to those facingquantum error correction (QEC), and show that the reasons we immediately recognize BBECand CEC as unworkable apply with equal force to QEC at scale. We present a formal frameworkfor comparing precision requirements across paradigms, address the linearity objection by show-ing that decoherence reintroduces eective chaos, and catalog 30 years of unfullled milestones inquantum computing. We conclude that the precision requirements for useful quantum computa-tion are, by all available experimental evidence, physically unachievable, and that the quantumcomputing program rests on the same unfounded assumption as the billiard-ball computer: thatcontinuous variables in physical matter can be controlled with arbitrary precision.
Sergei Esipenko (2026) studied this question.