  It is argued that immense physical resources - for nonlocal communication,
espionage, and exponentially-fast computation - are hidden from us by quantum
noise, and that this noise is not fundamental but merely a property of an
equilibrium state in which the universe happens to be at the present time. It
is suggested that 'non-quantum' or nonequilibrium matter might exist today in
the form of relic particles from the early universe. We describe how such
matter could be detected and put to practical use. Nonequilibrium matter could
be used to send instantaneous signals, to violate the uncertainty principle, to
distinguish non-orthogonal quantum states without disturbing them, to eavesdrop
on quantum key distribution, and to outpace quantum computation (solving
NP-complete problems in polynomial time).
