[wmhorne]

> The computer revolution was enabled, in large part, by a single invention: the transistor. Before transistors, we were stuck with failure-prone vacuum tubes. Yet vacuum tubes kind of, sort of worked: they translated abstract Boolean logic into electrical signals reliably enough to be useful. We don’t yet have the quantum computing version of the transistor — that would be quantum error correction. Getting there will surely require immense engineering, and probably further insights as well. In the meantime, though, the significance of Google’s quantum supremacy demonstration is this: after a quarter century of effort, we are now, finally, in the early vacuum tube era of quantum computing.

Seems a very humble but notable (if not necessary) development in the field of quantum computing. It shouldn't be praised as a transcendent gain, but neither should it be ignored or written off.

If quantum does develop into a viable technology, won't this have been a milestone? Scott Aaronson seems to think so.