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by smckk 1417 days ago
Why are there so many quantum computing deniers though? From the speed, to the solving of intractable problems, to even the building of powerful q-computers, there seems to be a lot of push-back on all milestones and achievements for this new tech.
3 comments
StrictDabbler 1417 days ago
One problem is that D-Wave spent the last ten years pushing their quantum annealers as "quantum computers".

Everybody got very excited about having functional quantum computers but the D-Wave system can't do any of the stuff we really want or fear from quantum tech. No factoring of large numbers or simulating atomic processes.

So there's a lingering air of vaporware over the whole scene.

This new google computer can (mostly) produce a very specific type of result using entanglement. It's very cool but it's basic research on how to hook up gates and verify they're hooked up. It can't be used to solve any problem except "what should the output of these random quantum gates be".

We're waiting for the IAS but we're still pre-Eniac. Probably about 1925, seven years after the flip-flop was invented.

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cwillu 1417 days ago
There's a lot of hype and misinformation. For one, there haven't been any quantum computers built that could be remotely considered “powerful”. The theoretical basis is solid, and there have been plenty of proofs of concept, but nothing has yet been built which solves actual real-world problems any better than any analog computer would (let alone better than the digital computers we're having this conversation over).

The combination of the massive asymptotic-scaling potential, the subtleties of just what that scaling could and could not accomplish, and the engineering difficulties in actually implementing that scaling, make a wonderful soil for the weeds of know-it-all skeptics and know-nothing enthusiasts to grow and choke out the slower growing… ‹gives up on the terrible metaphor› :p

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pyinstallwoes 1417 days ago
New tech that is available for purchase in a physical computing package?

Or more like new tech that is only available like playing a MMORPG?

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