[evandrofisico]

Quantum computing seems to be in the same realm as nuclear fusion as a power source. My Quantum theory professor used to say that in the 1960's, when he was a physics student in the Soviet Union it was "the energy of the future, in 20 years everything will be powered by nuclear fusion".

When i was an undergrad student 20 years ago I did hear that "soon, quantum computing will change the world", and yet here we are, every year someone builds a new machine but no one has yet to factorize that 21 = 7x3 in a general way.

[kgwgk]

Fusion is the energy of the future – and it always will be.

[short_sells_poo]

You could also say we are already using fusion power - via solar panels. We have a massive ball of plasma powered by fusion in the sky and we are harvesting the energy it creates at an ever growing scale.

Whether we'll be able to replicate it profitably at small scale is a question.

[fluoridation]

Of course, by that definition all forms of power generation are fusion, more or less removed from the fusion reactor in question.

[zeroonetwothree]

Some part of geothermal energy comes from gravity which could be argued is not related to fusion (even if the matter undergoing gravity was created in fusion)

[fluoridation]

Geothermal energy is derived from differences in kinetic energy between different layers of the planet (so extracting it saps kinetic energy from the planet's rotation). The energy stored in the Earth's rotation comes from the kinetic energy in the Solar nebula, which itself comes from stellar explosions in the primordial universe, which themselves were caused by fusion.

[evandrofisico]

following that definition even fossil fuels would be based on fusion, as most of it is comprised of photosynthetic life forms.

[red_trumpet]

Wait, you had a quantum theory Prof in the 60s, but you also were an undergrad 20 years ago? That's a ~40 year period in between, makes me curious to what happened.

[fluoridation]

The professor taught GP quantum theory during the '00s, and in the '60s that same professor was a physics student in the USSR, where it was said that by the '80s fusion would power everything.

[lobsterthief]

Re-read his comment—his professor was recalling something from the 1960s. OP did not hear this information in the 1960s.

[riku_iki]

successful quantum transfer experiment.