Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Quantum Computing Party may never start

SciAm reports:
The Quantum Computing Party Hasn’t Even Started Yet

But your company may already be too late ...

For example, at IonQ, the company I co-founded to build quantum computer hardware, we used our first-generation machine to simulate a key measure of the energy of a water molecule. Why get excited when ordinary computers can handle the same calculation without breaking a sweat? ...

If you pay even a little attention to technology news, you've undoubtedly heard about the amazing potential of quantum computers, which exploit the unusual physics of the smallest particles in the universe. While many have heard the buzz surrounding quantum computing, most don't understand that you can't actually buy a quantum computer today, and the ones that do exist can't yet do more than your average laptop. ...

It will take a few more years of engineering for us to build capacity in the hundreds of qubits, but I am confident we will, and that those computers will deliver on the amazing potential of quantum technology.

The choice facing technology leaders in many industries is whether to start working today on the quantum software that will use the next generation of computers or whether to wait and watch the breakthroughs be made by more agile competitors.
Or wait to watch all the quantum computer companies fail.

He is right that you cannot buy a quantum computer, and the research models are so primitive as to be useless.

The party may never start.

2 comments:

  1. Dry announcer: Today we ask 'Is quantum computing
    possible?'

    Scientist: That depends on many esoteric factors that must be considered in complicated maths that only a PhD in advanced mathematics could possibly understand... such as...
    how much is it worth to you?

    Dry announcer (in faint Bostonian accent): Billions and billions of $$$$ in funding...annually.

    Scientist: Oh yeah baby, let me get my lab coat
    It's sciency time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. On the bright side, the Chinese are winning in quantum technology (that will in the end never work). https://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/The-quantum-revolution-is-coming-and-Chinese-14342081.php

    May they continue to beat us at it.

    ReplyDelete