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The article mentions that quantum computers are “an order of magnitude” faster than traditional computing. My understanding is that at the moment, this is incor
by nbourbaki 8y ago
The article mentions that quantum computers are “an order of magnitude” faster than traditional computing. My understanding is that at the moment, this is incorrect: (noise-free) quantum computers are better at certain specific tasks, and otherwise, are no better than classical computers.
- chalst 8y agoThe article: > Fully useful quantum computers have the potential to reach computation speeds that are orders of magnitude faster than today’s supercomputers. It's not talking about the present, where IIUC quantum computers are basically useless for anything but research, not performing as well as classical computers because of noise and shortage of qubits.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mfukar 8y agoYour understanding is correct.
- etatoby 8y agoThe "order of magnitude" statement is completely false. If we're talking about algorithmic complexity: for some algorithms quantum computers won't be any better than classical ones; for others, the improvement will be exponential, not multiplicative, say from O(eⁿ) to O(n). If we're talking about actual performance, we have no idea, because there is no general purpose quantum computer yet. So the mention of "orders of magnitude" belies a complete ignorance of the topic.
- deytempo 8y agoQuantum computers will likely be hybridized with classical computers, meaning classical computers will just become really good at processing quantum algorithms as well. It really wouldn’t make sense to have a purely classical or purely quantum computer at the point where both technologies are available.
- beaconstudios 8y agoI can imagine that once (if?) the technology becomes miniaturised enough, we'd end up with a "quantum card" alongside our sound and graphics cards, for specialised processing.
- why_only_15 8y agoThey seem to be costly enough to keep within temperature constraints that what that might actually look like is a quantum room at AWS or whoever that costs $x/hr to access.
- tstrass 8y agoJust FYI you're misusing "belies". You use it like "reveals" but it's meaning is closer to the opposite, more like "misrepresents" or "contradicts".
- etatoby 8y agoOoops. Thanks