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One glaring fact in support of the original post is that even the companies who make quantum computers don't claim that they are useful for solving any real pro

One glaring fact in support of the original post is that even the companies who make quantum computers don't claim that they are useful for solving any real problems. The problems that they can "solve" have to be constructed to fit within the limits of the machine. In other words, quantum computers are less powerful than Turing machines which can solve any problem that any computer can ever solve -- including one's we haven't seen yet.

scottlocklin 8y ago
That certainly doesn't seem to be true to the average layman: http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/IBM-Unveils-Quantum-Computing-System-for-Commercial-Use-129421.aspx http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/IBM-Unveils-Quant... https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2019/01/17/ibm-lattice-cryptography-is-needed-now-to-defend-against-quantum-computing-future/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2019/01/17/ibm-l... https://www.openpr.com/news/1516739/Quantum-Computing-Market-Global-Size-and-Demand-By-Top-Key-Players-Like-D-Wave-Systems-QxBranch-LLC-QC-Ware-Corp-and-Others-2017-2022.html https://www.openpr.com/news/1516739/Quantum-Computing-Market... https://www.forbes.com/sites/gemmamilne/2019/01/14/the-investor-view-what-does-2019-hold-for-european-quantum-computing-startups https://www.forbes.com/sites/gemmamilne/2019/01/14/the-inves... http://techgenix.com/quantum-computing-cloud/ http://techgenix.com/quantum-computing-cloud/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/08/daily-crunch-the-age-of-quantum-computing-is-here/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/08/daily-crunch-the-age-of-qu... http://discovermagazine.com/2019/jan/quantum-supremacy http://discovermagazine.com/2019/jan/quantum-supremacy https://jaxenter.com/quantum-computing-cryptography-security-153415.html https://jaxenter.com/quantum-computing-cryptography-security... https://gizmodo.com/us-passes-bill-to-inject-1-2-billion-into-the-quantum-1831321469 https://gizmodo.com/us-passes-bill-to-inject-1-2-billion-int...
- mimixco 8y ago
  Yes, they're very good at getting PR... but read what they put on their actual sites. These computers are expensive toys for research purposes. The goal is to find out if quantum computers can ever be useful for real world problems. I'm with the OP; they can't.
  - scottlocklin 8y ago
    Where do you think the PR comes from? Most of them put these links on their sites; for example, Rigetti: https://www.rigetti.com/news https://www.rigetti.com/news Doesn't matter: everyone, literally everyone, is acting like this is just around the corner and RSA and friends are near doom. There needs to be more skepticism.
    - mimixco 8y ago
      PR comes from PR companies. A great book on this topic is "Toxic Sludge Is Good For You," which I highly recommend. PR is designed for mass consumption. If you poke around in the documentation on their websites which is designed for developers, you'll see that these computers cannot be used for general problem solving, which any computer (a Raspberry Pi, for example) can. If you go further and actually sign up for a trial account on these services (which I have done), you'll find that the "problems" they can solve are quite contrived and, as the OP points out, only consist of issues where the programmer already knows the solution. Quantum computers are not as useful as a Raspberry Pi. That's it in a nutshell.

scottlocklin 8y ago

That certainly doesn't seem to be true to the average layman: http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/IBM-Unveils-Quantum-Computing-System-for-Commercial-Use-129421.aspx http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/IBM-Unveils-Quant... https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2019/01/17/ibm-lattice-cryptography-is-needed-now-to-defend-against-quantum-computing-future/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2019/01/17/ibm-l... https://www.openpr.com/news/1516739/Quantum-Computing-Market-Global-Size-and-Demand-By-Top-Key-Players-Like-D-Wave-Systems-QxBranch-LLC-QC-Ware-Corp-and-Others-2017-2022.html https://www.openpr.com/news/1516739/Quantum-Computing-Market... https://www.forbes.com/sites/gemmamilne/2019/01/14/the-investor-view-what-does-2019-hold-for-european-quantum-computing-startups https://www.forbes.com/sites/gemmamilne/2019/01/14/the-inves... http://techgenix.com/quantum-computing-cloud/ http://techgenix.com/quantum-computing-cloud/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/08/daily-crunch-the-age-of-quantum-computing-is-here/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/08/daily-crunch-the-age-of-qu... http://discovermagazine.com/2019/jan/quantum-supremacy http://discovermagazine.com/2019/jan/quantum-supremacy https://jaxenter.com/quantum-computing-cryptography-security-153415.html https://jaxenter.com/quantum-computing-cryptography-security... https://gizmodo.com/us-passes-bill-to-inject-1-2-billion-into-the-quantum-1831321469 https://gizmodo.com/us-passes-bill-to-inject-1-2-billion-int...

mimixco 8y ago
Yes, they're very good at getting PR... but read what they put on their actual sites. These computers are expensive toys for research purposes. The goal is to find out if quantum computers can ever be useful for real world problems. I'm with the OP; they can't.
- scottlocklin 8y ago
  Where do you think the PR comes from? Most of them put these links on their sites; for example, Rigetti: https://www.rigetti.com/news https://www.rigetti.com/news Doesn't matter: everyone, literally everyone, is acting like this is just around the corner and RSA and friends are near doom. There needs to be more skepticism.
  - mimixco 8y ago
    PR comes from PR companies. A great book on this topic is "Toxic Sludge Is Good For You," which I highly recommend. PR is designed for mass consumption. If you poke around in the documentation on their websites which is designed for developers, you'll see that these computers cannot be used for general problem solving, which any computer (a Raspberry Pi, for example) can. If you go further and actually sign up for a trial account on these services (which I have done), you'll find that the "problems" they can solve are quite contrived and, as the OP points out, only consist of issues where the programmer already knows the solution. Quantum computers are not as useful as a Raspberry Pi. That's it in a nutshell.