Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft doubles down on controversial quantum computing claims

science.org

11–20 of 61 posts

Re: Microsoft doubles down on controversial quantum computing claims

#11
post #2

When quantum computing becomes mainstream, what will be the first standard programming language? I wonder what the 'C' of quantum computers will be

My prediction would be that it won't become mainstream.

Even if it will be practically possible to build quantum computers for average users (given they currently rely on complex physical experiments, one can doubt that), there's the question of whether there's a need for "mainstream" quantum computing.

As has often been said, quantum computers aren't some magical thing that makes every computation faster. They are faster at some very specific problems like breaking cryptography (I doubt that there's a mass market for decrypting the old WIFI traffic you stored from your neighbor, and, these days, most internet traffic is already pq safe) and simulating physics (also probably not something average joe wants to do every day).

In all likelihood, quantum computers will be specialized devices used, e.g., by scientists. You may be able to rent your quantum computing time if that gets cheap enough to be practical, but I doubt many people will ever own one.

Re: Microsoft doubles down on controversial quantum computing claims

#14

It really looks like they are trying hard to scale a system that is simply explained away by a simpler model... From TFA: The switching behavior they see could just be an electron hopping on and off a quantum dot, perhaps one formed incidentally by part of the wirelike region, Legg says. “This is exactly what you could get from a quantum dot.” I won't pretend I have a deep understanding of any of this, so the only pa…

[dead]

Re: Microsoft doubles down on controversial quantum computing claims

#15
post #11
post #2

When quantum computing becomes mainstream, what will be the first standard programming language? I wonder what the 'C' of quantum computers will be

My prediction would be that it won't become mainstream. Even if it will be practically possible to build quantum computers for average users (given they currently rely on complex physical experiments, one can doubt that), there's the question of whether there's a need for "mainstream" quantum computing. As has often been said, quantum computers aren't some magical thing that makes every computation faster. They are f…

I am reminded of Alexander Bell - one day every city in America will have a telephone!

Re: Microsoft doubles down on controversial quantum computing claims

#17
post #11
post #2

When quantum computing becomes mainstream, what will be the first standard programming language? I wonder what the 'C' of quantum computers will be

My prediction would be that it won't become mainstream. Even if it will be practically possible to build quantum computers for average users (given they currently rely on complex physical experiments, one can doubt that), there's the question of whether there's a need for "mainstream" quantum computing. As has often been said, quantum computers aren't some magical thing that makes every computation faster. They are f…

>You may be able to rent your quantum computing time if that gets cheap enough to be practical, but I doubt many people will ever own one.

You already can rent time on one - IBM and others offer it - but they are not cheap.

Re: Microsoft doubles down on controversial quantum computing claims

#18
post #11
post #2

When quantum computing becomes mainstream, what will be the first standard programming language? I wonder what the 'C' of quantum computers will be

My prediction would be that it won't become mainstream. Even if it will be practically possible to build quantum computers for average users (given they currently rely on complex physical experiments, one can doubt that), there's the question of whether there's a need for "mainstream" quantum computing. As has often been said, quantum computers aren't some magical thing that makes every computation faster. They are f…

> simulating physics (also probably not something average joe wants to do every day)

Maybe this will be used for video games at some point?

Saying that this will never happen feels a bit like what people were saying about computers when they were filling rooms and cost a fortune, and now everyone has a few of them and finds a lot of uses for them.

Re: Microsoft doubles down on controversial quantum computing claims

#20
post #7
post #2

When quantum computing becomes mainstream, what will be the first standard programming language? I wonder what the 'C' of quantum computers will be

It can't become mainstream, it is a very narrowly specialized hardware for a very limited set of tasks.

One of those tasks though is "modeling reality".
Post reply on HN