Bad News for Quantum Computing: Another Advantage Gone

Sometimes people ask me why I’m now doing science news. It’s so that you can fully appreciate the drama of scientific discovery, in which one result contradicts a previous one and the next one finds a flaw in this other one. I think the entertainment-value of science is greatly underappreciated.

And quantum computing is without doubt one of the most dramatic areas at the moment. One the one hand you have people claiming it’s the next industrial revolution and it’s going to change the world, on the other hand you have people saying it’s all hype, quantum computers are interesting but useless. This new paper supports the latter camp. Let’s have a look.

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[Killer_Kovacs]

We could use quantum computers to better understand quantum mechanics, if only we better understood quantum mechanics

[JohnSmith-ofgu]

This is at least the second time I've heard a "Someone found a conventional computing way to do this thing faster than a quantum computer". Thus far, the biggest benefits from quantum computing have been encouraging us to learn how to make normal computers do stuff faster. Well, it's something at least.

[stevejorgensen]

Maybe one of the biggest advantages of quantum computing is simply that it drives us to figure out new ways to optimize classical algorithms to do things we always thought we needed quantum computers for.

[fwiffo]

The only reason quantum computers are deemed useful for financial analysis is because they're marketed as being useful for financial analysis. They're marketed that way because they're marketed toward investors.

[GreenyX]

If I doesn't run Solitaire, it's dead on arrival.

[playingmusiconmars]

Does this mean that Quantum Computing is done and Not done?

[charlesboyer]

The reality distortion field is not accounted for in the Standard Model of physics, but it permeates almost everywhere in Silicon Valley. The RDF attracts money, and a lot of it, and somehow makes it disappear from normal 4D space.

[geraldmarcyk]

You need to understand that IBM employs "breakthrough announcements" as a marketing strategy. It enforces the belief that they are using advanced technology in their products. It's the same reason that Ford, Porsche, and Ferrari enter Grand Prix events.

[CCoburn]

Last year, I read an IEEE article by IBM that said they had created a method of dealing with the inaccuracies of quantum computers. The problem was that it required a tremendous amount of supercomputer time to perform their algorithm. And when it came down to it, it was quicker and cheaper to run simulations on a conventional computer than on a quantum computer that had its data processed by their error correction algorithm. This was hailed as a great advance in quantum computing.

[AS-zcmr]

"10, 000 years in Silicon Valley are worth 5 minutes in China" ROTFLOL

[bungercolumbus]

I really hate it when people see or hear news about something which will "revolutionize science" like the line in Saudi Arabia or the hyperloop and say "it will revolutionize urbanistics" or "it will revolutionize transport" by giving the same arguments made in the news article without knowing a single thing about what happens there. The same goes for quantum computers.

[jrblihe]

It may be the case we're trying to build a 22nd century computer in the 21st century. Apparently, people imagined 20th century computers hundreds of years ago but simply did not have the technology to build one.

[fuseblower]

10, 000 years or 5 minutes... What's a couple of orders of magnitude between friends? 😂

[pawel]

Your videos remind me of watching Scientific American and NOVA as a kid, there was always this magical feeling to seeing what's new in science and how it might change the world. Now I get to enjoy this same feeling as an adult and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

[austincromwell]

The outrageous claims made by some of the so-called quantum computing players speaks volumes about science in general. It's less about discovery and passion for breaking new frontiers and more about pulling the wool over the eyes of investors. I'm sure the "ours is bigger than yours" competitions will continue though, like it is with AI and <insert buzzword> advances.

[kwantowy_prokrastynator]

Conclusion: even in useless applications, quantum computers are slower 😆

[malavoy]

I thought the major use for quantum computers was hacking passwords.

[maiconfaria]

The Ising model is a model of a model. Is the fundamental stone of statistic physics development and inspire many models of physical phenomena. In a sense, it is the most sucessful testbed in science. So, Sabine, Ising model deserves more credit! :)

[simplyme]

Usage of the transverse Ising model? The classical counterpart is NP complete and lays the foundation not only for all these optimization problems (finance, traffic optimization etc) but can be used for protein folding as well.
For the error stuff - did you look at STA methods? Not perfect but quite interesting.

[Benson_aka_devils_advocate_]

The future of quantum computing is beginning to sound like that of nucleat fusion. With so many little roadblocks as well as major technological challenges that stand in the way I can't help be feel we will start to hear, _"It'll be ready in five more years, and then five more years after that, and then in five more years we'll just need five more years until all the kinks are worked out..."_