Sorry the question is not directly related to RAs, but I have to ask why some people here think that quantum is a waste?
15 replies (most recent on top)
Good question.
I think it's a good field, there is a lot of research in this area.
Things will be crazy fast.
It's not that quantum is a waste. In fact, it has the potential to impact how we understand things at the atomic scale. What is a waste is IBM telling other major industry players that they can use quantum computing today, and misleading them into spending millions in getting access. This will likely backfire.
To see why, here is some context: remember when IBM and Cleveland Clinic partnered to use Watson in healthcare after its Jeopardy debut? Here is a refresher in case you forgot:
https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2016/12/22/cleveland-clinic-ibm-collaborate-establish-model-cognitive-population-health-management-data-driven-personalized-healthcare/
That is now considered one of the big reasons for Watson's failure in healthcare. It was too early to make the kinds of promises that IBM was making about Watson in healthcare.
Well, here's that same moment with quantum computing, announced just last year:
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cleveland-clinic-ibm-launch-10-year-quantum-computing-partnership
After spending a couple months playing with the quantum computers an learning to code with Qiskit I can confirm this is currently useless technology and won’t have any advantage over traditional compute in my life time.
Next IBM will announce their work on a new Photon Graphene AI blockchain Computer available in next 2 years …
No commercial application period end of story
somehow this feels like another IBM Watson moment.
Quantum computing is a potential game changer…for some workloads…some day. Certainly not in any reasonable timeframe to have impact on IBM’s bottom line. The problem is that they market this as being available now/soon, when it will actually do nothing to offset their lost business. While others have money to throw at quantum, IBM acts as if it’s their plan A, which is beyond scary
and Blockchain was invented in the 90's right?
real cutting edge stuff
I know exactly what this is going to be used for. It's gonna be sitting on blockchain for processing transactions and deciphering communication encryptions. It's still utterly useless. It's a waste of time and resources and of course, IBM is the leader of this BS marketing s***.
True but we now have quantum that can last under 1 minute now without falling apart!!! :P
You are not understanding quantum. It does not, and will not do what current computers are capable of. But it has the ability to be a complete game changer.
Quantum research is not a waste -- you have to start somewhere to get anywhere. IBM started quantum research many, many years ahead of competitors. Of course, they've caught up rapidly. And, in true form, although IBM's research has been visionary in many cases over the years, IBM is never the company that monetizes it.
Explain the problem and how you will solve it with quantum? So it can has unmatched computing power but then you tell me it only works for 7 seconds. The design and chemistry behind all of it will not make this practical. It is a waste unless you want a 7 second computer to calculate a 83673829384763673737363478 byte hash.
IBM Announces Groundbreaking Cold Quantum Fusion Technology for Solving NP-Complete Computational Problems.
Quantum computing is an experimental research project that is being marketed (not just by IBM) as an actual existing technology. While interesting results are being delivered in the lab, we are about as far from having a practical quantum computer as we are from having practical fusion reactors. The poster above said 10-20 years, that's optimistic - 50 is more realistic and it very likely could be a lot longer than that.
Perhaps recent history has taught us that IBM is no longer a leader in any field, but a follower? They fear this is also true eventually with regards to quantum computing. Quantum computing in itself is far from a waste in my opinion.
Continuing to do research in Quantum computing is not a waste. What is a waste is implying to customers and Wall Street that, at any moment now, IBM will use Quantum to make money for them and generate revenue for itself. The truth is that it will take another 10-20 years before Quantum can deliver any business benefit to anyone.
Before "Quantum", it was "Cognitive". Ginny Rometty was hyping how Watson will cure cancer and "touch hundreds of millions of lives". We all know what happened to that and many of us see IBM repeating that mistake with Quantum.
Anyway.. two recent articles you can read about the Quantum hype. Just read the last paragraph of each if pressed for time.
https://www.oreilly.com/radar/quantum-computing-without-the-hype/
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/03/28/1048355/quantum-computing-has-a-hype-problem/