VISIONS OF A QUANTUM-POWERED FUTURE
The research is very real, but such visions border on fantasy, or at the least are
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developers share on the Strangeworks platforms are simply suggestions of what
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simply rewrite those algorithms to run on classical computers and call it a day.
Even if a quantum computer succeeds at completing them faster than a classical
one, there isn’t agreement among quantum pioneers that such supremacy
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optic cables that now serve as its testbed are stark reminders of the challenges
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setbacks, at best. At worst, it’s a bubble with the potential to disappoint both
taxpayers and venture capitalists.
But from a consumer’s perspective, quantum-based technology is not like 3D
televisions or the Oculus Rift. Quantum’s greatest potential doesn’t require you
to buy a new TV or dedicate an entire room of your house to video games. But
even if it turns out to be impossible to make phones with quantum processors
that don’t seize up when they get hot, or to send information encapsulated in
photons across continents reliably, the general public will likely still feel
quantum’s contributions to everyday life. Solving the coherence problem will
require unknown feats of ingenuity, but it’s easy to see how faster buses and
options contracts will make commuters and investors happy, even if the
computations are performed in an isolated bunker and then delivered over the
regular old internet to a Pentium-powered tablet PC in a rattling old bus.
“The average consumer is likely to see quantum computing in their lives in one
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salesman problem. Whether that’s redirecting Uber drivers to city
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improving the ability to get between multiple locations as quickly as possible is
a huge boon to modern life.