Quantum Computers From IBM, Google To Leap From Lab To Market In A Few Years

[Lucian Armasu]

Both IBM and Google announced plans to commercialize quantum computing technologies within the next few years.

Quantum Computers From IBM, Google To Leap From Lab To Market In A Few Years : Read more

 

[jaber2]

Quantum computing will change everything we do, its like going from left to right only option to a left to any direction solution

 

[bloodroses]

Here's the big question, can it play Crysis?

 

[WRXSTIGuy]

The answer is 42.

 

[WFang]

One of the possible (even likely) and scary outcomes of Quantum computing (like any significant leap in technology) is that it very well could drive further socio-economic separation class divisions. Companies and individuals that can afford quantum computing and those who cant. If the advantage is sufficiently big (like Quantum computing could be), it could (worst case) really worsen the gap between the powerful and wealthy and 'the rest'. Nothing new in that risk/danger, and not proposing we pretend Quantum computing doesn't exist.. but something to be wary of.

For those reasons, I hope Google, IBM and many more, bring viable and competing capability to market.

Also: it would be interesting to see if quantum powered investing will be the technology that (finally?) is able to outperform index-matching funds.

 

[Bloob]

I'm guessing around the same time as graphene CPUs.

 

[photonboy]

Quantum Computing is NOT going to change most areas of computing as many people seem to think. Running any kind of program is incredibly hard so this has a very limited use case until/if they are able to create software that works more like a regular computer.

I've never seen an article that discusses any of the memory aspects.

One serious bottleneck is memory. How do you store a program, then write the results in anything near the speed of the quantum CPU? Regular servers will be around for a long time.

 

[Kridian]

"Here's the big question, can it play Crysis?" No no no... it's, "Can it play ArmA?"

 

[tsnor]

[quotemsg=19388361,0,1069610]Here's the big question, can it play Crysis? [/quotemsg]

As the server or as the player ?

 

[virtualban]

Here is the bigger question: Can it PLAY Crysis? Not run it, play it. And even enjoy it maybe? Learn the objectives, deal with the situations, etc. : )

 

[hoofhearted]

D-wave anealing = no good for Shor.
Don't know anything about IBM language. link?

What about qcl? Nice examples of Shor and Grover available.

http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~oemer/doc/quprog/node32.html
http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~oemer/doc/quprog/node18.html
http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~oemer/doc/quprog/node17.html

 

[hoofhearted]

It can kill cats with radioactive atoms.

 

[problematiq]

So-long encryption.

 

[jdlech]

[quotemsg=19388817,0,1841500]One of the possible (even likely) and scary outcomes of Quantum computing (like any significant leap in technology) is that it very well could drive further socio-economic separation class divisions. [/quotemsg]
It won't be hardware that drives it, but software. Hardware manufacturers have a strong incentive to drive the price down to reach the masses. There's an old saying, "if you serve the classes, you live with the masses. But if you serve the masses, you live with the classes".
But there's a caveat here. The rich can afford to buy into highly specialized software that plays the stock market, optimizes corporate profits, replaces engineers and middle managers, etc.. You can expect the first people to get quantum computers will be the likes of Goldman Sachs, Monsantos, and various hedge funds. With that software, the big guys will squash everyone else like a bug on a windshield.
We're on the brink of a revolution that could put as many out of work as robotics did. And a rise of an unfair advantage in corporate competition. 40 years from now, a bachelors degree in engineering or an MBA won't be worth squat unless it's from a ivy league school. Much like a H.S. diploma is now.

You can rest assured that if someone wanted to use it to play Crysis, it would soon beat your butt in every way. Just be thankful nobody figures out how to make money by beating your butt in Crysis.

 

[nrapopor]

Yep -- automatic looms will make everyone unemployed. Oh wait wrong century ... Luddites don't change ... There will professions we can't conceive of now, because we have no context for them. Yes, modern life will require more education, but you are wrong about the Ivy League. There may not be universities like we have them now. Education is still done like it's 1899, it's long overdue for modernization. This modernization it's coming, especially since there are more and more "underwater basket weaving" specialists being graduated every year at an enormous cost. These grads are useless to the market, and companies are beginning to notice. How many people will be willing to drop a price of a house for no return? Like with all of these type of things, inertia is keeping things in place for now, but just wait a little while. Quantum computing will disrupt like a any good technological leap does, but we will come out the other side stronger and with a better life.

 

[bit_user]

[quotemsg=19388817,0,1841500]One of the possible (even likely) and scary outcomes of Quantum computing (like any significant leap in technology) is that it very well could drive further socio-economic separation class divisions. Companies and individuals that can afford quantum computing and those who cant.[/quotemsg]True, except that there are enough players and there's enough $$$ to be made by renting access to them that I think they'll continue to be accessible to anyone at a similar price (per hour) to what it costs those who own them.

[quotemsg=19388817,0,1841500]Also: it would be interesting to see if quantum powered investing will be the technology that (finally?) is able to outperform index-matching funds. [/quotemsg]This worries me. Sure, they'll be great at finding patterns in markets and macro-economics, but they can't truly predict the future. Something unexpected can always happen that blows up the markets. There's no such thing as a perfect model, as we saw in 2008.

 

[bit_user]

[quotemsg=19389082,0,67821]Quantum Computing is NOT going to change most areas of computing as many people seem to think. Running any kind of program is incredibly hard so this has a very limited use case until/if they are able to create software that works more like a regular computer.[/quotemsg]I agree that they won't change many aspects of computing, but will be highly disruptive to the ones they do. Machine learning will get supercharged, and crypto might become obsolete. Design optimization, bioinformatics, and material science are some other fields that will undergo a fair amount of upheaval.

Also, they're not so hard to program, and will only get easier.

 

[bit_user]

[quotemsg=19421570,0,783707]Yep -- automatic looms will make everyone unemployed. Oh wait wrong century ... Luddites don't change ... There will professions we can't conceive of now, because we have no context for them.[/quotemsg]The problem is that the industrialization reduced the need for manual labor, but created opportunities for knowledge workers. However, as computers start out-competing humans in the knowledge economy, there's nowhere left to go.

Just take the example of self-driving cars and trucks. Millions of Uber, taxi, bus, and truck drivers will be put out of work, but only tens or hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created by the self-driving vehicle industry (and that's including both the people who design, build, and service them). Otherwise, it wouldn't offer an economic advantage.

And it's not just drivers that'll be put out of work. Consider the number of people employed reviewing contracts or doing transcriptions and translations. There are lots of skilled jobs that are starting to get replaced by machine learning, and quantum computers will only hasten that trend.

If you look at the low cost of labor in most of the world, one could argue that an oversupply of labor already exists. It will only get worse.