IBM’s Quantum Computer Needed 15 Minutes to Humble Classical Computing—So Naturally, We’re Already Overselling It
I had barely finished teaching my ordinary computer that, yes, I really did want to open the file I had just clicked when IBM announced that a quantum computer had completed a classically intractable computation in approximately 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes. That is less time than it takes Windows to install an update called “important,” restart twice, move three icons, and return my machine in a condition that is technically functional but spiritually unfamiliar. It is also less time than many corporate meetings require to establish that the purpose of the next meeting will be discussed at a later meeting. So when I saw the headline, I reacted exactly as a sensible modern person should: I became excited, suspicious, and mildly annoyed that the future had arrived without providing a plain-English instruction manual. IBM and researchers at the University of Chicago say they have demonstrated a form of quantum advantage. Their system performed a highly demanding computation that leading c...
