‘Quantum Supremacy’ Where Hard Work Starts–Not Where It Ends

(Guardian) Sabine Hossenfelder, a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies penned this essay taking a hard look at “Quantum supremacy.” She points out that quantum will be a landmark for computing, but. . “it is where the hard work starts, not where it ends.” She points out that conventional computers, the game changers were semiconductors, transistors and eventually microchip. Today’s quantum computers are more akin to the tubes and relays of the Eniac era, with no transistors in sight.
Hossenfelder points out that quantum supremacy will be a remarkable achievement for science. But it won’t change the world any time soon. The fact is that algorithms that can run on today’s quantum computers aren’t much use. She urges researchers to take a good, hard look at the quantum computers they are building and ask how will they make them useful.