FWIW, Scott Aaronson has likened the question on factorization of concrete instances to what happened during the Manhattan Project:
Joe #11: Then you’ll be waiting a long time, because that’s a stupid metric. (Or rather: anyone willing to use that metric today, is probably someone you shouldn’t trust.) It’s almost exactly analogous to judging the Manhattan Project in 1942, 1943, 1944 by the metric “how big an explosion can you make, today?” I.e., it’s something that’s going to be basically flat for a long time and then undergo a step change, under the assumption that everything is progressing as it should—because you need a critical mass in the one case and to exceed the fault-tolerance threshold in the other.
I agree and I was being facetious since I know the answer is nothing much. The point is that IBM write all this breathless marketing copy that seems detached from the actual utility of the device.
Although I believe there's a difference with the Manhattan project. The original atom bomb was "useful" even at its small scale. Whereas there's likely to be a lot of time between a quantum computer that can factor 69 and a quantum computer that can factor RSA 2048.
IBM write all this breathless marketing copy that seems detached from the actual utility of the device
What are the actual utility according to IBM? Did they say you can order one today on their website? Or even "call us to get the pricing info"? Are there case studies of what their customers use it for? Or only potential uses?
Although I believe there's a difference with the Manhattan project. The original atom bomb was "useful" even at its small scale.
No it was not useful, otherwise it'd have been paraded and hyped up on the media. The trinity test was in July 1945. Hiroshima happened in August. They were practically used as soon as they were deemed ready. Hundreds of thousands people died.
Comments
FWIW, Scott Aaronson has likened the question on factorization of concrete instances to what happened during the Manhattan Project:
https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=4121#comment-1804101
I agree and I was being facetious since I know the answer is nothing much. The point is that IBM write all this breathless marketing copy that seems detached from the actual utility of the device.
Although I believe there's a difference with the Manhattan project. The original atom bomb was "useful" even at its small scale. Whereas there's likely to be a lot of time between a quantum computer that can factor 69 and a quantum computer that can factor RSA 2048.
What are the actual utility according to IBM? Did they say you can order one today on their website? Or even "call us to get the pricing info"? Are there case studies of what their customers use it for? Or only potential uses?
No it was not useful, otherwise it'd have been paraded and hyped up on the media. The trinity test was in July 1945. Hiroshima happened in August. They were practically used as soon as they were deemed ready. Hundreds of thousands people died.