Quantum Computing

My opinion is that the limit here is the human mind and our ability to manage and optimize complexity. This is already a current limitation with classical computing. Just off the top of my head, I would estimate that 80% of processing capacity is lost due to inefficiency of code, layer upon layer of abstraction, so that in the end, the programmer can write code that can be comprehended by an average human being.

Another thing I would like to say, and this is a very understood and simple phenomenon which I believe is at play here, is the hype machine. Here is how it works: Quantum computing is the next big thing that will revolutionize computing! Big money! Come and invest a few million dollars in now, so that you can be part of the revolution!

Most probably what will happen in real life, in my opinion, is that a few findings from the research into quantum computing will progressively find their way into specific applications, and it's gonna take a while.

For example, quantum computing could be used to optimize code that runs on classical computers.

A few days ago they were able to use silicon for Qubits with around 98% fidelity, it's getting near...

I wonder whether it is a good idea to invest in a quantum computer related masters!

samer wrote

Hybrid wroteGreat for mining bitcoin

Wouldn't ASICs always be faster?

Theoretically speaking, if you have the same amount of Bit-equivalent Qubits in a Quantum Computer, and run the same decoding algorithm for bitcoin that usual PC miners have, expect a far worse performance than a regular Intel HD graphics card miner.
Even if you had a huge amount of Qubits, expect it to be far slower than a normal GPU miner.

What makes quantum computers unique is the theory of entangled particles, the ability to change a particle's state based on another. Not only that, but you're also able to open a world of values in a single bit (X Y Z and probability). Don't forget the more Qubits you have, the more possibilities are exponentially available, the more work in parallel you can achieve. You can create an if (condition) var = !var; statement using a simple CNOT gate (which does not use the thousand transistors that we know and love), let's not forget about quantum teleportation (cloning a value), bell gates, and the fact that you can only measure one value at a time!

In other words, you'll be able to produce a way better cryptocurrency miner if you can program one designed to run under quantum computing logic, and that's not an easy task to do! (It's like coding a cryptocurrency miner in some kind of multithreaded probabilistic assembly)

Not to forget, in binary computers, if A gives you B, you will always expect that A will give you B - in quantum computing, A may give you C, which is a less probable answer, hence they run the simulation thousands of times for it to converge to the answer B (if it does converge).

Qubits are very slow compared to recent transistor response times, but are able to handle a lot more!