But this computer does have a very practical use. It is a research object. It will attract grad students and grant money. The product is the ability to say that you have a "quantum" computer in your lab. It completes that task the moment the box arrives. Plugging it in and actually computing something is just a bonus feature.

So basically Nuclear Fusion? Or I am under the impression even Nuclear Fusion is far closer to commercial application than QC?

Nuclear fusion is a reality, it already works in bombs and the stars, and there are real reactors outputting significant energy. Will we ever see a reactor that doesn't tear itself apart in a few hours and doesn't cost at least a thousand times as much as solar panels? Who knows. But the physics foundation is sound, the missing part is "just" engineering.

Quantum computing relies on the universe being based on non-classical computation principles. We still don't know if the universe has such properties or if the quantum mechanics we observe are simply the result of a more complicated classical model, which would inherently limit the theoretical capabilities of quantum computers.

But the theoretical part aside, quantum computing is just not really evolving. When I first heard about 50+ qbit quantum computers I though it was a sign of clear progress, but I think it is just mostly moving the goal post, the requirement that you have to do some sort of computation to call the device a computer just kind of slipped away. Better freezers have of course done their part, but that just isn't going to push us anywhere near useful.

When you first heard about 50+ QCs, like, a couple years ago? That timespan is more or less like yesterday in cutting edge research, especially in such capital intensive research like QC. QC in unambiguously progressing, but it still hasn’t achieved its grander goals.

Give it a few more years then.

How many? 30? [0]

[0] https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/why-nuclear-fusi...