Here's hoping that my stock for D-Wave ends up being worth something.

Quantum computing seems super cool, but I've been a little skeptical of it actually ever yielding anything useful. I would love to be wrong, it seems neat, and I have read through a few books on the subject and played with simulators, so I'm not completely talking out of my ass here, but quantum as a whole has kind of felt like vaporware to me.

As I said, I have stock in D-Wave, obviously it would be in my best interest for quantum to end up as cool as it seems.

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bawolff 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

D-Wave is not making the type of quantum computers these breakthroughs would apply to, even if scaled up, as far as i know.

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esseph 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You can rent Quantum computing time from IBM cloud today:

https://www.ibm.com/quantum/products

https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/docs/en/guides/plans-overview

I have NOT used it, but the idea is interesting.

	▲	AlexCoventry 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You can rent it, but it's basically worthless at this stage.

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crispyambulance 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I got some too. Obviously the principles behind quantum computing are perfectly sound. It's just those pesky engineering obstacles.

One of the companies around today or in the near future will be the one who makes it work at a practical scale. It will have enormous impact, but I think it will be a slow-burn kind of thing as making effective use of quantum computers will take a long time to evolve, IMHO.

Unfortunately, Google and IBM are also working on this stuff and they have deep pockets. They might do it, but even if they don't they may very well decide to acquire whoever does.

These stocks (IONQ, RGTI, QBTS, XNDU) are a sort of thinking-man's LOTTO ticket which will have its numbers called anytime within the next 5 to 20 years (probably closer to 20). I think they're worthwhile to hold in affordable quantities to see what happens. It might hit big, or it might fizzle out for a variety of reasons. There will also be some hype-driven market sugar-rushes along the way that are an opportunity to rake in a modest profit. This has happened already with IONQ, RGTI and QBTS earlier this year. It will certainly happen again when the patagonia-vest people get jazzed about something.