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Comment by forgotpwtomain | Hacker News Reader

> It's hard to say. Industry experts like Scott Aaronson have gone back on forth with regards to whether or not it's 1) truly a quantum computer and 2) capable of real improvements over classical computers for anything nontrivial. Point #2 is perhaps more important for practical purposes.

I down-voted this. I have only a layman's understanding but from what I have read particularly #2 is demonstratively false, D-Wave has not achieved any improvements over classical computers for anything (including it's very own domain problem, which Alex Selby's classical algorithm outperforms D-Wave on). [0][1]

[0] http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2555#comment-974407

[1] http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=1400

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I should clarify - I agree with you in that #2 is demonstrably false. But Aaronson has gone back and forth on his skepticism for D-Wave.[1] He is now rightfully back in the skeptical camp, however.

My main point was that acknowledged experts have gone back and forth on this and there have been conflicting publications about D-Wave's computers. Now that I review the research again, it looks like it's been experimentally shown to have legitimate entanglement implemented in the computers, but the consensus is indeed that there is no quantum speed up or improvement or classical computers.

Thanks for the reply though, I've edited the original comment.

[1]: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=639

No point to refer to "industry experts". Either data shows speedup, or it doesn't. Things will become clear after they release the next version [0]. If there's x1000 speedup, as claimed, it's a real deal, no matter if it's "really quantum" or otherwise.

[0] http://www.dwavesys.com/media-coverage/techrepublic-quantum-...

>If there's x1000 speedup, as claimed, it's a real deal, no matter if it's "really quantum" or otherwise.

Except not, because constant time speedup isn't interesting, 1000x classical computers will get you the same effect probably for less $ than d-wave. The entire point is that a genuine quantum computer should achieve an asymptotic speed-up not a constant factor one, which no one really cares about.

The parent said capable of real improvements over classical computers, not whether it has achieved it. Of course some hold the opinion that it's at least capable of it (Google, NASA, D-Wave employees) but the jury seems to remain out.

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