Avoiding the Quantum Winter | Hacker News Reader

Avoiding the Quantum Winter

hybridquantumlab.com

35 pointsmathgenius14 comments

For anyone else that refuses to read ~2500 words in black text on a gray background.

Without meaning offense to anyone, I just don't understand how something as fundamental as this can be overlooked when writing a blog post. Personally, it gives off an impression that if the author didn't spend a second thinking about their audience and how they might read the blog, I become skeptical about the content itself (which is probably an overreaction on my part). I can't help it. The author might as well write the post in all caps or something equally detrimental to readability.

This appears to be the website of a Michigan State University physics lab. Assuming a random writer on the lab's blog designed the site seems a bit unreasonable. It's also unlikely a professional designer has ever touched this site, so...yeah, it's a bit unprofessional. I'm sure most of us would make embarrassing mistakes if we had to do something outside of our field of expertise and then subjected it to critique.

I think there's a valid point to be made that they should put more effort into accessibility, but trying to say a writer's science is suspect because the lab's graphic design is bad is just unreasonable IMO.

Yea, I can't help to think like that but as I said it is an overraction on my part.

Replacing Author with WebDesigner - How can a webdesigner design something so ridiculously un-userfriendly, entirely defeating the purpose of what a blog is supposed to do. These kinds of things bother me as I put myself in their shoes and try to imagine all kinds of things that person might have been caught up on - let's assume the best.

Authors are often not web designers.

Reader mode works, too.

> For QC software startups, this means the expense profile will be similar to other software startups

There are quantum computing software startups? What do they do?

Taking an algorithm for a QC and turning it into software for a QC is a very strange task not for the normal dev. I imagine many are offering software (QSoftware?)

https://quantumcomputingreport.com/players/privatestartup/

Thanks. Wow, "quantum software for finance industry using quantum algorithms for optimization, machine learning, and Monte Carlo simulations" is jumping the gun a bit.

I haven't seen anything - from any company - that makes me think we're anywhere close to actually having a quantum anything. It's like this decade's cold fusion. If I was a VC, I'd be crazy to expect any returns from any company working in the field.

Is there something I'm missing?

Have you tried signing up for D-Wave Leap, and running optimization problems on their quantum annealer? It's not a gate model machine, but it is definitely a quantum computer, and it works and is available now.

People are holding out hope that gate model machines are going to be a holy grail, but so far the actual investments in real-life applications of QC are quietly going to efforts to solve optimization problems, which are a very ripe area in terms of potential for quantum supremacy.

Of course, Scott Aaronson hates them (mostly sour grapes at this point), and a lot of HN readers take his word as gospel...

Thanks for sharing! I'd like to learn more. For what use cases should one opt to use D-Wave Leap instead of a more conventional optimizer?

Thanks! I'll look into D-Wave's offerings and see if they change my mind.

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