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So they can fold a 20 residue protein on a lattice using the coarse grain HP model, competing squarely with 1970s tech.

I read this article and imagined computing in the first half of the 20th century. Undoubtedly when some programmer first managed to get his room sized computer to add, subtract and multiply someone was present to scoff about how he could already do such things on his slide rule.

It's not about where the technology currently is, but where it is going.

All true. With D-Wave, it's always been hard to separate the hype from the substance.

They certainly have some exceptional people (e.g., the "director of business development" mentioned in the post was a research assistant for Hawking (yes, that Hawking), and wrote one of the very first books on quantum computation). And, they're doing good work. It's just hard to tell how long the road is.

Hard not to scoff at with that sensational title.

The phrase for this is "proof of concept". Potentially important research isn't always dramatic, or abrupt.

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