What's the future of quantum computers?

I recently watched a video by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku on which the latter claimed that quantum computers will replace classical computers since they are thousands if not millions of times more powerful.

Do you agree with that assessment or not? Neither Tyson nor Kaku has any specialized knowledge of computer science, both of them have PhDs in different fields and likely don't know more about computers than an average science enthusiast. So they might be wrong... Or are they?

 

Edited January 26, 20241 yr by Otto Kretschmer

Cost matters here. Of course the more powerful tech tends to replace the outdated tech. This is true across the sector and across history. The key limiting factor is how affordable we can make it and how broadly it can be distributed across society. 

As to technical matters...

Amplifying the coherent signal to enough qbits would be essential for quantum supremacy. Also, it would be nice to make them work at room temperatures.

Last time I looked we were nowhere near that becoming a reality --let alone a household reality-- although I've been able to catch pieces of hopeful news about the first goal here and there. 

On 1/26/2024 at 3:06 PM, Otto Kretschmer said:

I recently watched a video by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku on which the latter claimed that quantum computers will replace classical computers since they are thousands if not millions of times more powerful.

It depends on the application, if a quantum computer is really faster than traditional digital computers. So if computers with enough qbits can be realised, some kinds of calculation will be much faster. But it is a big 'if'. I am afraid, quantum computers will go the same way as nuclear fusion reactors, unless some stable 'room temperature' realisation of qbits is found. But I expect that those researchers that work on quantum computers will always say that a breakthrough is around the corner, as in nuclear fusion. But that is just my gut feeling, reading about the progress being made with both technologies.