Quantum Computers
What’s going on
A quantum computer doesn’t try every answer at once and pick the best. It choreographs its qubits so that the waves leading to wrong answers cancel out and the waves leading to right answers add up. That trick only helps with some problems, like simulating molecules or breaking certain codes. For email, games and videos, ordinary computers stay better. Large, error-free quantum computers are still being built.
Myth
Quantum computers check all possible answers in parallel.
Fact
They rely on interference, and only some problems benefit.
Learn more
S. Aaronson, “The Limits of Quantum Computers”, Scientific American 298(3), 62 (2008).
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