tldr; (But you should read it because it is accessible)
A tiny minority of physicists think that noise at the bit level will drown out any benefits of quantum computing
The opponents state
Their model of noise is unrealistic
They use a computational argument to draw conclusions about limits of engineering, and with enough money thrown at it, the noise will be controlled (seems like the old tussle between a theoretician saying something is impossible and the engineer’s dream of proving it wrong by tinkering)
The theory they use has been developed for large quantum systems, but they apply it to small quantum systems
I found this review to be “fair and balanced” and I was impressed by the even tone of the person interviewed (Gil Kalai): he presents both his arguments and the arguments against, as a real scientist should when discussing their work with laymen. It’s not us-vs-them, but rather this idea against that idea.
tldr; (But you should read it because it is accessible)
I found this review to be “fair and balanced” and I was impressed by the even tone of the person interviewed (Gil Kalai): he presents both his arguments and the arguments against, as a real scientist should when discussing their work with laymen. It’s not us-vs-them, but rather this idea against that idea.