Quantum primacy: Is it real (and if so, does it matter)?
The nexus of the ongoing competition among nations and corporations (such as Google and IBM) to demonstrate quantum primacy has shifted to a university in China where not one, but two experimental quantum computers reportedly have shown that quantum primacy is attainable.
Quantum primacy is when a quantum computer is able to solve computational problems that are beyond the ability of traditional “classical” computers, yoked as they are to their quaint system of ones and zeroes.
Don’t get me wrong; classical computers long have served with distinction. So did the abacus in its day. However, as society’s computational challenges became more complex--such as splitting a restaurant bill 11 ways among your cheap and quarrelsome family members--this ancient calculating device eventually gave way to the digital calculator.