Last week was The Third Workshop on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication, and Cryptography (TQC 2008), held here in Tokyo. One of the invited speakers was Ignacio Cirac.
I asked the following question (first in dinner conversation, then during my presentation):
When will the first Science or Nature paper appear in which the results are calculated on a quantum computer, but the point of the paper is not the quantum computer?
That is, when will a quantum computer do science, rather than be science?
Ignacio answered, "If you include quantum simulations, within five years."
[In quantum simulation, which is something like Feynman's original vision of quantum computers, you set up your device so that it emulates the behavior of a different physical system -- like simulating a set of mechanical oscillators using an RLC circuit.]
Call me an optimist, but I'm with Ignacio.
Maybe we need a LongBet on this...
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