I regardless believe that outside (and arguably within) quantum cryptanalysis the applications will be fairly limited.
I might be confused, but did we agree that the most useful application of quantum computing would be on chemistry and material science? I thought so, but the above sentence seems to say otherwise...
I believe that chemistry and material science are two applications where quantum computing might be a useful tool, since simulating very simple physical systems is something where a quantum computer excels at but arguably significantly slower to do in a classical computer.
On the other hand, people more versed on material science and chemistry I talked to seemed to believe that (1) classical approximations will be good enough to approach problems in these areas and (2) in silico design is not a huge bottleneck anyway.
So I am open to a quantum computing revolution in chemistry and material science, but moderately skeptical.
Summarizing my current beliefs about how important quantum computing will be for future applications:
Cryptoanalysis ⇒ very important for solving a handful of problems relevant for modern security, with no plausible alternative
Chemistry and material science ⇒ Plausibly useful, not revolutionary.
I might be confused, but did we agree that the most useful application of quantum computing would be on chemistry and material science? I thought so, but the above sentence seems to say otherwise...
I think we broadly agree.
I believe that chemistry and material science are two applications where quantum computing might be a useful tool, since simulating very simple physical systems is something where a quantum computer excels at but arguably significantly slower to do in a classical computer.
On the other hand, people more versed on material science and chemistry I talked to seemed to believe that (1) classical approximations will be good enough to approach problems in these areas and (2) in silico design is not a huge bottleneck anyway.
So I am open to a quantum computing revolution in chemistry and material science, but moderately skeptical.
Summarizing my current beliefs about how important quantum computing will be for future applications:
Cryptoanalysis ⇒ very important for solving a handful of problems relevant for modern security, with no plausible alternative
Chemistry and material science ⇒ Plausibly useful, not revolutionary.
AI and optimization ⇒ unlikely to be useful, huge constraints to overcome
Biology and medicine ⇒ not useful, systems too complex to model