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Comment by gus_massa

Note that they have a quantum computer that can solve a very specific type of problem. (But it solves them exponentially faster than a classical computer). They don't have a general purpose quantum computer, in particular, they can't run Shor's algorithm to factorize numbers and break a big part of encryption methods.

For a more detailed and better explanation than mine, you can read post of Scott Aaronson https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4317 (HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21053405 (595 points, 5 days ago, 207 comments))

parent gus_massa 7 years ago

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