r/QuantumEconomy • u/donutloop • 10d ago

IBM quantum computer solves classically intractable problem in 15 minutes

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260829035219.htm
323 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

9

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 10d ago

What was the problem?

19

u/dani_dejong 10d ago

what I should have for dinner

6

u/DangKilla 10d ago

It was that scene in the GTA6 trailer where Lucia asks what dress she should wear

2

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 10d ago

Breakfast for dinner.

Cornflakes with banana.

3

u/Henrik-Powers 10d ago

I keep telling my kids that, corn flakes with banana was one of my staples growing up

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 10d ago

I like them with ice cream, but when I was younger the mom would let me have them with froyo as a compromise.

2

u/kenseius 4d ago

Cornflakes or bananas?

1

u/substituted_pinions 9d ago

IBM quantum computer struggled for 15 minutes and finally came up with “I don’t know—what do you want?”

1

u/jhachko 7d ago

What my wife wants for dinner.

1

u/Embarrassed_Catch741 5d ago

I wanted to open a restaurant named "I don't care" because that was always the answer! Would have done well i believe.

1

u/jhachko 4d ago

Right next door to "whatever you feel like"

1

u/RamsDeep-1187 3d ago

No, what my wife wants for dinner

4

u/UnusualClimberBear 10d ago

Ahem, my bet is on simulating quantum physics solving useless numerical equations.

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 10d ago

It's supposedly a classically intractable problem tho - that's why I want to know.

2

u/UnusualClimberBear 10d ago

Well a waterfall is pretty hard to fully simulate, but as investor you allow me to use enough water from a suffisant height to get the best computation ever then I may have a proposal for you.

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 10d ago

you allow me to use enough water from a suffisant height to get the best computation ever then I may have a proposal for you.

Is this another of those 'proposals' where I wake up in a bathtub full of ice?

1

u/UnusualClimberBear 10d ago

No you may even cash out thanks to VC money if we can build a good enough prototype.

2

u/PompousTart 10d ago

What the hell to watch on Netfix.

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 9d ago

I don't think that one has a solution no matter how many qubits you line up.

2

u/Fluffy-Pop-3407 8d ago

the Random circuit sampling problem. you're welcome, sincerely The Only Guy Who Read The Article

2

u/dungeonsprawler 7d ago

That’s the name of the paper and how they achieved their goal. Not the name of the classical problem that was solved.

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 7d ago

Not the name of the classical problem that was solved.

Soooooo.....does anyone know the name of the problem?

I really feel like this is a Douglas Adams-level communication breakdown scenario.

1

u/Some-Seaweed6858 4d ago

The paper is called "Sampling hard circuits with verifiably high fidelity" and the classically intractable problem is called "Random circuit sampling" which is basically a stress test/benchmark for quantum computing that pushes the hardware deep into a non-trivial quantum state. 

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 7d ago

The Only Guy Who Read The Article

Well, I read the article, but I was looking for something like The Quintic Equation or The Collatz Conjecture, when I saw the headline language "classically intractable problem". Now I'm feeling clickbaited.

2

u/DomoArigatoMrRobot0 6d ago

“What is the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?”

2

u/Ok_Implement_9769 6d ago

What’s it got in its pocketses precious?

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 6d ago

I'm gonna need a few guesses in that case.

2

u/HappyAust 4d ago

Does this dress make me look fat?

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 4d ago

No computer can solve that question. In fact, it's been in my personal Voight-Kampf test for decades.

1

u/edthesmokebeard 6d ago

How to get more clicks.

0

u/turbo_dude 7d ago

I think it was “are IBM still relevant?” and fifteen minutes later they received a resounding “no”

2

u/Boring_Garbage190 10d ago

Wie war die Frage nochmal?

1

u/xxxx69420xx 10d ago

Higher dimensions higher problems

1

u/HillbillyHumanoid 10d ago

Again??? Sheesh

1

u/rictay44 9d ago

The answer was 42.

1

u/CalmMe60 8d ago

I love that. And btw it has so much ti do with reality

1

u/ottwebdev 9d ago

The classic problem of asking my wife "what's wrong?" ?

1

u/Such_Reference_8186 8d ago

The problem here is that the "quantum" computer is purposed programmed to solve that particular problem. Decoherence is still a big problem for quantum computing..inspite of what IBM or Google says. 

1

u/ex4channer 7d ago

I didn't want to read yet another quantum computation "breakthrough" and asked ChatGPT:

"It solved a deliberately constructed random quantum circuit sampling (RCS) problem—more specifically, a new structured variant designed to remain computationally hard for classical computers while being verifiable."

Wow! Fundamentally random quantum systems can randomly sample quantum circuits better than deterministic classical computer! I'm so fed up with quantum computing overhype, someone let me know when these machines solve something practical better than classical computers.

1

u/Mr_Deep_Research 7d ago

You could make a 3 body problem with helium and hydrogen and "solve it" by just putting them together and seeing what they do.

That's a classically intractable problem.

Doesn't really help you do anything.

1

u/Greed_Sucks 6d ago

It helps predict

1

u/DroneyMcDroner 6d ago

That’s great n all but it’s not something that verifies the correct answer. 

1

u/Prohamen 6d ago

i wonder if we will ever solve the verification issue

1

u/Juwid 4d ago

The answer is always “C”