So What is the Point, Mon Frere? Quantum Computers...?

Okay,

So here's the thing: A relatively new topic du jour for scientist is the quest for quantum comuputing. A reasonable quest.

But, if you're like me and surf the internet, you realize that most of the ''content'' is just blogs about snogs, or pictures of people who want to snog, or just snogging. IOW overexposure.

So here's my semi-philosophical question. Why do we need super-fast computers? What's the point?

Any thoughts are welcomed!...

So What is the Point, Mon Frere? Quantum Computers...?antivirus download

When's the last time you tried to estimate pi to the 100-quadrillionth decimal place? Or when's the last time you tried to break the encryption on a message encrypted with 1024-bit encryption?

At the current levels of computing power, you would die before your personal computer finished these tasks. Even the most powerful super-computers would likely take years to figure out these problems (and many others).

Guess how long a quantum computer would take to solve them? A couple seconds. Tr猫s Magnifique!

So What is the Point, Mon Frere? Quantum Computers...?bmw

Believe it or not, the internet isn't the only use for computers. And some applications do indeed still take quite a bit of time.
Maybe to you speed is not needed, but when you are running scientific simulations or you want to unencrypt a coded message, super fast, could be the difference to stopping the next 911 or not or finding the cure for a specific illness.