Science in Perspective

Stop Forcing Quantum to Think Classically: What Google Got Right, and Wrong, about Quantum Supremacy

Sean McClure Season 1 Episode 15

In this episode I discuss Google’s new Willow chip and its claim of quantum supremacy — what the experiment actually did, why the benchmark still reflects classical thinking, and why forcing quantum systems to behave like deterministic machines misses their true potential. Instead of celebrating speed alone, we explore the deeper question: should quantum computing aim to mimic classical algorithms, or unlock genuinely emergent behavior the way nature does?

Suggested Reading
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03300-4 (nature announcement)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.19550 (Google's echo paper)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-025-01908-7.pdf (Vibronic coupling paper)

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