is there a single practical example of a real world problem being solved by a current quantum computer? all the talks i have seen involve a lot of hand waving and talk of the future. i’m very skeptical that these capabilities are around the corner
It is also a good buzzword prefix: Just prepend Quantum to any word and immediately get funding (See the recently 1 Billion Euro funded EU quantum initiative).
In this respect it has similar applications as Neuro-something: A great way to get funding for a few years. (See Human Brain Project)
If the history of technology and cryptography teaches us anything, then quantum computers will break current encryption sooner than expected. If you're very paranoid, you may switch, in certain areas, to "quantum safe" symmetric encryption (higher key size, higher round numbers) with reasonably secure channel for key exchange instead of public key cryptography.
[1] https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-computing-power-of-a-quan...
With this much on the line, someone has to have a detailed model they keep up to date...