Is quantum computing two years from being useful, or twenty?

[Merchant27]

Until someone actually runs the specific calculation that matters to you, quantum computing exists in a genuinely dual state, it's a practical tool arriving within a couple of years for narrow chemistry and optimization problems, and it's still a research-stage technology two decades from anything most people would call useful

Both framings are defensible right now depending entirely on which recent headline you last read, a verified quantum advantage demo pushes you one way, a sober paper about persistent error rates pushes you the other. Nobody's lying, the field genuinely sits in both states depending on where you're standing

Pick your timeline, defend it, no hedging allowed. Two years or twenty