The Governor of Illinois wants to spend $500 Million on WHAT???

The Governor of Illinois has released his new budget and a $500 million part of the budget may confuse, surprise, or anger you. Here are the details...

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According to an article from Axios, Governor JB Pritzker wants to spend $500 million in the upcoming budget on something called "quantum computing" ... yes, I also asked myself "What is quantum computing?" According to Wikipedia, quantum computing is a computer that can understand and compute quantum mechanical phenomena...Ya, that didn't help did it? In the article from Axios, they say...

"The proposal is part of a sweeping quest to remake the state as a hub for the future of semiconductors, quantum and AI...The investment would complement Illinois' bid to secure the headquarters of the National Semiconductor Technology Center, an R&D accelerator the Biden administration is establishing as part of the $280 billion CHIPS Act."

To read more about this $500 million part of the budget for Quantum Computing, click here!

What to make of this?

Let's be honest, I have ZERO idea if spending $500 million on quantum computing is a good idea. IF (and that's a big IF) the goal of this is to lure the federal government to put some sort of headquarters in Illinois then I guess it makes sense. But my biggest issue with this is the timing of it, it seems like there are a LOT bigger issues facing Illinois (migrant crisis, losing population, infrastructure, and so on...) and to want to commit that much money to something like quantum computing just feels wrong. Are you ok with the state spending that much money on something like quantum computing?