The term ‘quantum supremacy’ to refer to the moment where quantum computers outperform classical machines, is a racist and colonialist term, scientists have argued, sparking a heated row in academia. 

In the latest edition of the journal Nature, a group of 16 scientists, including academics from Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol Universities, said the term ‘supremacy’ risked increasing divisions of race, class and gender.

“In our view, ‘supremacy’ has overtones of violence, neocolonialism and racism through its association with ‘white supremacy,” they wrote and called for the term to be replaced by ‘quantum advantage.’

They also argued that ‘inherently violent’ language had crept into other branches…