What scientific ideas should society get rid of?

[Dalex]

I wonder, if one way to achieve human level AI would be to create much more detailed virtual ecosystems with lots of different creatures which would compete for resources.

You are right it is one possible way and you don't even need quantum computer to do it.
It all comes down to way you setup your virtual world. How detailed it is and how much resources it has.
As of now several virtual worlds for evolving agents are available, some even for free. But the thing is: unless said simulation is extremely detailed and "real life like" you won't get a human type intelligence.
For example two dimensional world will give you different results than 3D world, same goes for chemistry and neural network model it will employ.
For example this game has evolving creatures with primitive neural network and genetic code.

Their genetic code however is extremely limited and while it can be edited and evolved to give creatures some measure of ability it will never be enough for anything more than basic problem solving (getting food, mating, defending from predators etc.).

More complex the creature is more computational sources it requires.
But if environment is sufficiently abstract (cellular automaton for example) then the resources needed for some form of sentience are greatly reduced.
For example you don't need to simulate complete digestive tract all you need is an equation for nutrient processing.

I believe that even today it is possible to evolve virtual creature with simple intelligence, it is just question of time and resources not technology.