5 Key Ideas to Prepare You for the Quantum 2.0 Era [with Dr Jan Goetz]
We’re entering a quantum future and most people don’t know about it.
Investors, governments, and research groups are pouring millions into the industry as the disruptive potential of quantum technology could be one of the greatest opportunities of this decade as well as an enormous security threat.
You might have heard of the buzz-term web 3.0. Well, quantum physicists have their own version: quantum 1.0 technologies like transistors, lasers, and semiconductor junctions are quickly giving way to quantum 2.0 tech like quantum computers, quantum communication, and quantum sensing.
But most people have never heard of quantum anything.
Whether you’re a manager trying not to get upended, a student looking for a new field to get into, or just want to sound smart at the dinner table, here are some key ideas about quantum technology you need to know in 2022 and beyond.
Note: the following article is from my podcast episode with Dr Jan Goetz of IQM, one of Europe’s leading figures in quantum computing.
Listen on SPOTIFY, ITUNES, or GOOGLE
***If you like conversations about Web3 and the Metaverse, consider subscribing/following via the above links, or visit my website here: www.theutopian.blog and join the newsletter***
- Classical computer vs quantum computer.
There’s always a lot of hype around emerging technologies. People will throw claims and opinions around, and it can get confusing. But moving forward, you have to remember one thing: quantum or not, computers are computers.
“Both of them are machines that compute something. So you have a problem and you put in some kind of code or software, and then you run this software on the computer and you get the results out in the end.” ~ Jan
And to replace normal computers, quantum computers have to be better in some way: quicker, more accurate, or less expensive.
While they’re definitely more expensive, certain algorithms run much, much faster on a quantum computer. In 2019, Google’s quantum computer completed a calculation in 4 minutes that would’ve taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years to complete.
That’s because quantum computers are based on a different set of rules than classical computers. Your laptop, at its most basic layer, is a collection of electronic components that are governed by the laws of classical physics. If you took physics in high school or beyond, you’ll know what I mean. Ohm’s law is an example. Many of these classical laws have been known for over a century.
But in the last hundred years, physics has incorporated a new branch which deals with very small objects: quantum physics. This branch operates under a whole new set of rules that are extremely counterintuitive. But those rules allow us to build technology that’s radically more powerful in certain ways than technology built on classical physics, in the same way that it’s much easier to win or lose a game of Monopoly if you’re playing by a different set of rules than your friend.
There’s just three principles of quantum physics you should be familiar with to understand quantum technology:
- Superposition
This idea is best understood through Schrödinger’s cat. Imagine you put a living cat in a box and close the box. And because you’re an evil scientist, you decide to leak a little radiation into the box.
Wait a few hours, then come back. Before you open the box, can you answer if the cat is dead or alive?
The principle of superposition states that before you open the box, you can’t be sure. Therefore, we can consider the cat both alive and dead at the same time.
Of course, quantum physics doesn’t apply to macroscopic objects like a cat. But superposition does play a role when you’re dealing with electrons, for example, who can be two seemingly contradictory things at once.
How does this look in the hardware? The most basic unit of a classical computer is the transistor, which, roughly speaking, can take two states — on or off. Transistors are based on the laws of classical physics, meaning they can’t be on and off at the same time until you look at them. But the qubit, the most basic unit of a quantum computer, can be, and that unlocks new computational abilities.
2. Entanglement
I remember as a kid hearing about twins that can feel each other’s pain no matter how far they were apart. Somehow their twinhood binded the pair in a way that transcended space and common logic.
While I couldn’t tell you if that’s true or not, there does exist a similar phenomenon in the quantum realm. You can create particle pairs that remain entwined no matter how far they are apart. That means if you do anything to one, even just looking at it, it will affect the other.
Various theories have existed to explain this. Does information pass instantaneously between the two particles when you measure the first? Do they already have ‘hidden plans’ on which state they’ll take that are only revealed upon measurement? The debate is still open, and other resources online go in more depth.
3. Interference
A byproduct of superposition, interference is what allows us to bias the measurement of a qubit towards a certain state or set of states by means of adding or subtracting amplitude distributions.
Don’t get it? Neither do I. Almost nobody does. All you need to know is that interference is what allows quantum computers to harness superposition and entanglement to turn inputs into useful outputs.
It also connects to the idea of decoherence, which describes that such systems are extremely fragile to heat and other external influences and can quickly lose their quantum-ness which makes them so special. That’s why qubits must operate at temperatures lower than that of space, roughly -273 degrees Celsius, and why the quantum computers we built so far are enormous, intricate golden fountains rather than the things we have sitting on our desk.
2. Struggles in the Quantum Industry
As mentioned, one of the major challenges in building quantum computers comes from the fragility of qubits. Keeping them in the state of superposition is an extremely sensitive task, and any outside disturbances can result in information in the qubits being lost.
“This means you will make errors in the algorithms you run and your result will not be reliable. This is, of course, a problem, but it’s not a fundamental problem. So to overcome this, there is a technique called error correction.” ~ Jan
Essentially, you can bundle together many physical qubits to cancel each other’s errors out. However, this also means that hundreds of even thousands of physical qubits (all maintained in that sensitive superposition state) must be bundled to yield the computation power of even one so-called logical qubit, the unit which can actually do useful computation.
As of early 2022, even the most powerful quantum computer has at most one logical, error-corrected qubit, which you can’t do much with.
There is also the NISQ approach, which stands for Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Computing, in which you tolerate a level of noise in your algorithms but still provide value to the end customer. Until we have QCs with thousands of error-corrected qubits, that’s an approach many will have to take.
3. Quantum supremacy vs quantum advantage
Some people use the terms interchangeably, but Jan differentiates the two. I think it’s a useful framework to consider moving forward.
For him, quantum supremacy means you run a specific algorithm on a quantum computer and it completes faster than any existing classical supercomputer.
Earlier I mentioned that a few years ago, Google’s quantum computer competing a calculation in 4 minutes that would’ve taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years to complete. That’s an example of quantum supremacy.
But, supremacy doesn’t necessarily mean added value. Google’s announcement made headlines, but it didn’t make money or useful outputs.
The algorithms that were run were more mathematical constructs to prove the strength of quantum computers in very narrow applications rather than proving that the quantum computer is holistically better than any supercomputer we have.
That’s where quantum advantage comes in. Jan considers this to be the moment in which quantum computers run algorithms that bring actual value from an industrial or scientific perspective — whether that’s forecasting option prices more quickly, enabling calculations in experiments that would’ve been impossible before, or being used in tandem with classical supercomputing centers in a meaningful way.
I’ve heard the comparison between QC (quantum computing) and the AI industry, where currently QC is only useful in extremely narrow circumstances in the same way AI was only considered valuable as ‘narrow AI’ for a long time, solving specific problems like recognizing handwritten numbers. However, AI capabilities have broadened and we can apply it in different ways.
Quantum advantage is the quantum equivalent of broad artificial intelligence where increased flexibility can make them useful in real life, not just on paper.
4. The Pillars of the Quantum 2.0 Era
There are three pillars, and most people have only heard of one.
- Quantum computing
- Quantum communication
- Quantum sensing & simulation
We’ve discussed the first already, but not the second or third.
Quantum communication uses entanglement and superposition of a pair of particles to guarantee that nobody is eavesdropping on a communication channel. Some believe it can also be used to communicate much faster, as changes in one particle in an entangled pair will influence the other instantaneously, no matter their separation.
Quantum sensing uses quantum properties to make more accurate measurements in various fields.
Quantum simulation is when you use quantum technology to simulate other quantum substances or phenomena such as solar cells or the behavior of medicines, a process which is much easier since they follow the same set of rules. This kind of simulation is nearly impossible to match on a classical computer. It’s like trying to get a dog to play a human role in a play vs getting a human to play a human role.
“But the big vision that people have is to combine all of these technologies and build something like a quantum internet at some point. So you have nodes, quantum computers, and then they are connected by quantum communication channels.” — Jan
5. Quantum 2.0 in Today’s World
A lot of these things, like the quantum internet, are far off. But quantum tech is also playing an increasingly important role in our world right now. Here are a few things we went over in our talk.
First, quantum technology doesn’t just have huge economic potential, but also political. Being on the board of the European Innovation Council (part of the EU), Jan has a lot of exposure to the public perspective. There is the threat that quantum computers could break encryption codes common today, such as the RSA. This threat puts into jeopardy the security of various things, from data transmission via the internet, to bank transfers, to national secrets. Quantum communication might be the solution to this, ensuring secure transfer using entanglement.
This is why companies as well as governments are racing each other. They want to stay competitive, but also safe.
People like Jan are surrounded by challenges. He has to make sure the smart people stay in their home region rather than leaving for the company or government with the highest salary. Funding must be applied constantly for the industry to develop, but finding investors for such futuristic and research-heavy companies isn’t easy. His company is also directly affected by the global classical chip shortage.
Final Words
Quantum technology draws a lot of parallels with other less perplexing emerging technologies. It has its growing pains, its challenges, its hopes and its dreams. Will QCs replace classical computers anytime soon? Will governments use it to steal sensitive information from each other? Will scientists finally use QCs to discover the meaning of the universe and its being 42?
Nobody can answer those questions yet, but there’s a lot of things being done on the ground in preparation.
Of course, we might also see a quantum winter in the same way other emerging technologies like AI or VR did, wherein progress in the field nearly halts and there’s a lack of excitement to generate investment.
“[It] would be in keeping with the boom/bust cycle of many technologies in the West. Before the bust, there is general technology optimism, boosterism from news media and investors, emphasis on growth over sustainable operations, and inability to critically judge innovations — all could contribute to a refusal to recognize failure. Then comes the bust.” ~ Hoofnagle & Garfinkel
At the end of our talk I asked Jan what he’s looking forward to in the years to come. He replied, “The whole field is looking for quantum advantage. It’s really hard to say when exactly we have this, but this is the goal that the whole field is working for.” He also said the benchmark to track progress in the industry shouldn’t be the number of qubits, but rather time taken for useful computations.
So keep an eye out for that, folks. Thanks for reading and until next time.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this piece, don’t forget to check out my blog The Utopian and subscribe to the newsletter to join the conversation :)
I write about the intersection of Web3 with Extended Reality there.
Also, The Utopian Instagram has exclusive shorts, infographics, community events, and announcements.
The Utopian podcast → your favorite platforms, The Utopian YouTube, LinkedIn
