Is the quantum world better?
Introduction
Quantum computers are not mysterious devices. They rely on different laws of physics from classical computers. At best quantum computing (QC) can be defined as the application of the principles of quantum physics to compute and solve suitable problems. Quantum computers, therefore, utilize quantum bits (qubits). A qubit can be realized physically in many different ways. It can be carried by a single atom, or a single electron, or a single photon (a particle of light). Or a qubit can be carried by a more complicated system, like a very cold superconducting electrical circuit in which many electrons are moving. The ability to combine qubits through entanglement and how they can be manipulated through superposition enables a quantum system to process and analyze multiple data points simultaneously and then return the best solution, along with thousands of close alternatives — all within microseconds.
As the number of qubits increases, a quantum computer eventually should be able to demonstrate a significant advantage over traditional, or classical computers in terms of solving real-world problems that scale quickly. Quantum computers are not destined to replace the processors in personal computers or smartphones anytime soon. For the most part, quantum computers will be best suited to speed up the processing of optimization problems, machine learning, simulation of quantum systems and cryptography. Most of these types of problems are considered extremely hard because they are focused on the analysis and manipulation of multiple data inputs and would be far too taxing for classical machines to efficiently handle. Quantum computers are worse than normal computers for many problems. They are only good at very specific problems.
How can quantum computers make a difference in society?
It is not always obvious what quantum computers are a solution to in society. I am worried by how much of the current excitement seems to be fuelled by misconceptions among policymakers, journalists and the general public, about what quantum computers are capable of. Most people think they’ll be magic oracles that will solve all problems faster when they are just good at selected problems. They are not simply a continuation of Moore’s Law but fundamentally different.
The adoption of quantum computers is currently being driven largely by the need to solve problems with more precision, improve the capacity of modeling and simulations, and increase the efficiency or optimization of systems or processes.
Simulation
The use of digital simulations of real-world processes and demand to conduct these simulations has increased significantly, largely as a way to reduce design, development, and testing costs and time scales. Simulations are data and processor-intensive and can greatly benefit from the exponential power of quantum computers. These models and simulations are even being extended to modeling real-world processes, such as designing new drugs, materials, solar cells, high-temperature superconductors, chemical reactions for making fertilizers, crowd prediction and control, fleet optimization, and logistics. Some of these applications are difficult to perceive but they are areas where you’d only need a few high-profile successes to generate billions of dollars of value.
Optimization
There is a strong desire to address optimization problems in many aspects of our lives. For example, taxi routing; optimization of ridesharing services, investment portfolios, economic forecasts are problems that feature massive amounts of inputs, and optimizing a system or group based on these variables requires a processing system that can efficiently consider and process the data quickly and accurately.
Precision
Our society is getting more sophisticated and this places huge demands on industry to anticipate and improve the functionality of products and services. To make sure predictions and efficiently deliver better products and services requires the use of more precise operational methods. Higher precision means considering more variables. Additional variables require significantly more processing power which only bigger and more energy-consuming classical computers may deliver. The only efficient way is to use a quantum computer and harness quantum speed up. Initially, quantum computers may give a polynomial speed up. However polynomial improvements can still help a lot with any problem. Finding these improvements is difficult, and often they just don’t exist.
Security
The ability to break virtually any non-quantum code, to make quantum codes that cannot be broken, and to facilitate secure worldwide communication has tremendous personal and national security implications. Our current online communication relies on classical encryption every day to ensure privacy. A quantum computer wouldn’t mean the end of online security. There are public-key cryptosystems currently under like those based on lattices that are believed to resist attack even by quantum computers.
Quantum machine learning
Artificial intelligence is yet to reach its potential. Quantum computers exhibit the ideal combination of humans’ probabilistic thought-process and classical computing’s data processing power, attributes much needed to give AI the boost it needs to solve difficult optimization problems. The potential for quantum machine learning is boundless.
Conclusion
A quantum computer is a specialized device, which is unlikely to improve all or even most of what we do with today’s computers, but which could give dramatic speedups for a few specific problems.
In the near term, quantum computers and classical computers will likely be used in complementary ways to solve problems. A quantum computer will primarily be used as an accelerator to handle the hard problems whilst a classical computer will be used on both the front end to the program and control the quantum machine as well as the back end to compile and integrate results with existing computing systems.
By considering the scale of investments into the field from government, private companies and research centers, it is evident that quantum technology will have a substantial impact on society in the decades ahead.
