The Era Of Quantum Computing
Quantum, such a mystery word almost every one of your favorite sci-fi TV show or movie characters throws around so casually. Such a bizarre world it is once you enter it. Where, all the stranger things in science come into play. And as Scott Lang says in the movie Ant man and the Wasp, they do put the word quantum in front of everything these days. And I am quite sure you would have stumbled upon the phrase Quantum computing enough times in your daily life to just to turn it down with the back of your hand as one more fancy science fiction concept that would prove no value in real life. But that is not the case. Quantum Computing is the next step in the collective human technological advancement. And an answer to what is next, in computing and technology field. As we all know the device that you are holding now reading this article on, have more crunching numbers ability than a top notch military computer in the 1950’s and just in the near future Quantum computing would certainly revolutionize our society, our evolution and even bring upon tremendous changes in our understanding of the universe and how we perceive it and changes to our core beliefs and perspectives. Without further boring you, let us dive right in!
What is a Quantum Computer?
To understand what this exquisite beauty of a Quantum Computer is first we need to have a clear idea of what the computers we use in our day to day life are and the contrast between the ideas of these, as we call them, the classical computers and these so called Quantum computers. Classical computers; our everyday laptops, PCs, mobile devices etc.. Utilize the electrical energy, namely the fundamental particles called electrons and work on a binary principle; 1 or 0, yes or no, on or off , like that. It is based on the principle of how humans compute naturally. And these classical computers store data and information in the form of electricity in either one of the binary states and are limited to 1 and 0 which are called bits: basic units of information. Despite of the current technological power we possess with these technology and 2 digits, and its amazing advancements and all the achievements humanity had been able to savor, we are still far from ever even touching the solutions to quite a lot of complex questions and problems. And Quantum computers become the game changer at this point.
Just as how classical computers work, quantum computers take advantage of a few of the strange and bizarre abilities of fundamental subatomic particles and carry out their mind blowing actions in the speed of light; quite literally. And just as how classical computers use bits to store and process information, quantum computers use something fancy called ‘Qubits’. But, this is where things start getting impeccably strange and complicated. Unlike bits, qubits do not just take the values of 1 or 0 and are restrained by those two states, they can store a huge amount of information than 1 or 0, in fact they can take these 2 values and all the possible values in between 1 and 0 and be 1 and 0 at the same time because qubits can exist in any superposition of the values. Quantum computing is unmistakably based on how the universe computes, which we cannot quite wrap our earthly heads around.
Superposition, subatomic particles, what are all these fancy scientific jargon being thrown around, you might wonder. Let me enlighten you. Quantum computers work on a set of principles, controlling the behaviors of fundamental particles but in such a way unique to itself and different from our daily classical computers. And even the most powerful superpower computer we have cannot match its height. And so, to understand the principles underlying quantum computers we need to get ourselves comfortable with some amount of quantum mechanics and physics.
Quantum computing mainly incorporate and utilizes a few concepts in quantum physics, such as superposition and entanglement. The concept of quantum superposition was given birth to from the particle duality nature where a particle could behave like a wave sometimes typically at the quantum scale; I know it’s just a bit more confusing but bear with me. The basic concept is that any physical system could be in one of many configurations at the same time, specifically the arrangement of the particles or the fields of the waves, so the general state of this particle is a combination of all these states and in reality this means that a particle could exist in two places or even more at the same time, and this is how the Qubits which are the basic units of information in quantum computers can harness the values of both 1 and 0 at the same time.
So what is this quantum entanglement? Well as the great Einstein likes to call it, it’s “Spooky action at a distance” it’s a physical phenomenon which exists due to the correlation between two particles. Once two particles are entangled; which is to generate them and to let them interact in a close spatial proximity in certain ways at the quantum scale, the behaviors and the properties of these particles cannot be described independently rather they both remain related to each other even if they are literally at the opposite ends of the universe. So let’s say that if one particle is observed to have an upward spin, then its entangled pair can be predicted to have an opposite downward spin for sure. How quantum computing does utilizes this? So here, let’s say we have two classical bits. If we know that one bit is 0 then the other is 1. But since in quantum computing due to superposition the qubits can exist in multiple states; 1 and 0 at the same time, it is impossible to define which qubit is 1 and which is 0 till we physically observe them, and thus we cannot differentiate between the two particles and identify which qubit is 1 and which is 0.
Quantum entanglement is used as a tool here where when two qubits are entangled, if one particle takes the value of, let’s say 1, then the computer can define the other qubit to be 0. As simple as that. So this property of qubits bestow the quantum computers the super power to store hundreds of thousands of bits worth information in just a couple of Qubits thus enabling the quantum computers with an astronomical level of processing power. This superpower is a portal to an entire different level of transcendence.
What’s so fancy with these Quantum Computers?
It’s true that the computational power we possess right now is a marvel. How it has revolutionized our lives, and the exponential growth of humanity in a short period of time with alongside the computers; the wonder machines. But even though we have figured out answers to questions that were thought to be impossible just a mere 100 years back, in reality we have yet to find a plethora of questions that do not even exist yet. As mentioned earlier quantum computers think like the universe and so on to grab some universal ideas we need the assistance of quantum computers.
Today, quantum computer is still at its infancy so it’s not that much than large bulky scientific apparatus with a lot of action going on around it. They are pretty unreliable and even though significantly more powerful than any collective system of top notch computers we have, their full strength has not been unveiled yet. IBM, google, NASA, and a bunch of other tech firms are a few competitors in the race to build the first working quantum computer. And powerful countries like China is no exception. So if all of these entities are rushing towards the goal of achieving quantum computing, then it’s something worth all the hassle right? The answer is yes, it indeed is.
Quantum computing has tremendous impacts on a wide variety of crucial fields for humanity, whether it be cyber security, molecular chemistry, A.I, complex analytical mathematics, space exploration, or even some mind bending pondering thoughts like immortality, simulated universe, singularity and much more.. One of the most realistic application of quantum computing could be on cyber security and pharmaceutical and medicinal fields.
Quantum encryption. Our classical computers use the method of encryption by using cryptography to protect the data and information within in such a way it is encoded, only authorized parties can access them, for others it will just be unintelligible. And to decrypt this encrypted data the authorized users have a “key” that can decode the message and despite the most complex keys we have nowadays, sometimes some lucky hackers stumble upon the correct algorithm once or twice. So to make a system invincible to break into, quantum computing could be an answer. Quantum computers can be used to generate encryption keys that are far more complex like the universe itself. Due to the superposition features they have, the encryption keys could exist in superposition too, which means a combination of numerous values at the same time. Thus making the key next to impossible to be made discoverable as it would take longer than the lifetime of universe to try out all the combinations. So with the invention of a working quantum computer, we will be given the fruits of absolute security and privacy with our precious data. In 1994 it was proven by the MIT mathematician Peter Shor.
Quantum computer simulations. Even with the most powerful computers we have today it’s pretty hard to simulate a complex model as the variable are simply too many and we need a more powerful computer with a large computational power. Answer is? Obviously quantum computers. Specifically in the field of chemistry certain chemical reactions are quite complex to be simulated up to a certain degree and quantum computers could have a large impact on perfectly simulating any complex molecular structure within a matter of seconds. This is a fruit for pharmaceutical field, as instead of testing and failing and building new medicine and cures, quantum computers can be used to simulate all the combinations of chemical substances and their respective reactions and find out the optimal structure effortlessly.
Artificial Intelligence. One of the hot topics in the world now. The creation of humans which could make us Gods. Even though the development of A.I is rapidly spiking at unseen rates, once quantum computing comes into play, it will be a matter of seconds ride to the future. With the processing power that could be harnessed by these quantum computers, hundreds if not thousands of generations could be iterated within a matter of seconds thus making machine learning from a long boring tedious task to a simple task of a minute. This is a huge game changer as we are already aware of the impacts of Artificial Intelligence and the introduction of quantum computing could be the ultimate key in successfully creating a sentient fully autonomous artificial being which will redefine what it means to be a life form.
But the speculations on how quantum computing could affect the world and us humans do not stop here. If we could send man to moon with a computer of 4KB RAM, and a processor of just 2MhZ, imagine the limitless possibilities quantum computing could have on space travel and exploration. This could truly be the key to open the door for interstellar travel and transform humans into an intergalactic species. Taking a look into the biological aspect, if we could attain mind blowing fleets with just a 20Watt computer sitting inside our heads, where would we be once we merge ourselves with a quantum computer of limitless power? The stammering prospect of singularity of humanity within the reach of hands is entirely thrilling isn’t it?
So what are we waiting for?
If the question of “so if quantum computers could do all of this, then why don’t we have a quantum laptop to ourselves right now?” then you have got it wrong. Even if quantum computers are pure titans in front of the laptop you’re reading this article on, quantum computers and classical computers are not exactly the same. They work on different principles. Comparing quantum computers to classical computers is like comparing an electric bulb to candles, just by making more candles you cannot invent light bulb nor attain its light power, and just as how light bulb would require more energy and resources than a simple candle quantum computer do have challenging boxes to be ticked in order to be run. Quantum computers are usually big. And they require an almost absolute zero temperature in order to work as the circuits need to attain a super conductivity level where electrons could flow through without resistance. And these require large refrigerators; no, not your everyday fridge, these refrigerators can be as cold as -273 degree C. And the creation of a favorable environment for quantum computers and its creation itself is a challenge. The next challenge arises where qubits become unstable. Usually the Qubits IBM prototype computer possess do not last longer than a few milli seconds. This is due to the structural constrains of the computer and the increased rate of error correction needed to be done. Also sometimes the combinations produced by a quantum computer is simply too much that there is a best one, and the second best one and the third best one and so on and because of this it’s a challenge to capture only the top best outcome. So it’s more practical to think of quantum computers as learning devices that could open up new realms in science and technology rather than your personal devices. But you still can play with a quantum computer, even now! The IBM Q is made available on an open cloud by the IBM developers and people are using it for their learning purposes already.
But despite all these constrains, researches are working hard and thriving to constantly improve their prototypes. Quantum computing might just be a baby crawling and learning to walk now, but once it gets its foothold it will be a full blown sprint to the future. And the right question to ask would be, when will quantum computers attain its full power, and it is not set too far in the future. And once that happens, humanity will never be the same.
