From Bits to QuBits

Key takeaways

• Every day personal computers, phones and tablets spin a fascinating array of cybernetical illusions.
• ‘Multiple states’ mean that if you’re running an algorithm using quits, you might need only a single quit in a superposition to replace all those classical bits.
• The age of quantum computers should have similarly sweeping and valuable consequences.

Every day personal computers, phones and tablets spin a fascinating array of cybernetical illusions. Click on a tiny icon of a browser, and in pops a window that lets you behold the world at your fingertips. Sitting in Canada, but want to map your holiday through the interweaving streets of Rome? No Problem! ‘Maps’ is always at hand. Switch over to the satellite feed to get the lay of the land and even the closest gelato shop. Oh wait, it’s new times. Let’s hold a team meeting or catch up for a coffee with a friend, virtually, of course.

Ever wondered about the wizardry at play? Ultimately everything you see on your screens is being painted - one tiny dot at a time.

Dozens of times a second, the screen is swept by a stream of bits. A constantly changing sequence of binary data tells each of the million pixels whether, at any moment, it should be red, green, or blue, or a combination to make many others. When you click on a file, drag it into a folder and then zip it and send it away to a colleague on the other side of the world, the whole activity seems so effortless. Yet, in the background, we’ve issued a sequence of commands that get translated into ‘bits’ that eventually generate packets that stream through our high bandwidth networks.

Sustaining this illusion requires a staggering amount of information processing. Imagine sending sig­nails bit by bit through the internet where it is decoded and dispatched effectively so that they animate the correct block of the screen on the other side of the world. Now visualize multiplying these actions at least 4 billion times over per second (assuming that at least half of the world has access to the internet and a device). The sheer scale of processing happening here is staggering. Even on actions that are limited to your personal computer, the amount of processing that is taking place in the background is boggling.

So how long can we hold up to the processing demands of the world? It’s not just about faster streaming; we are talking about cryptocurrency, machine learning and all the new and upcoming trendy fields. Let’s face it – even with all the sprawling data centers, we will one day run short.

But if our progress is anything to go by - big things happen when computers get smaller. Remember the iPod and the Smartphone? Momentous change also occurs when these devices go faster, way faster. And quantum computing is about pursuing perhaps the most significant performance boost in the history of technology. The essential idea? Exploiting the befuddling physics of subatomic scales to shatter all the myopic processing hurdles of today.

Quantum Timeline #

1980 – Physicist Paul Benioff theorizes Quantum Computing

1981 – Nobel winner, Phycisist, Richard Feynann coins the term quantum computing

1985 – David Dutch creates a blueprint of a quantum computer

1994 – Mathematician Peter Show writes an algorithm that could tap a quantum computers power to break the widely used form encryption

2001 – Researchers at IBM-Stanford University use a 7-quit computer to factor the number 15

2011 – D-Wave announces the first commercially available quantum computer

2016/2017 – IBM announces a 5 quit processed for developers and by 2017, upgrades that to a 16 quit processed

2019 – Google Sycamore declares quantum supremacy

2021 - A Japanese teach company achieves quantum communications over optical fires exceeding 600 km in length, a new world record

Bit’s and Bytes

Anyone who opens the most basic high-school text on computer theory almost immediately learns two comfortingly simple facts: Any kind of data that goes through the circuitry powering your device can be translated into a combination of two symbols - 1 and 0.

This data is handled using basic operations called AND, OR, and NOT. It’s the underlying principle on which every single computer in the world works, including the supercomputers. But this singular state has been both a boon and a hurdle.

Even with all the computational prowess in our hands, calculations that involve dense computation simply take too long.

Enter – Quantum Computers. They hope to bring in substantial enhancements in many disciplines. Longer-lasting batteries for electric cars, advances in chemistry or even enabling new medical treatments, the promise is multifold. Quantum computing has garnered some serious momentum in the last few years.

The appeal of quantum computers lies in their potential to help to quickly answer questions so challenging that it would take decades for today’s computers to solve.

A computer made up of quit (quantum equivalent of bits) is simply a collection of circuits. The crucial difference between quantum computing and classical computing is that bits are binary. They are either zero or one. Quits, on the other hand, can be present in multiple states at once through quantum entanglement. The process is aptly termed superposition. ‘Multiple states’ mean that if you’re running an algorithm using quits, you might need only a single quit in a superposition to replace all those classical bits. Sequence several quits together into a quantum circuit, and the possibilities are stupefying.

The inspiration for a quantum computer came about much earlier than one would imagine. In the early 1900s, Quantum mechanics emerged as a fundamental theory in physics to describe the physical properties of nature through the microscopic world of atoms and subatomic particles. This led to advances such as transistors, lasers, and magnetic resonance imaging.

The idea to merge quantum mechanics and computational theory arose in 1982 with physicist Richard Feynman. He reasoned that computing based on classical logic could not tractably process calculations describing quantum phenomena. Quantum physics has so many variables (much like nature) that we cannot keep track of them on a computer. But, although his idea generated the field of quantum simulation, it didn’t spark much research activity at the time.

However, in 1994, mathematician Peter Show devised a quantum algorithm that could efficiently determine the prime factors of large numbers, sparking a surge in interest in quantum computing. For laymen, this is a classic so-what moment. But when we realize that the security of nearly every online transaction today relies on an RSA cryptosystem that hinges on the un-solvability of the factoring problem, the situation takes a different turn.

How do the Quits fit in our future? #

Mathematicians are still canvassing what might be accomplished with all this quantum power when it finally grows up. Ordinary computers are great for solving “easy” problems — questions that can be answered in a reasonable amount of time, like predicting the path of a hurricane or simulating the effect of a nuclear explosion.

Then there are “harder” problems – where solutions are difficult to find because it feels like searching for a needle in a haystack, but once a solution is found its easier to verify its authenticity. One such problem is the factoring of large numbers. With the threat that a quantum computer can potentially break any current cybersecurity system, the race has taken a different turn. Eventually, we will need a new generation of encryption technology to protect sensitive data from potential quantum computer attacks, and teach companies would give an arm and a leg to be at the forefront of that evolution.

Given this and more, companies are progressively investing in this space. Microsoft’s Azure cloud has released quantum tools, as have Google and Amazon’s respective cloud platforms. IBM is even offering online access to some of its quantum processors, so anyone can experiment with them. In 2019, Google demonstrated that its 54-quit quantum computer could solve in minutes a problem that would take a classical machine 10,000 years. But this ‘quantum advantage’ applied only to an extremely narrow situation. Long term, though major technology giants see themselves generating cashflow by charging corporations to access data centers packed with supercooled quantum processors.

On the other hand, non-teach experts expect quantum computing to help us understand biology and evolution, cure cancer, and even take steps to reverse climate change. But all said and done, quantum computing is still in an embryonic state, and its real-world application still feels a while away.

If you are wondering what’s in it for the rest of us? Well, the dawn of PC’s has helped make life safer, comfortable, and more convenient. The age of quantum computers should have similarly sweeping and valuable consequences. Perhaps it could result in a Smartphone-Q? Who knows…

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Questions and answers

Sitting in Canada, but want to map your holiday through the interweaving streets of Rome? #

Switch over to the satellite feed to get the lay of the land and even the closest gelato shop. Let’s hold a team meeting or catch up for a coffee with a friend, virtually, of course.

So how long can we hold up to the processing demands of the world? #

It’s not just about faster streaming; we are talking about cryptocurrency, machine learning and all the new and upcoming trendy fields. Let’s face it – even with all the sprawling data centers, we will one day run short.

Remember the iPod and the Smartphone? #

Momentous change also occurs when these devices go faster, way faster. And quantum computing is about pursuing perhaps the most significant performance boost in the history of technology.

If you are wondering what’s in it for the rest of us? #

Well, the dawn of PC’s has helped make life safer, comfortable, and more convenient. The age of quantum computers should have similarly sweeping and valuable consequences.