In my last blog, I was talking about Moore’s Law and how it is running out of steam. A possible solution to replace Moore’s law is quantum computing. Quantum computing does not really exists yet, but major companies (Intel or IBM) are working on developing such a computer. (Intel, 2016) If the development is succesfull, it will be groundbreaking, disrupting many existing technologies that we are currently familiar with. It could even potentially be terrifying if used wrong.
To explain quantum computing in a simple way; imagine a normal computer. It processes bits, that can be either 1 and 0. A quantum computer can have both states at once (qubit). (Wikipedia, 2016) The processing power it will have is enourmous. It could calculate specific algorythms(multi-tasking) in just a fraction of the time a normal processor would. Truly Revolutionary! For more information: Click here (credits to them)
So what are the implications of a quantum computer?
Hackers can penetrate most of your private information, as if there was no security. Data encryption as we know it would be nearly nullified. (makeuseof.com, 2014) On the other hand: What about the NSA, trying to analyze a lot of data about everyone? It could become really creepy, a world where everything is predictable and privacy would almost be nonexistent.
Even the development of artificial intelligence would have a huge boost with many benefits and negatives. It will perhaps be possible that machines become smarter than humans and quantum computing might be a cornerstone to achieve this.
This could be a development that would dramatically change businesses as well, just like the internet did back in the day.
So do we really want to have a quantum computer. The likely answer is yes, but there are many things that need to be considered first in my opinion. For example privacy concerns and security concerns. Eventually I think this will become an essential technology just like we are used to internet nowadays. There will be solutions found for many problems that occur as it has shown over time, but it is important to reflect about the consequences of innovative technologies. It might not be always good.
Sources:
Click to access promise_of_quantum_computing.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computing
