Quantum Computers Explained – Limits of Human Technology

Quantum Computer Explained - Limits of Human Technology For most of our history, human
technology has included our brains, fire, and sharp sticks. While fire and sharp sticks became power
plants and nuclear weapons, the biggest upgrades have occurred in our minds. Since 1960, the
power of our brain machines is increasing rapidly, which can make computers smaller and more
powerful at the same time.

This process is about to meet its physical limitations. To understand why this is the problem, we
have to clear some basics. A computer is made up of very simple components that do very simple
things. Representing data, means of processing it and control mechanisms. Computer chips have
modules, consisting of logic gates, which contain transistors.

A transistor is the simplest form of data processor in a computer, basically a switch that can either
block, or open the way for incoming information. This information is made up of bits that can be set
to 0 or 1. A combination of several bits is used to represent more complex information. The
transistors are combined to form logic gates which still do very simple stuff. For example, another
gate sends an output of 1 if all its inputs are 1, and an output of 0.

Combinations of logic gates eventually form meaningful modules, to add two numbers.Since all basic
tasks are simpler than first grade mathematics, you can imagine a computer as a group of 7-year-
olds that actually answers basic math questions. A large enough bunch of them can calculate
anything from astrophysics to Zelda. However, with parts getting tinier and tinier, quantum physics
is making things difficult.

In short, a transistor is just an electric switch. Electrons are electrons moving from one place to
another. So, a switch is a path that can prevent electrons from going in one direction. Today, a
typical scale for transistors is 14 nano-meters, about 8 times the diameter of the HIV virus, and 500
times smaller than a red blood cell. Since transistors are shrinking to the size of only a few atoms,
electrons can only move themselves to the other side of a blocked pathway through a process called
quantum tunneling.

In the quantum realm, physics works quite differently from the predictable methods we use and
traditional computers just stop making sense. We are coming as a real physical barrier to our
technological progress. To solve this problem, scientists are attempting to use these unusual
quantum properties to their advantage by building quantum computers. In a normal computer, bits
are the smallest unit of information.

Quantum computers use quantum-mechanical phenomena that can also be set to one of two values.
0 and 1 are possible states of this system, such as photon horizontal or vertical polarization. In the
quantum world, the quit does not have to be just one of them, it can occur in any proportion of the
two states at once. This is called superposition. But as soon as you test its value, say, sending a
photon through a filter, one has to decide to polarize it either vertically or horizontally.

So as long as it is unattainable, Quit is in a superposition of probabilities for 0 and 1, and you cannot
precede it. But you measure it immediately, it collapses in one of the fixed states. Superposition is a
game changer. Four classical bits can be one of two in power of four different configurations at a
time. There are 16 possible combinations, of which you can use just one. However, in superposition
four qubits can occur simultaneously in all 16 of those combinations. This number increases
exponentially with each additional qubit.

Twenty of them can already store one million values in parallel. A very strange and unknown
property may have entanglement, a close connection that responds to each of the cotables to make
immediate changes in the state of the other, no matter how different they may be.
This means that when only a tangled possession is measured, you can directly reduce its partner's
qualities without looking. Qubit Manipulation is also a mind bender. A simple logic gate finds a
simple set of inputs and produces a fixed output. A quantum gate manipulates the input of a
superposition, rotates the probabilities, and produces another superposition as its output.

This means that you can do complete calculations with your setup, all of which are possible at the
same time. Ultimately, you can only measure one of the results and it will only be what you want, so
you may have to double check and try. But by cleverly using superposition and entanglement, it can
be much more efficient than it would be possible on a normal computer. So, while quantum
computers probably won't replace our home computers, in some areas, they are much better. One
of them is database search.

To find something in the database, a normal computer may have to test each of its entries. Quantum
computer algorithms only require the square root of the time, which for large databases, is a huge
difference. The most well-known use of quantum computers is ruining IT security. Right now, your
browsing, email and banking data are being protected by an encryption system in which you give
everyone a public key to encode messages. Fortunately, doing the required math on any common
computer will literally take years of trial and error. But a quantum computer with exponential speed
can do it in one wind.
Another really exciting new experiment is simulation. Simulations of the quantum world are very
intensive on resources, and even for large structures such as molecules, they often lack accuracy. So
why not emulate quantum physics with real quantum physics? Quantum simulation can provide new
insights on proteins that can revolutionize medicine. Right now, we do not know whether a quantum
computer will be merely a speculation device, or a major revolution for humanity. We have no idea
where the limits of technology are, and there is only one way to find out.