Welcome to the 5 new subscribers since last edition (my mom still hasn’t signed up, so if you were sent this by a friend, make sure to subscribe). After a close dance with the latest strain of the flu I am back with you. Today’s edition covers one of my most feared areas of tech. quantum!
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My message today is simple. We need to make science sexy again.
Specifically, Make Quantum Sexy Again.
Okay… it never was, but can we please try for a second?
You probably have heard about quantum computers and that mythical space between zeros and ones, but if you are anything like me (AKA not a quantum physicist) you are probably still confused when people try to explain quantum computers.
The first rule of quantum is that nothing makes sense - and it’s okay
Enter Brandon Severin, Oxford PhD in Quantum Physics and CEO of Conductor Quantum.
A few months ago, I spent a few wonderful hours walking around Dog Patch SF with Brandon and the chance to ask many (and I mean MANY) stupid questions.
To my surprise something weird started to happen.
There was this scaffold that was being built in front of my eyes that made be feel that I could climb this information around the quantum world and actually understand it.
Wild.
So in no particular order (and in zero quantum talk) here are 3 things I realised about quantum computers.
1/ Quantum Computers will kill serendipity
Think about this for a second. Penicillin, microwaves, GPS, they are technologies we depend on every single day but we have happily stumbled upon. They are happy accidents.
In a recent SXSW session presented by Peter Barett, GP of Playground Global, he reminded the audience of something I had forgotten.
We don’t know how Tylenol works!
We know:
You take an appropriate dose
Something magical happeens
Pain decreases
But what happens in the middle? Your guess is a good as mine.
Quantum computers will allow us to design things, by revealing their true building blocks and processes.
We will be able to say… “hey, I want to make a fabric that is exactly like polyester in properties, stretchy but durable, easy to wash etc. but make it out of something that breaks down in 1 minute not in 500 years.”
Better yet, we will be able to create and destroy by design.
“Hey Qutie (the name I will undoubedly give my quantum machine), can you design an enzyme that breaks down polysterene plastic without creating a toxic byproduct?"
Thanks,
G
2/ All information is PHYSICAL
Prepare your neurons to explode. 💥
All information, even that thought forming in your head saying “yeah, right!” is physical!
Your memories are a stew of chemicals and electrical potentials stored in synaptic terminals in your brain.
You want to send that information to me over a voice note? Great.
That information is now translated into electrical potentials that activate the muscles around your vocal chords and boom… as you talk, they are translated into sounds waves.
These sound waves are encoded into your phone into 0s and 1s and send over to my phone as 0s and 1s (which is also a form of electrical potential) and when I play your voice message (mom if you did sign up, I promise to answer back to your voice notes), they will get translated back into sound waves from your phone’s microphone, and upstream into my brain.
How is this relevant to quantum?
The quantum world is just about the tiny things, they don’t follow the same rules as big stuff.
The same way a cupcake recipe cannot make a cake, the quantum world has it’s own rules, and the information it can unlock is the most precise in the entire universe.
Quantum chips are the art and science of measuring what individul electrons or photons are doing - hard stuff!
3/ To observe is to change
Let me ask a simple question
How do we see things?
The simple answer is this.
Photons, particles of light, hit objects around you and then hit the back of your eye.
Arguably, your brain is a quantum machine, as it can decode tiny variations in the way those photons tickle your retinal cells into a real-time image.
“Fun fact: you technically “see” upside down, but your brain flips that image in order for the world to make sense!”
But think about the middle step for a second longer?
The photon that hits the surface of something, does it change the object?
Probably, but you could argue that the “changes” are so miniscule that it doesn’t matter.
But, it does matter when you are measuring miniscule things.
For quantum computers to work we need to reliably understand what single photons are doing. The margins are very small.
To observe is to change.
That’s kind of the biggest issue with quantum computers. We are pretty good at getting them working, but making sure we don’t change things by measuring what they are trying to compute… it’s very very hard to do.
This recording has given me many happy hours of contemplation. If you want to hear more from Brandon, including how he thinks YOU will be using a quantum computer, go and give it a listen!
I hope this newsletter gives you a good dose of optimism about the future of tech and the people that build it!
Giota
P.S Let me know what you want to see in next weeks episode?