Quantum computing

[mikechamp]

This is a thread for a topic of future importance.

What is the quantum apocalypse and should we be scared?

Imagine a world where encrypted, secret files are suddenly cracked open - something known as "the quantum apocalypse".

Put very simply, quantum computers work completely differently from the computers developed over the past century. In theory, they could eventually become many, many times faster than today's machines. That means that faced with an incredibly complex and time-consuming problem - like trying to decrypt data - where there are multiple permutations running into the billions, a normal computer would take many years to break those encryptions, if ever.

But a future quantum computer, in theory, could do this in just seconds. Such computers could be able to solve all sorts of problems for humanity. The UK government is investing in the National Quantum Computing Centre in Harwell, Oxfordshire, hoping to revolutionise research in the field.

But there is also a dark side.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60144498

[AdmiralKird]

"What is the quantum apocalypse and should we be scared?" is a hell of an article title. I wonder if they want to scare readers into being the trusted source for news you need to know and subscribe.

If you're trying to crack a binary system with a quantum computer, you still have to interface with the binary computer which will completely bottleneck the speed advantages. So your only route is harvested encrypted data, encrypted binary data that can be loaded directly onto a quantum computer. But would it be of any use by the time it was cracked? Doubtful, and even then it would require interfacing again with binary computers to see which unchanged passwords and things of that nature still worked. Quantum computers in development are being funded by major institutions to get access to them first. By the time it becomes a threat Microsoft, Apple, Citibank, etc will all be using quantum computers to re-cypher your password(s) against quantum decryption and licensing that tech out to other banks and tech firms to do the same.

[mikechamp]

Meet Willow (no, not the character from "Buffy"):

Inside the sub-zero lair of the world's most powerful computer

It looks like a golden chandelier and contains the coldest place in the known universe. What I am looking at is not just the most powerful computer in the world, but technology pivotal to financial security, Bitcoin, government secrets, the world economy and more.

Quantum computing holds the key to which companies and countries win - and lose - the rest of the 21st Century.

In front of me suspended a metre in the air, in a Google facility in Santa Barbara California, is Willow. Frankly, it was not what I expected.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62r6dvpl5ro

[Famous Mortimer]

"In theory" x1000000

[Leroy]

My Commodore 64 is ready for whatever these brainiacs send its way.