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since the dawn of our existence humans have harnessed the power of nature to advance
our place in the world from using fire to cook food and power steam engines
to channeling electricity to power homes and send humans to the moon over the past century
computer technology has allowed humankind to advance further than we ever imagined
now scientists and engineers are on the cusp of taking us to our next evolutionary step
by harnessing the power of quantum mechanics to create machines that can achieve the impossible
quantum computers are not just a more advanced version of our current computers
they are something entirely new and different but how do they work and are they really better than
our current computers traditional or classical computers use binary digits or bits which are
the smallest units used to measure data bits are like tiny switches that can either be in the on
position or the off position which are represented by a one or a zero all computer data from cgi you
see in movies to the apps on your phone even this video you're watching right now are made up of
millions of bits and some combination of ones and zeros however even our most powerful super
computers have their limitations largely because the actual physical world doesn't always exist in
an on or off or binary state the world is a bit more unpredictable sometimes full of all kinds of
uncertainty over the last century physicists have discovered that as we get down to the smallest
building blocks of our reality things become even more uncertain the field of quantum mechanics
has evolved in order to help study and understand strange phenomena that exist in the quantum realm
by harnessing these principles scientists and engineers have been able to develop quantum
computers instead of bits quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits which are often made out
of subatomic particles usually photons electrons or ions these particles have a magnetic field or a
spin similar to a bar magnet with a north and south pole when you place one of these
particles in a magnetic field it will align with that field like a compass where the needle points
north because the magnet inside aligns itself with the earth's magnetic pull when the compass needle
points north it is in the lowest energy state called its zero state or spin down if energy
is applied to the compass needle it can point downward against the pull of the magnetic field
this charge state is its one state or spin up so like classical bits qubits have a one and zero
state but they have a very special attribute that completely set them apart imagine that compass
needle again what might happen if you flick the needle and it started to spin around rapidly
while it's in motion is it up or down the truth is we might say it's both the quality of being both
up and down one and zero is called superposition and it's what makes quivets so incredible where
classical bits can never only be zero or one qubits can be both simultaneously why is this
quality so special imagine your computer is trying to figure out a password that is four bits long
that might seem relatively simple but even just four bits can have 16 different combinations
to figure out the password a traditional computer would try each combination one at
a time until it found the one that worked but a quantum computer could try all 16 combinations
at the same time because all four qubits can exist as both a one or a zero simultaneously
essentially four equivalents have the same computational capacity as 16 classical bits
this means a quantum computer can solve problems like these in a fraction of the time it takes a
classical computer it also means that the power of quantum computers grows exponentially the more
qubits you add the truth is that quantum computers won't be universally helpful at least not at first
they won't for instance replace the computers in your smartphone or laptop as they generally don't
handle very complex problems however there are many areas where our current computers
really struggle and where quantum computers could have a chance to shine the first is optimization
finding the best solution to a problem among many possible solutions for instance trying to find the
most effective route between two points current computers need to explore every possible solution
one at a time until it finds the most efficient route this process would obviously be incredibly
time consuming especially if more complex data points are factored into the equation however a
quantum computer in theory could explore every possible route simultaneously before presenting
the most efficient route this type of optimization holds immense potential for emerging technologies
like self-driving cars where a master system could theoretically assess all the moving vehicles
traffic patterns stop signs and potential road hazards all at the same time to present vehicles
with the safest and most efficient route possible it could also revolutionize ai allowing computers
to analyze and program themselves by exploring all possible data combinations and outcomes arriving
at the most efficient result besides optimization quantum computers can also potentially trump
classical computers when it comes to advanced simulations especially when it comes to problems
involving large unknown unquantifiable data points this could revolutionize biology chemistry and
even physics itself as these computers utilize the same principles that make up these disciplines our
current strongest fastest computers can only simulate relatively small molecule clusters
mostly due to lack of processing space a quantum computer could have the ability to factor in
all the various data points with these structures accurately analyze them and stimulate them in real
time this processing power could revolutionize medicine giving scientists the ability to
accurately simulate the very systems they are trying to understand before we get back to the
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where large uncertain complicated problems exist quantum computers have the chance to excel
and as the technology advances the applications could be endless as of right now one of the
biggest inhibiting factors has been building and managing these super machines because quantum
computers use particles that are smaller than atoms they are extremely sensitive to all kinds
of interference such as shifts in temperature or even electromagnetic waves to protect the
delicate superpositions quantum computer chips are kept isolated in special containment vessels and
chilled down to near absolute zero which is colder than interstellar space however in recent years
some of the biggest names in tech have achieved some incredible breakthroughs in quantum computing
right now ibm has a quantum computer which users can interact with on their website on
october 23rd 2019 google in partnership with the us national aeronautics and space administration
nasa announced that it had achieved quantum supremacy the point at which a quantum computer
can actually outperform a classical computer according to a research paper published by the
tech giant their 54 qubit processor named sycamore performed a target computation in 200 seconds
determining that it would take the world's fastest supercomputers approximately 10 000 years to solve
these claims have been disputed by rivals like ibm who claim their supercomputers could have solved
that problem in a matter of days not thousands of years still google's achievements represent an
incredible breakthrough in quantum computing and signal that this technology might be accessible
in the near future quantum computer technology can truly usher in a new era of human evolution
a reality in which we can use our technology to analyze information find viable solutions to the
biggest problems facing our planet and even spot a few problems that we couldn't even see before
this is a topic that i find really fascinating and i think i need to keep reading up with it because
the level of progress is pretty staggering as i made this video i realized that there's been more
advancement than i thought and this topic is crazy complicated so if you have questions let us know
or if you're a master or work in this field please leave us your comments and also in the future
if you want to see a video more in depth about how the tech actually works let us know i think
historically we found covering topics more topically generally appeals to more of you
but let us know it's always something we want to hear from you guys about and just a reminder
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supporter of this show consider supporting us on patreon and if you like this video and
you thought this was cool and you love learning about the future check out this video that we did
last week on neuralink which is an incredible story of this crazy brain implant that will
radically change the world or this video on starlink the crazy new satellite system
that will revolutionize the internet and how it is distributed around the world