{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Fe8e98844-3527-4d4f-83db-6a892be38120","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"What is Quantum Computing?","description":"\nFrom Short and Sweet AI, I\u2019m Dr. Peper and today I\u2019m talking about one of the most challenging ideas I\u2019ve ever discussed, quantum computing.\n\n\n\nQuantum computing excites and perplexes me. It has all these strange, science fiction parts to it such as superposition, entanglement, parallel universes, yes, I said parallel universes, temperatures as cold a deep space, well, just above absolute zero really, and of course qubits. And quantum computers have been described as looking like steampunk chandeliers.\n\n\n\nQuantum Bits = Qubits\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s start with qubits. In traditional computers, information is coded as binary units which are either ones or zeros and referred to as bits. They’re like tiny switches that can be either in the off position, represented by a zero, or in the on position, represented by a one. Computers are made up of millions of these bits in some combination of ones and zeros. This binary system is how our phones, apps, websites and the internet work. Quantum computing is completely different. It involves a philosophical leap really. It involves the idea that a single object can be in two states at the same time, so it can be a one and a zero at the same time, or it can be on and off at the same time. I know, it sounds crazy.\n\n\n\nSuperposition\n\n\n\nTake a coin for example, if you flip a coin, it can be either heads or tails. But during the flip, the coin is spinning and is in both states at once, heads and tails at the same time. This is called superposition. Quantum computing stores a combination of one and zeros in both states, on and off, at once, in the form of qubits. Quantum computers are powered by collections of qubits in superposition and that\u2019s what makes them so powerful.\n\n\n\nEntanglements\n\n\n\nThe other thing qubits do is called entanglement. When two particles are linked together in quantum computing it\u2019s called entanglement even if they’re physically separate. Normally when you flip a coin, tossing one coin won’t affect the next coin toss. But in quantum computing, two spinning coins can be linked together and if one comes up heads, the other one will also come up heads.Then if you can string together multiple qubits you can tackle the problems that even our best computers can’t solve. \n\n\n\nBut quantum computers are not really just about doing things faster or more efficiently. They can do things we can\u2019t even dream of, things our everyday supercomputers can\u2019t possibly do.\n\n\n\n Light Bulb, Not Candle \n\n\n\nA quantum physicist, Shohini Ghose, says a quantum computer is not just a more powerful supercomputer just as a light bulb is not a more powerful version of a candle. You cannot build a light bulb by building better and better candles. A light bulb is a different technology just as quantum computing is a different technology. Having a lot more candles won\u2019t achieve the same effect of what a light bulb can do because they\u2019re two different technologies. And just like a light bulb transformed society, quantum computers have the potential to impact many, many different aspects of our lives. \n\n\n\nMagic\n\n\n\nQuantum computing is so strange, so futuristic, so exuberant, really, I love it. To me it\u2019s what the science fiction guru, Arthur C. Clarke, was thinking about when he said, \u201cany sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.\u201d\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s so much more to discuss about qubits, quantum computing, and the space race to quantum supremacy in my next episode.\n\n\n\nUntil then, from Short and Sweet AI, I\u2019m Dr. Peper.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/bf88eebe-e86d-4d48-b0b6-6f5e342846bf/podcastimage.jpg"}