Willow: An Infinitely Huge Game-Changer

So, Google have built a new quantum computer ‘Willow’ that, apparently, is a really, really big deal.

For those of us who pay only minor attention to such scientific announcements, they usually sound like this: ‘Blah, blah, blah, squillions of times faster… blah, blah, blah, can do a quajillion equations in a zuggillionth of a second.’

Okay, so what does that really mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but where’s the real value in this to people like you and me? I don’t need to work out my tax return any quicker than the first of the month and my phone has a pretty handy calculator app for figuring out mortgage rates – so how is a quantum computer going to rock my world?

Probably a lot.

What all this quantum super duper speedy calculation stuff means is that you can crunch some really big numbers – especially the kind of absurd quantities you can get in terms of probability. In future, this could obviously have an effect on things like improving our chances at predicting the weather and how often the Ace of Spades will turn up on a blackjack table.

But it isn’t just about improved calculating speed with quantum computers, oh no there’s a whole other Pandora’s Box being opened here. So, now’s probably a really good time to dig just a little bit deeper…

How quantum computing works

Ha, ha, here’s the really fun bit! Basically, a normal computer works on the binary principle of off/on. A light switch or water faucet is either off or on – so water or electricity either flows through the wire/pipe or it doesn’t. A ‘bit’ is the most fundamental part of that as it is either 0 or 1 (off or on) – thus giving you two options. 8 of these bits together make a ‘byte’ which give you 28 options or 256 different potential outcomes.

Quantum computing is the same – except freakier; as the bit doesn’t have to be 0 or 1 – it can be both at the same time. Stay with me here. These ‘qubits’ can exist in a combination of 0 and 1 until measured which hugely increases the potential outcomes, allowing quantum computers to crunch absolutely massive numbers much faster than classical computers ever could.

To get an idea of the scale of this upgrade; think about every atom in the observable universe being used to make one giant iMac. Got that? Now think about a problem so bloody difficult it would take that mega iMac the entire existence of our universe to solve it.

Okay? So Google’s engineers tasked their shiny new quantum computer with exactly that kind of problem – and Willow solved it in just a few minutes.

Huh? How?!

Good question, but to answer it we need to leap off the cliff into Interstellar territory as Google claim that the only way Willow was able to solve their super curly equation was because it was calculated not by one Willow – but by an infinite number of them.

In other words, this equation was so complex it couldn’t be solved by just one quantum computer, it could only be solved by an innumerable number of them operating at the same time in an uncountable number of parallel universes. Ergo, that this equation was actually solved at all thus proves the existence of a multiverse. So, the universe we perceive we are in now – must only be one of an infinite number of variants.

Whaaaat?!

Yeah. Head-spinning stuff. But are these Google engineers right? Well, that’s beyond my pay grade but if – and it’s a big if – they are right, then that’s a bit of a gamechanger. So, how can quantum computing change our lives? Here’s a few simple predictions:

Cybersecurity

With an infinite bank of quantum computers on the job, even the most complex security code will be cracked instantaneously. So that ‘uncrackable’ 18 character online banking password you developed using upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols – is worthless now. Instead of hackers currently needing a computer and 7 quattuodecillion (1 x 1045) years to break it, armed with a quantum computer they only need an undecillionth (1 x 10-36) of a second. Which might suggest a complete rethink could be required for the entire industry.

Healthcare and Drug Development

The health sector will no doubt feel the full force of quantum change as medicine has always had a hint of ‘suck it and see’ around discovering cures for ailments. Since the Dawn of Time we’ve tried this herb and that chemical in an experimental approach to finding a cure. Even today a lot of successful medicines were only discovered via exhaustive – or even accidental – trial and error.

Not for much longer! With the power of quantum computers, the most effective treatments with the best complex molecular interactions will be found almost instantly. Plus, ailments may even be eradicated altogether as pre-emptive diagnoses could be made exploring body parts for potentials of weakness and treating/pre-loading them before they even show symptoms.

Financial sector

Stockmarkets, banking and investment will possibly become unrecognisable from what they are today as everyone will have access to the same uber powerful modelling and analysis programs. Plus, where will the market go if everyone has the same super logical recommendations?

Mystique? What mystique?

Once upon a time we used to amuse ourselves with those kooky old puzzles we could never figure out like the previously incomprehensible Minoan Linear A script and the bizarre Voynich Manuscript codex. These mysteries we’ve scratched our heads over for centuries will trouble our Prefrontal Cortex no longer as a logical explanation will be found, within seconds, via the narrowing down of possibilities. How were the Pyramids built? Too easy. This is how it must have been done. Have we been visited before by aliens? Of course. Here’s the logical how and when.

More self-imposed obsolescence?

It is easy to see how quantum computing can also crunch the astronomical numbers on other sectors where we currently have little better than guesswork like weather prediction and traffic management. But it is hard to escape the feeling that this is yet more self-imposed obsolescence for us as humans – as goodness knows how much quantum computing will improve AI! With infinite possibilities of how to achieve any goal at hand, why would AI limit itself to only those that would occur in any human thought processes?

As humans, we are already struggling to cope with life in a single dimension, how can we possibly deal with the idea that infinite versions of our world are occurring concurrently? I suspect AI won’t have the same issues and may embrace the new tech far quicker than we ever will. Then we will be living in a world where not only do we not understand what’s going on, but we’ll have no control over it either. And that will be a really, really big deal indeed.