Sarah Kreikemeier
Advances in technology that shape the future come in different forms. Some help us realize possibilities of systems that already exist. Others allow us to reframe what’s possible.
Take computing, for instance. Advances in transistors over time have produced more powerful processors that can fit into ever smaller and more affordable packages. This has made it possible to do computing tasks more efficiently and conveniently, but in the end these improvements apply the same principles of classical computing that were used when there were room-sized mainframes.
But as the science behind quantum mechanics has advanced to the point where it could be applied to technology, it is bringing computing of a different kind. It goes down to the level of bits: Instead of the 1s and 0s being used to solve problems that power the computer on which you’re using to read this story, quantum computing use qubits. They’re tiny (like, subatomic) particles which due to quantum phenomena can be hold a zero, a one or a portion of both at the same time. This allows for many calculations to be performed simultaneously.
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