There are computers, supercomputers, and then there are quantum computers.

Our traditional computers understand 0s and 1s. Supercomputers do the same thing, but they are very large, so large that they might fill a room or an entire building.

Now enter quantum computers. They are fundamentally different. They do not work how traditional computers would, so to speak, they do not understand 0s and 1s like that. They use something called qubits, which work by a technique called superposition.

Superposition in the quantum world means that a qubit can be both 0 AND 1 at the same time, with different probabilities for each. The act of measuring it forces it to collapse to either 0 or 1.

Now back to quantum computers. What this means is that qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously until we measure them. That means we can do computations which would be practically impossible with our computers.

Think about breaking encryption like RSA, it would take classical computers an astronomical amount of time to crack, but quantum computers can do it efficiently using something called Shor’s algorithm. They can explore different mathematical possibilities at the same time and can also use entanglement, which Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.” Now if you can break these encryption schemes, you could potentially compromise secure communications, encrypted data, and even cryptocurrency security.

The basic idea behind quantum computers is that they can solve certain problems much, much faster than traditional computers because of their quantum nature. Traditional computers would solve problems sequentially, but quantum qubits can interfere with themselves (interference pattern), explore multiple solution paths simultaneously, and return the desired result. This way, for certain types of problems, they can be extremely fast, so fast that even traditional computers the size of Earth couldn’t match them.

There are many problems and mathematical problems which are not possible to solve with current computers that could be solved with quantum computers. Quantum computers can revolutionize the world. They could potentially have a much, much bigger impact on the world than AI.

But it doesn’t come without its cons. For one, building a quantum computer is not an easy task. For example, building a quantum computer capable of breaking modern encryption may require thousands of high-quality qubits, which means tens of millions of dollars. The best we have achieved is systems with a few thousand qubits, but they are nowhere close to widespread practical applications as of now because of error rates.

Also, quantum computers are error-prone, you will need a lot of extra qubits just to fix these errors. Since quantum computers use superposition and need to maintain them until measurement, we need to prevent anything which can cause the superposition to collapse unexpectedly, and they can get extremely hot in the process. So, to prevent overheating and sudden collapse, we need to build them in such a way that the computer is wrapped in multiple cooling systems and kept in a very controlled environment, isolated from any interference.

And there is another big problem: no software from traditional computers will work on quantum computers. Everything will have to be rewritten from scratch.

So here it is, quantum computers can be a real revolution and can change the lives of everyone, potentially with a much bigger impact than AI or even traditional computers have had.

It is mind-boggling what implications they can bring to the world. It is like unleashing the power of atoms to release nuclear energy, but for the computer world, on which we are already so dependent.

Thank you for reading.