Making the World a Better Place with Quantum Computing

“Time is money” - Benjamin Franklin 1748. Time is the most valuable resource that man possesses, and any and every technological advancements that helps to increase the speed at which things happen, and therefore increase the amount of spare time one has, are extremely important, and should be pursued. One way to increase the speed of technology is through the invention and use of Quantum computers. This will greatly increase the speed at which computers process and communicate information and data. However, as with any technological advancements that are made, there are some drawbacks and negatives. In this essay I will examine the negatives and positives of quantum computing to answer the question. Will Quantum Computing make the world a better place?

Quantum computing is a new form of computers that combines computer science with quantum physics. The biggest positive about these new and improved computers are the speed at which they can process information. Quantum computers aren’t fully here yet but they are very close as proved by IBM which unveiled plans for a 50qubit quantum computer in 2017 (Agam Shah(2017)) so it is worth looking at how they will impact the world in the future. Quantum computers can process information an exponentially rate quicker than our normal computers. This allows for computers to do equations modern computers can’t or if they could would take years to process. The reason quantum computers are able to process stuff so quickly, is because unlike current computers, which rely on a system of 0 or 1’s to complete process thus requiring a large amount of resources and power to do them. Quantum computers aren’t held to two limited states they encode information and data in the form of quantum bits or Qbits that are able to be held in superposition meaning it takes far less recourse and power in order to complete different equations. Of course this is a huge technological advancement that could have the power to change the world in a series of ways, according to IBM there are four majors ways in which the speed of quantum computing, has the ability to impact the world, artificial intelligence, medicine and new drug discovery, financial services, and supply chains and logistics.

AI or artificial intelligence is currently limited to modern computers that don’t have the ability to process a large amount of data and if it can it takes far too long to process it. However quantum computers would fix this (Anthony Coggine(2018)) as they would allow for the processing of data to be much faster. They will also allow AI to be able to reach into databases and access all of its knowledge at once. This results in the delivery of an analysis of a situation in mere seconds, the likes of which current computers cannot. Of course as always there are negatives and positives of creating AI like that fact it may decrease job opportunities as AI can do more mundane tasks, however it does reduce human error as it can’t do anything differently or get distracted like a human could. Another negative is they lack creativity or the ability to improve that much. However when AI is paired with quantum computers it will allow AI to have the ability to improve overall quantum computer processes thus making AI more powerful and, possible resulting in a real life terminator scenario. This definitely wouldn’t make the world a better place, at least not for humans. Overall AI has a lot of negatives and positives. Whilst the worst case scenario is scary it is overall unlikely, and the ability for quantum computing AI to increase productivity by the speed they can process info is huge, thus it’s a risk defiantly worth taking.

Another way quantum computer can affect society is the ability they possess to drastically improve the ability of medical professionals to detect and deal with different diseases or injuries due to the accuracy they can produce. It is even predicted that quantum MRI machines “will generate extremely precise imaging allowing visualization of single molecules”. (Jeffrey F. Scherrer-PhD, Jay Brieler-MD, Dmitry Solenov-PhD (2018 Sep-Oct; 115(5): 463–467.). This would make it far easier to diagnose the exact reason and place for a patient's disease of injury. They could also have a hand in cancer treatment as currently computers are used to work out a correct radiation plan for the patient based on a lot of different factors, this plan allows for the targeting of cancer cells that don’t damage healthy cells. However quantum computers can process multiple different plans and in seconds decide a much more effective and precise method resulting in fewer side effects. They will also have the ability to help in the development of drugs. They do this by helping chemists analyse the reactions between different compounds This is huge as current computers take a huge amount of time and resource to analyse the data. Which slows down the time taken for new drug development, quantum computers will do it all instantly making the development of new drugs faster. This increased ability for medical professionals to diagnose and treat patients as well as the formation of brand new drugs in a record time is obviously a huge benefit to the world and of course will make the world a better place.

Not only is time money but money is also money and quantum computers have the ability to help with the financial problems of the world. One way is they could help banks quickly and accurately decide whether or not to give out loans to people. Determining if they will pay the money back or not thus avoiding another economic collapse like what happened in the United States of America in 2008. Quantum computers could be used to analyse a range of different variables to determine the amount of risk in giving out a loan to an individual(Quantum World Association-(2018)). Quantum computers will also be able to predict patterns and pick up on them far easier than current computers making it easier for businesses to decide what is working for them, and what they need to change in order to increase profits. This also means that it would be able to predict patterns based on all previous trades ever made on the stock market making it much easier to decide what is a good investment.

In my opinion, something that might have the biggest positive effect on the plant long term, whilst it isn’t a lot to write about, is the ability for quantum computers to quickly and effectively predict patterns leads into it being able to predict climates and weather and more importantly making much more accurate climate change models which will help us to tackle the issue with more knowledge on global warming which may give us more time to fix what maybe unfixable.

The biggest negative of quantum computers is the fact that they make current data cryptography virtual irrelevant. The reason for this is that current computers can actually break most forms of cyber security however it will take hundreds of years compared to quantum computers which have the ability to crack these encryptions in a matter of days if not hours (Daniel J. Bernstein & Tanja Lange- 2017). Of course, this is hugely concerning as it opens up everyone on the planet from me and you all the way up to the highest levels of security in governments around the world to cyber-attacks. Letting criminals have at any data they want from banks to state secretes or possible even nuclear launch codes. Therefore, researchers also have to find ways to convert current cryptography into quantum proof cryptography, this will take a huge amount of resources and money. However, it will mean that a technology is developed that is impossible to crack. If they are able to make encryptions for everything it is a huge positive and in the long run it will greatly enhance the cyber security of everything. The time it takes to create this new tech, however, means that in the near future there will most likely be a crossover gap after quantum computers are fully completed where all data will be vulnerable until they are able to encrypt it behind quantum computers.

In conclusion quantum computers have one main disadvantages, this being that because of it, all current cryptography will become completely useless. Leaving all data open for anyone who wants it, if it has not already be quantum proofed. As well as the fact that it maybe very expensive to create/install the new and improved quantum proof cryptography. The list of positives however largely out ways the negatives, with quantum computers being able to create much higher developed AI, increase the financial stability of a country, correctly predict climate models, help predict stock markets, increase business profits, increase medical diagnosis and treatment opportunities as well as it making it far easier for researchers to develop different and improved types of drugs. As Benjamin Franklin said “time is money” and these machines certainly give you more time, as well as solve a lot of other problems that are in the world today. Because of all of the positives for quantum computing I am convinced that quantum computers with their extremely high processing speeds are a positive and will make the world a far better place.