<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The incredible physics behind quantum computing.<br \/> Watch the newest video from Big Think: <a href=\"https:\/\/bigth.ink\/NewVideo\">https:\/\/bigth.ink\/NewVideo<\/a>.<br \/> Learn skills from the world\u2019s top minds at Big Think Edge: <a href=\"https:\/\/bigth.ink\/Edge\">https:\/\/bigth.ink\/Edge<\/a>.<br \/> \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<br \/> While today\u2019s computers\u2014referred to as classical computers\u2014continue to become more and more powerful, there is a ceiling to their advancement due to the physical limits of the materials used to make them. Quantum computing allows physicists and researchers to exponentially increase computation power, harnessing potential parallel realities to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Quantum computer chips are astoundingly small, about the size of a fingernail. Scientists have to not only build the computer itself but also the ultra-protected environment in which they operate. Total isolation is required to eliminate vibrations and other external influences on synchronized atoms; if the atoms become \u2018decoherent\u2019 the quantum computer cannot function.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need to create a very quiet, clean, cold environment for these chips to work in,\u201d says quantum computing expert Vern Brownell. The coldest temperature possible in physics is-273.15 degrees C. The rooms required for quantum computing are-273.14 degrees C, which is 150 times colder than outer space. It is complex and mind-boggling work, but the potential for computation that harnesses the power of parallel universes is worth the chase.<\/p>\n<p>Check Chris Bernhardt\u2019s book \u201cQuantum Computing for Everyone (MIT Press)\u201d at <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/3nSg5a8\">http:\/\/amzn.to\/3nSg5a8<\/a><br \/> \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<br \/> TRANSCRIPT:<\/p>\n<p>MICHIO KAKU: Years ago, we physicists predicted the end of Moore\u2019s Law, which says a computer power doubles every 18 months. But we also, on the other hand, proposed a positive program\u2014perhaps molecular computers, quantum computers can take over when silicon power is exhausted. In fact, already we see a slowing down of Moore\u2019s Law. Computer power simply cannot maintain its rapid exponential rise using standard silicon technology. The two basic problems are heat and leakage. That\u2019s the reason why the age of silicon will eventually come to a close. No one knows when, but as I mentioned we already now can see the slowing down of Moore\u2019s Law, and in 10 years it could flatten out completely. So what\u2019s the problem? The problem is that a Pentium chip today has a layer almost down to 20 atoms across, 20 atoms across. When that layer gets down to about five atoms across, it\u2019s all over. You have two effects, heat. The heat generated will be so intense that the chip will melt. You can literally fry an egg on top of the chip, and the chip itself begins to disintegrate. And second of all, leakage. You don\u2019t know where the electron is anymore. The quantum theory takes over. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says you don\u2019t know where that electron is anymore, meaning it could be outside the wire, outside the Pentium chip or inside the Pentium chip. So there is an ultimate limit set by the laws of thermodynamics and set by the laws of quantum mechanics, as to how much computing power you can do with silicon.<\/p>\n<p>VERN BROWNELL: I refer to today\u2019s computers as classical computers. They compute largely in the same way they have for the past 60 or 70 years, since John Von Neumann and others invented the first electronic computers back in the \u201840s. And we\u2019ve had amazing progress over those years. Think of all the developments there\u2019ve been on the hardware side and the software side over those 60 or 70 years and how much energy and development has been put into those areas. And we\u2019ve achieved marvelous things with that classical computing environment, but it has its limits too, and people sometimes ask, \u201cWhy would we need any more powerful computers?\u201d These applications, these problems that we\u2019re trying to solve, are incredibly hard problems and aren\u2019t well-suited for the architecture of classical computing. So I see quantum computing as another set of tools, another set of resources for scientists, researchers, computer scientists, programmers, to develop and enhance some of these capabilities to really change the world in a much better way than we\u2019re able to today with classical computers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/the-incredible-physics-behind-quantum-computing-brian-greene-michio-kaku-more-big-think\">Continue reading \u201cThe incredible physics behind quantum computing | Brian Greene, Michio Kaku, & more | Big Think\u201d | ><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The incredible physics behind quantum computing. Watch the newest video from Big Think: https:\/\/bigth.ink\/NewVideo. Learn skills from the world\u2019s top minds at Big Think Edge: https:\/\/bigth.ink\/Edge. \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 While today\u2019s computers\u2014referred to as classical computers\u2014continue to become more and more powerful, there is a ceiling to their advancement due to the physical limits of the materials [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":377,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1523,33,48,1617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computing","category-cosmology","category-particle-physics","category-quantum-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}