Lots of people speculate the impact Quantum Computers will have by 2030, which is less than a decade away, we are witnessing the exponential scaling effects of Deep Tech technologies in an ‘all at once’ future — the world is in for a massive shock…
Here are 10 Use Cases that will become mainstream where early versions are already making an impact.
1. Accelerate AI
Quantum Computers will accelerate the efficiency and speed of learning of Artificial Intelligence systems, specifically Machine Learning algorithms helping them assimilate and make sense of vast quantities of data not yet contemplated. With 90% of our data created in the past 5 years our new sensory world will require Quantum Computers to help us deal with a new world where everything is recorded.
Quantum machines will spawn new types of Neural Networks that can optimise, compete and make sense of multiple data and information types on the fly — coming in from all sources — sensors, drones, wearables, transportation systems, our homes, cars and the clothes we wear. Conventional computers cannot find the outcomes or make predictions fast enough and why humanity struggles to solve difficult problems — which is where Quantum Computers take over.
Quantum machines calculate all solutions at once, simultaneously. Are you there yet? The example I often use is finding the Ace of Spade in a pack of 52 cards. Classical computers turn cards one at a time, so there is a 1:52 chance or less if you get lucky — in a shuffled pack. A Quantum Computer turns 52 cards over in a single turn — the probability of finding the Ace of Spades is always 1. Quantum Machines offer multipliers of computational states which very quickly scales to more computational states than there are atoms in the universe at just 300 qubits.
The scary part is the ability of AI to help other AI mimic humans, but also pass the Turing test, being able to copy humans accurately and impersonate them becomes as photorealistic as games when plugged into Quantum Machines — will entirely blur the lines between real and fake.
2. Synthetic Biology
Advancements in Synthetic Biology is already outpacing Moore’s Law by 400% — is one of the faster growing areas of technological advancement. Quantum Computers as more Qubits come online will exponentially advance biology a million X before 2030. The implications are huge because for the first time we can start to understand and model human molecules, something that classic computers are unable to do. Today our most powerful computers cannot model the caffeine molecule to fully understand the impact of drinking coffee on our bodies, our brains and longevity. It can come as no surprise understanding how molecules interact at the atomic level is beyond current computing and thinking.
The issue is atomic, in other words you need a Quantum Computer that works at the atomic level to interpret the world of molecules as each atom interacts with others. Only then can we start to predict and understand how drugs function and the impact on our bodies, find new drugs and treatments that work by studying them at the atomic scale, or matching and combining todays drugs that will spawn a new generation of drugs that prevent and protect humanity from what is to come.
New advancements in molecular based drugs that do not trigger an auto immune response, that can aid the body healing and not rejecting transplants as cellular based materials entering the body can result in extreme outcomes. New molecular based treatments will adjust to specifics of the human body and to new conditions and viruses.
3. New Materials
Whilst few new fundamental compounds have been discovered in recent years, with notable exceptions that include Graphene. Classical computers are in a sense holding us back. They simple cannot process the data but more important cannot interpret at an atomic level the interaction and behaviour of molecules to form new relationships. How do molecules (atoms )interact at a fundamental level? Will new materials arrive as Quantum Computers scale up — well yes.
The advancements in shape shifting materials that can adjust to the environment, changing composition based on temperature or impact. Materials that respond to biometric signals — of heat and cold, a rise in adrenaline maybe as part of the fight or flight equation. Our clothes may one day respond to our thoughts, that trigger biometrics of feeling in danger, cold and injured.
Quantum Computers can simultaneous process data and track the relationship and behaviours between atoms that make up layers in the materials and how they respond to stimulus and soon threats. Imagine walls that repair themselves, super strong almost weightless materials used in aircraft and cars reducing drag and resistant to heat damage. Materials that can help a house sense an impending earthquake and adjust to the resulting movements as Quantum Sensing soltions are rolled out.
4. Traffic & Safety
Isn’t it interesting that when a new Tesla car is purchased and driven it is feeding information back to the collective intelligence of all Tesla vehicles (hive), and driving gets safer as it learns from another set of experiences (trips) and the massive neural network adjusts. Classical computers struggle to solve the Travelling Salesman Problem — the optimisation of routes and journeys for maximum effect in terms of optimising time, materials, fuel and safety — in real time.
Quantum Computers will accelerate and process all data at once delivering essential real time views and optimisation of all journey options considering -the age of the car, fuels stops, congestion, weather and the best order to stop and visit customers, especially those customers that spend more and are more likely to buy.
Quantum Computers is already having an impact on supply chain management, in shipping and cargo management and as they become more powerful these industries will be transformed. Will our cars, busses, van’s and aircraft think for themselves and find the optimal and safest routes — most definitely.
5. Renewable Energy
Quantum Computers is extensively used in research and development but aren’t nearly powerful enough. Early signs show the Newtonian Laws that govern science can be challenged and adjusted as we are able to process more data simultaneously. Remembering classical computers process serially and quantum machines deliver an all at once brute force option.
One of the biggest challenges is the explosion of the EV market that is advancing battery technology fast, and of course Tesla leads the way. One issue with fuel cells is charging and dis-charging but mostly the ageing time of fuel cells — that can give the battery an extended life. Batteries are housed in casing, open to harsh environments and use, thermodynamic constraints and there have been many examples of fires and failures.
Other challenges in solar has been the storing of generated energy in electrolyte materials and trying to find a solution because the energy value depletes when being moved and stored for any length of time. And here we are again at the coal face of atomic particles and understanding the behaviours of atoms as new power generation, storage and distribution systems are contemplated only this time we will find the answer.
Quantum Computers remove much of the exponential scaling challenges of classic computers means the ability to solve complex problems will be accelerated by Quantum Computers we will soon have the answer. Which materials are best at conducting, why and at what temperature? Can materials, metals be combined at the atomic level to develop more efficient battery technologies that are fast to charge, cheaper to run, easier to make and lighter? Will Quantum Computers solve the challenge of storing energy from solar more efficiently in liquid form so that it can moved without losing its value? What Elon Musk calls first principles thinking as he reinvents the art of the possible.
6. Modelling Markets and Portfolios
A Quantum Neural networks should be able to model entire markets all at once. The challenge in predicting anything is the chances something significant is missed, an outlier or clue that changes everything. This is increasing a problem for AI as most has a narrow focus because it cannot cope with the demands of seeing everything. The best way to avoid missing something is to model everything — include all financial markets, every trade since records began. The learning and discovery would be significant and only them would real predictive modelling deliver on the promise. Quantum Machines will make the Monte Carlo model more useful in predicting and simulating outcomes, risks and probabilities as financial businesses try to price products and eliminate volatility. We will soon see the entire probability of all outcomes.
Unfortunately classical machines compound the problem, even fast high performance computers running the latest AI struggle to predict market movements, opportunities and signs of a shift early enough. And this is because current AI models operate in very narrow bands where the outcomes are sort of known but not yet predicted. Imagine putting the entire trading history of every financial market and sitting back and waiting for a few seconds for the insights — delivering new ways to simulate market moves, predict market crashes and adjust our financial markets and fiscal policies to ensure market longevity.
7. Quantum Cold War
Quantum Computing will very soon breach most forms of modern encryption including RSA — 2048 and early Quantum Machines have already breached symmetric defences. Classical computers go through sequences to test each answer one at a time and it is this that takes years to find the match — whereas a Quantum Computer finds the answer, the match to your password, key and lock all at once. But how many Qubits (the secret sauce — quantum bits that make them so powerful) is it 500, 500,000 or 5000000. At a few hundred useful qubits most cyber defences are busted — at 1 million qubits scientists predict a rise in answers to hard and impossible questions will increase innovation and new product creation by 100x even 1000x.
The race is a National Security level issue that is driving most funding in Quantum Computers. The chance to be the best, have the biggest Quantum Machine is of course about being first. The first one to crack security, get access to secrets and all data will be closer to winning the battle for intelligence, and why the defence and Intelligence Communities are all over Quantum Computers, but also Quantum Sensing detecting tiny atomic movements in space and time (water) that makes stealth impossible, and Quantum Communications — secure channels using Quantum principles that cannot be eavesdropped into, and deemed totally secure.
Quantum means assimilating and processing data and information on an unprecedented scale, where a Quantum Neural Network will be able to find the answer in real time, and then ahead of real time. Unlimited processing of human Identity, linking all cameras and surveillance devices on the planet, to all government and police data bases and every sensor will be able to find everyone on the planet immediately — an Orwellian thought maybe but imagine the impact on cruelty, crime, abuse, bad actors and behaviours…or maybe a bridge too far.
8. Saving Mother Earth
The earth has experiences numerous extinction level events in its more than 4 million years evolution. Extreme volcanic behaviours, ice ages and the inevitable impact of foreign bodies from space. The odds of another are high, inevitable but the key of course is to predict when and what type of event.
Closer to home weather patterns change not only driven by human activity but also what goes on within our universe and of course our Sun. As we unlock the mysteries of the Universe we discover our planet and everything on it is part of a delicate balance, as earth is locked in the ‘goldilocks zone’. The challenge for conventional computers is it cannot process all the available data we have about climate today, as it happens around the world. Cannot keep pace with the sensors we have, let alone encompassing climate records through history. We simply don’t have time to wait for the answer as in a few hours climate changes and moves on.
As Quantum Computers come online and become more powerful our ability to react and prepare for weather and even influence it — may indeed give humanity a chance to redress the balance and avoid catastrophe that many predict. Or once and for all show the undisputable cause and effect of humans on all aspects of the planet, as humans seems to struggle with real truths and face the possibility humanity is the problem.
9. Complex Supply Chains
Quantum Computers will optimise supply chains but also find the bottleneck and the challenges of moving manufactured goods around the world — doing it more efficiently, will also finding new manufacturing processing that reduce waste, improve efficiency and productivity and bring in the use of new materials and processes that will reduce output waste and green house gas emissions and wasted and unnecessary journeys.
Quantum Computers will identify problems in manufacturing much quicker, simulating design of products and their assembly processes with millions of touch points that can be adjusted and the knock on impact understood. Challenging and finding new ways of doing things, entirely new processes and new products as Quantum Computers treat everything as an all at once and not a serial challenge and problems. The emergence of parallel business and manufacturing systems will become the new norm. The boundaries will fall away and the reason for not being able to make things due to cost and time will quickly disappear.
10. Real, Fake, Metaverse
As Quantum Computer processing matures it will provide the core processing that will blur the lines between what is real and what is not. Game engines such as Unreal5 are used to make movies and delivers an immersive photo realistic experience almost impossible to spot from the real thing.
Quantum Computers will eliminate the line between what is real, what is a simulation and will change humans ability to experience things that will challenge what is it like to be conscious. Real time rendering, new environments and worlds to explore will challenge natural selection and will inhibit, destroy or advance human evolution to new realms. Do we already live in a simulation and will advanced Quantum Computers confirm this?
Quantum Computers will expand the Metaverse as a universal digital society, a parallel society where people live and explore, returning only to feed their bodies and rest. Is it possible that by 2030 we will be in the midst of a global pandemic where an entire generation will be depressed unable to adjust to the real work, only able to survive in the blue screen or is this the future of humanity where people put on the headset, have the implant and become part of the Transhuman experience as humanity starts to meld and merge with computers — Quantum Computing will certainly accelerate the odds of humans and computers merging probably by 2050.
Author: Nick Ayton © 2021
Nick is technologist, futurist, speaker and writer.