The Rise of Quantum Computing
The Rise of Quantum Computing: Government regulations in the age of supercomputers
The race to develop the world’s first functional quantum computer on a large scale has been going on for quite some time now. Google is one of the major players in the rapidly accelerating quantum computing industry and a recently leaked research paper, it appears that the tech giant has finally reach their objective of achieving “quantum supremacy.”
Quantum supremacy basically refers to the point at which a quantum computer is able to perform calculations at a rate far faster than any supercomputers currently in existence. Quantum Computers much like the traditional computing systems we use today will impact industries across all sectors.
However, the innovations that quantum computing could bring to these various sectors has far great implications than simply allowing us as humans to optimize our task efficiency and accuracy.
Government Entities & Quantum Computers
Computer experts from around the world have concerns about how symbiotic the relationship between quantum computers and existing internet infrastructure will be. The main differentiating principles of a quantum computer versus a regular computer is that they operate using quantum bits which can represent values in a “superposition.” Regular computers use binary codes to function which is the basis of important cyber security tools such as encryption.
One of the primary issues that quantum computer pose is that of internet safety, quantum computing has the power to essential render encryption useless. That means that existing systems in place to protect valuable information such as health care data and banking credentials could be compromised on a huge level.
Government institutions and other legal entities would suffer in the arena of cybersecurity drastically with the rise of quantum computing. While there currently are no laws in place to regular quantum computers, government officials have taken notice of Google and other companies who have seemingly developed functional quantum computers.
The Effect of Quantum Computing on the Average User
Average internet users would be impacted by quantum computers as popular encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp would basically case to exist. Due to the variable “superposition” than quantum bits exist in, traditional binary encryption using a complex strong of characters and numbers could all be compromised within a matter of seconds.
The issue of digital privacy has been in the forefront in recent years more than ever with several large banking institutions suffering from data breached and most notable the Cambridge Analytica scandal involving Facebook. If average internet users are already susceptible to a large number of phishing and malicious hacks, one can only imagine the results of quantum computing being implemented into popular companies’ infrastructure.
What the future holds
The field of quantum computing is still being researched and vetted however the potential benefits are what most researchers focus their primary efforts. Breakthroughs in medicine, fitness, transportation, manufacturing, and more are all possibilities with the rise of quantum computing. As we sit back and watch the evolution of quantum computation, it’s sure to be an interesting ride.
Learn more about quantum computing and what potential promises it has to offer for future generations by clicking here.