Querying the quantum quandary, Captain.

For those that squint optimistically toward the future, new-tech inventions often leap from sci-fi texts, through our collective imagination and in to reality. That's how we got lasers, video chat, virtual reality, space travel and hoverboards (soon, hopefully). One innovation that has been largely missed by the fictional gaze is the quantum computer. A concept that is heavily theoretical, difficult to understand and not particularly sexy, computing on a quantum scale could well yield possibilities we haven't even thought of, either because it hasn't been the focus of a big budget film, or because there's about a dozen people on earth who actually know how this stuff works.

The broad concept of quantum computing isn't too difficult to comprehend, but the maths and physics behind it, brain-crushingly complex. For those of us without a few capital letters behind our name; the quantum computer is one that would use the behaviour of the most fundamental bits of the universe as a basis for completing calculations, but not just any calculations - really, really difficult calculations, completed at (theoretically) really ridiculous speeds. To achieve this, the bits of a normal computer (physical transistors, the 0's and 1's) are replaced with quantum bits or more cutely, QuBits. These bits are special. Where old-school transistors could only have a state of 0 or 1, QuBits exist as both at the same time, and for some reason, only sit still when you shine a light on them. This goes further however, because specific kinds of light can force a QuBit into a state. So, strategically arrange some QuBits to form a question and turn the lights off. The surrounding QuBits will follow the coded ones exactly and exist in every other possible arrangement simultaneously. This mystical behaviour allows every possible outcome of a given problem to be generated at the same time, rather than one by one, as current computers would have to.

There are several designs in development, each with particular benefits and drawbacks, alternative ways of processing and computing, and no clear winner just yet. Recently, a competition was held which pit a classic computer (best known for MS Paint, Age of Empires 2 and the saga of Leisure Suit Larry) against the 'D-Wave' machine, a plucky new quantum computer from Vancouver. According to the official judges, the D-Wave came out on top, in some cases beating out its predecessor by a factor of thousands. This is understandable, and was likely assumed at the start of the competition, but still raised the ire of many parts of the online community, with criticisms leveled at all aspects of the race, from the definition of the D-Wave machine as a quantum device to the credibility of various spokespeople and of the limitations imposed to compare the two drastically different technologies (described by one commentator as "like comparing apples and fish"), but you have to expect some haters, right? The race is not the last word, nor the first, it is an indicator of the increasing reality of these whacky quantum machines and real-world proof (granted some limitations in its favour) of the incredible potential speeds. Not since the time of Max Planck, the man with the unassuming name that kicked off quantum theory as we know it, have the tiniest blocks of the universe been so captivating yet confusing, clear yet fuzzy or helpful yet confounding - equally sharing these different states for most people, just as they simultaneously occupy multiple states in the universe.

With the technology of quantum computing being kicked around in the world's most high-falutin laboratories, much of its usefulness and potential impact can still only be dreamed of. Getting a handle on the private lives of ions should allow various kinds of prediction, analysis, modelling and monitoring to be performed on anything, really. It could be creating a working simulation of an entire human brain (down to the last neuron, Google's on board for that), monitoring and predicting the movements of every creature on earth, near-instant extrapolation from mountains of data or just working out the most efficient way to deliver pizza - quantum computing will certainly streamline and make astoundingly efficient all forms of data analysis and manipulation. It's a thrilling prospect, if those with brains immense enough to make this gear a reality do triumph, to see just how deep, all-encompassing, rapidly-processing and generally awesome the next quantum leap in computer technology will be.



Quick shout-out; Australian scientists doing great work with their great brains. Carn straya!