What is Quantum Computing? & How It Works

Quantum computing (or as it’s usually called, “QC”) is the process of simulating and demonstrating a computational model that functions in some way similar to how computers function. In other words, we want to simulate a model for which there are no known exact answers. Instead, we make guesses about the answer, and attempt to run the model efficiently enough so that it can solve problems. This allows us to compute many things that would otherwise be impossible or difficult to do with classical computer computing.

In this article, I will talk about QC and point out why you should care about having one. Read on to find out why.

What Do We Use It For?

QCs are pretty much useless in their current form. They’re just another tool to use in our toolbox as someone who wants to get ahead. But let’s look at how they work for an example. Let’s say you have a problem where you want to determine whether an email is spam or not. The usual trick used by humans in spam detection is to look at a bunch of emails and see if the content matches a certain rule that defines what spam is. Of course, this can be done manually, but does anyone really like that method? Humans simply don’t like it. So, instead, we build a system that has a database of hundreds of thousands of messages and tries to guess the answer. One computer tries to guess that the email is spam, while another guesses that it isn’t — sort of like when two people think alike and have the same idea but each one says something completely different. These systems are often very good at this kind of thing.

Now imagine instead that you had an automated machine learning system that looked at all the data and figured out the truth about the question. You could say that when the machine learning system sees an email that looks like gibberish, it thinks it’s spam. A human wouldn’t even have to decide that the message is spam, it’d be obvious from looking at it right away. This type of system might work great for spam detection. An AI could be used to predict what your next move will be, based off your past history and current situation. It could also suggest products you should buy based off the prediction. All of these examples show up in the movie Forrest Gumps, where an artificial intelligence gets upset with an agent named Jules for saying something that is wrong but never stops. That AI was able to tell that the person wasn’t telling the truth, but still gave people credit points for being honest. If Jules’ prediction were wrong, then he could get some money from the government or something. He can always figure out the best reply to any situation.

The difference between a regular machine learning algorithm and QCG is that a regular machine learning algorithm uses training data that has already been fed into it before taking action, whereas with QCG it takes action upon seeing an environment and gives feedback before it learns anything new.

In fact, quantum algorithms have been around since the 60s, but we know that it has only ever been used for problems that involve qubits or multiple qubits. According to Wikipedia, Qubits is the most accurate term for the phenomenon at hand.

When talking about QCG, people tend to write “quantum internet”. However, it is unlikely that you will use it for every single task (if you do, go to my article on using it for everything). You use it as a general-purpose tool to help you learn better. Most likely you’ll see it going through things like figuring out what word to put in front of that picture of your girlfriend, or when to give her a date night. When I teach you how to ride a bike, we’re making predictions, because you already know which way you should go. Many people say that quantum computing is too hard to use for basic tasks, but I’ve learned to love it just for figuring out the answer. After all, when you’re going through life, you’ll have tough decisions to make. Cilck Here to Read More...