Quantum Computing

 Quantum computing is said to be revolutionary, but what is it?

In a normal computer, like the one I am using to write this blog, decisions are made using 1 or 0. For example, you click on a link. A signal is sent to tiny devices known as transistors, which decide where to go using 1 or 0. You can imagine 1 as yes, and 0 as no. After clicking on the link, a transistor is asked, 'open a new webpage?' 1 (yes). 'Show the user some personalised ads?' 0 (no). 

I made this into a very simple function for your understanding, but actually, while clicking links, a lot of transistors are involved (Like at least 100,000).

On average, there are 3 billion transistors in a normal computer. You can increase the processing power of a computer by increasing the number of transistors it has. However, soon space runs out to put the transistors in the computer, so what do we do? Keep multiple options at one time. Yes and no. 0 and 1. This is known as superposition, being able to exist in 2 states or 2 places at the same time. Now the computer can make decisions even faster, increasing the processing power of the computer drastically.

For reference, a supercomputer can be a million times faster than the fastest laptop. A quantum computer is a 100 trillion times faster than the fastest supercomputer. Wow!

A quantum computer can do some calculations in 2 seconds, calculations which would take a supercomputer a long, long time (just until the time all of us are extinct).

One use of a quantum computer is that it is able to learn very fast, since it can process stuff faster than I can eat a burger. So machine learning is a piece of cake for this computer.

So quantum computers are a gift to humanity, right?

On the contrary, quantum computers can make hacking really easy. Remember how I said quantum computers can process stuff extremely fast? Well, people can use this to easily hack into anything within seconds. They just make a long list of possible passwords an account may have, and ask the computer to run through every single one of them, and since it can do it really fast, congratulations! It took 0.000065 seconds to find your password.