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I watched Oppenheimer on the weekend, and aside from getting distracted by Einstein’s terrible wig, it got me thinking about the scientific arms race of our time: quantum computing.
Happily, the prize this time around is a computer rather than a bomb. As I wrote last week, the first nation to build a large-scale quantum computer will win enormous commercial, scientific and medical advantages, including the power to crack into the encrypted secrets of its enemies and rivals.
Fake!Credit: Alamy
That’s why the federal and Queensland governments have poured $1 billion into PsiQuantum to boost its efforts to build the world’s first commercially relevant quantum computer.
But there’s more than one horse in this race.
PsiQuantum, which harnesses photons of light for its computing, is freshly turbocharged by cash. However, a technological breakthrough on Tuesday evening is set to boost its rivals working on silicon-based quantum computing, while yet another approach – superconductors – is the current frontrunner backed by Google.
Each of these technologies is on the cusp of achieving error-corrected quantum computing with devices capable of overcoming mistakes (which are rife in the fragile world of qubits) and completing useful calculations. “It’s actually quite fascinating,” says theoretical quantum physicist Professor Stephen Bartlett from the University of Sydney. “The race is really neck and neck.”
US President Joe Biden looks at the IBM System One quantum computer. Unclear if he thought Tar was more impressive.Credit: AP
But it strikes me that this is less of a horse race with one winner and more like the Academy Awards, with multiple gongs up for grabs. Shall we meet the nominees?
Confused by the quantum computing race? It’s just like the Oscars
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07.05.2024
Examine, a free weekly newsletter covering science with a sceptical, evidence-based eye, is sent every Tuesday. You’re reading an excerpt – Sign up to get the whole newsletter in your inbox.
I watched Oppenheimer on the weekend, and aside from getting distracted by Einstein’s terrible wig, it got me thinking about the scientific arms race of our time: quantum computing.
Happily, the prize this time around is a computer rather than a bomb. As........
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