If you are like me, then you marvel at the latest advances in technology. These accomplishments by the finest minds in our society are nothing short of amazing.
As a child, I can still remember when the first color TVs hit the market. And then years later, the VCR came along. “We can watch our favorite movies at home now — over and over again!” I thought.
Little did I know what was coming in the next few decades.
Computers were once something that only existed in big government laboratories, and could only be used by the most intelligent people on Earth. Yet, today most homes have a computer. Many homes have multiple computers — and some of them are no bigger than a notepad.
Even after all of these technological fascinations, there is still more to come. All we have to do is feast our eyes on the world of quantum computers.
Have you been watching the latest advancements with these powerful machines?
Experts claim that within a few years, quantum computers will be solving problems that are way beyond the scope of today’s most advanced computers.
Here are five (5) amazing things that quantum computers will be able to accomplish.
Creating Brain Simulators
Remember the old saying, “Two heads are better than one”? While this is true, think about having 3 heads, 10 heads, or even 200 heads.
Quantum computers could make this all possible. This was the vision of Henry Markram, who founded the Human Brain Project (HBP).
In 2009, as scientists contemplated how to understand more about neuroscience, Henry Markram asked “How can we understand brain functions without having brain simulations?”
He pushed the HBP to create brain engines to start learning more about the brain and its functions.
Suppose you are dealing with the complex problem of making a difficult decision. What if you could go online and hire a specific number of virtual brains to resolve this for you?
This is one of the ultimate goals for these brain simulators. Scientists could enroll thousands of these simulators to discover new technologies in virtually every field.
And because the technologies of today are generating more data than we can reasonably process, brain simulators are desperately needed.
Predicting Crime
Imagine a gang of criminals loading up their cars with guns and masks. They’ve targeted a bank that is chock full of payday cash. They drive to the bank — only to find dozens of law enforcement officials waiting for them.
Many officials believe this scenario is achievable with quantum computers.
You might consider this as old news. There are currently dozens of various AI systems around the world that are assisting law enforcement in fighting crime.
Police departments are already building databases that collect indicators from thousands of different sources. Among these sources are images from CCTV, social media, arrest records, and face recognition technology.
The glaring weakness with using these databases is a familiar one — there is more data than can be processed promptly. By the time the data provides a prediction, it is too late to stop the crime.
Since quantum computers are millions of times faster than normal computers, their impact would be enormous in fighting crime.
Rapid Drug and Vaccine Discovery
Perhaps the most significant impact of quantum computing will be witnessed in the drug research and development arena. This is because the drug discovery process generates billions of data values that must be evaluated to bring new drugs to the public.
In the past, new drugs have taken as long as 30 years to become a product on the market.
A time-consuming task within the drug discovery process is molecule comparison.
Scientists spend lots of time finding the molecular structure that is most likely to succeed as an effective new drug.
Pharmaceutical officials estimate that finding a candidate molecule takes traditional computers for over five years. But quantum computers can find these valuable candidate molecules in less than 6 months.
When quantum computing fully embeds itself into the pharmaceutical industry, we can expect many more new drugs and vaccines to become available. And these drugs will be more effective as well.
Medical Decision Making
The act of visiting your doctor for guidance on a medical condition could be completely revolutionized by tomorrow’s computers.
For starters, your DNA would be available to your doctor along with your medical history. All of your past illnesses and injuries would be considered along with a history of the medicines you have taken.
Now your doctor would enter your current symptoms into the mix and a quantum computer could then analyze billions of possibilities in regards to your health. Also, consider how these computers could pair up with the nanotechnologies that experts believe will eventually create medicines that are specifically designed for each of us.
Many experts believe that it will be mandatory for doctors to use these powerful computers to diagnose their patients. Otherwise, they will open themselves up to a litany of legal problems.
Simulating All Kinds of Phenomena
Whenever scientists postulate about things like how the universe began, they collect as much data as possible and then make an informed decision. When theories like these are considered, quantum computers can simulate billions of possibilities and even assign a probability to each of them.
This approach can be used in every process imaginable.
Consider a person with Alzheimer’s disease. Between their physical affliction and their immune system lies millions of potential causes and perhaps even cures. Quantum computers will be able to simulate this process in the future and learn even more about this awful disease.
Now let’s look at the volatile world of geopolitics. These future computers can evaluate available data from factors like terrorists, cyber hackers, social unrest, and types of governments. From this evaluation, we can simulate geopolitical events and anticipate potential disasters throughout the world.
Final Thoughts
Understand that I have only discussed five (5) potential applications of quantum computers. And within each of these applications lies even more potential sub-applications.
At the time of this writing, there are hundreds of considerations openly discussed online as perfect candidates for quantum computing. Among these are areas like security and encryption, climate change, and traffic congestion control. Stay tuned for even more applications.
