In this next installment of Birth Pangs and Renaissance we’re looking at another game changing technology on the docket: quantum computers. These are essentially computer systems that operate unimaginably faster than even the most complex super-computers today.

Traditional computers, like the one you’re using to read this article (whether phone, laptop, or desktop), are incredibly fast. Super-computers are even faster. You type in a big calculation or a specific search query and in less than a second you have millions of pages of information at your fingertips. It’s mind-boggling what computers can do. That said, there are still many limitations when a computer tries to do extremely large calculations. For instance, if you ask even the fastest super-computer to break the average codes used for encrypting data today, it would take that computer millions of years because of the uncanny amount of possible combinations of letters and numbers involved in that code. However, if you ask a quantum computer to tackle this same problem, it would be able to do it in 10 minutes or less. 

Did you catch what I just said? Problems that take our best computers millions of years to solve will be solved by a quantum computer in less than ten minutes. 

This isn’t science fiction. This is real. It’s already been tested. There are some roadblocks to making it practical and widely available to the public, but the top people involved in the field believe these blockages will be overcome within the next 5 to 10 years.

So let me give you a quick explanation of how it works. There’s some technical jargon here that I’ll try to simplify, but if you want to bypass the quantum mechanics stuff, feel free to jump down to the last section for a reflection on how this connects to the heart of this series…

What is a Quantum Computer?

A quantum computer is a computer that uses “quantum mechanics” to perform its calculations. Quantum mechanics deals with the way things work at the atomic and subatomic level. If you’re not aware, thing work very differently at these tiny levels. Things occur there that would never happen in the larger everyday world (which is ironically comprised of these strange tiny elements). To quote Einstein, “spooky” stuff happens at these small scales.

One of these strange and spooky behaviors is something called “superposition.” Superposition is the ability of a particle to exist in two states at the same time. Again, this doesn’t make sense when you think of the big objects in our every day world, such as pencils, people, or planets. Yet, at the micro-scale, this actually happens. A particle can somehow be in two states of existence at once. An electron, for example, can be spinning up and spinning down at the same time.

Quantum computers take advantage of this spooky property to perform their calculations. Now before we discuss this further, let’s talk about how traditional computers work…

Bits of Information

Our regular computers use something called “bits.” A bit is the smallest unit of information on a computer. It can be either a 0 or a 1. Bits are usually grouped together in bytes, and these bytes are then used to store characters, numbers, and other types of data. They make up everything that gets processed in your computer. To help you understand bits, you can think of a light switch. A light switch can be either on or off. A bit is like a light switch. It can be either a 0 or a 1. A 0 means the switch is off, and a 1 means the switch is on.

Computers use these “on” or “off” bits as a type of code to store different kinds of information. For example, a computer can store a letter of the alphabet, a number, or even a picture. Each item is then broken into a series of bits. The letter A, for instance, is a very simple collection of bits, such as 0-1-1. So every time you type the letter A, three bits (0-1-1) are used to produce that piece of information. The “light switch” is turning on once then off twice and this becomes the code in the computer’s memory to represent “A.”

So you can imagine, as you do more complex things on a computer, these bits add up. A short video involves much more than just the letter A. Accordingly, it requires about one gigabyte of information. A gigabyte is 8.5 billion bits! That is an incredibly long string of unique 0 and 1s that hold all the information of the video file. Obviously, the more bits a computer has, the more information it can store. This is why computers with more memory are able to do more. 

Crazy Math

So back to quantum computers. Thanks to this spooky behavior that particles can embody, quantum computers are able to do things that would be impossible with regular computers. The reason for this is that quantum computers use “qubits” instead of bits. A qubit is a “quantum bit” that is in a superposition of 0 and 1 at the same time. So 1 qubit can hold 2 traditional bits of information at the same time.

That means 2 qubits can hold 4 bits of information. Now this doesn’t seem like that much of a difference; however, math gets out of control when you keep doubling things. 3 qubits would hold 8 bits of information, 4 qubits would hold 16. That still doesn’t seem like you’re saving that much time and space until you get to 10 qubits which has the information power of 1024 bits. Then, if you keep going, by the time you get to 33 qubits, you have 8.5 billion bits!

So just 33 qubits can do what 1 gigabyte of information can do. In other words, a traditional computer has to gather 8.5 billion bits of information while a quantum computer only has to gather and organize 33! This helps understand a little bit more of why these devices are so fast. And if you keeping adding more qubits into the picture, you will soon be able to theoretically handle more data than would fit in the entire universe.

How could quantum computers change the world?

But this has more ramifications than unlimited hard drive space. Some of the potential applications of quantum computers include the following:

• Cryptography: Quantum computers could be used to break current encryption standards, which could have a major impact on security and privacy.
• Drug discovery: Quantum computers could be used to design new drugs and treatments for diseases.
• Artificial intelligence: Quantum computers could be used to develop new artificial intelligence algorithms that are much more powerful than current algorithms.
• Materials science: Quantum computers could be used to design new materials with improved properties.
• Climate change: Quantum computers could be used to develop new models of climate change that are more accurate and precise.

These are just a few of the potential applications of quantum computers. As quantum computers continue to develop, we can expect to see even more amazing applications in the years to come.

The Hand of God

Are you still with me? Well, whether you skipped to this part or stuck through the explanation, I don’t have much more to add on the spiritual front. I will just say this… The fascinating thing about quantum computers is not so much their incredible speed, but more so the fact that this technology is emerging right in the midst of all the other stuff we’re tackling in this series. When we talk about artificial intelligence, neural implants (as well as fusion and gene-editing in the coming months), this computer technology simply throws supercharging fuel into the fire. All the crazy stuff we’re exploring in this Birth Pangs and Renaissance journey is only going to accelerate because of this amazing development in computers.

So with that said, I want to reiterate that God is the brilliant designer behind everything mankind is tapping into. There isn’t any black magic being conjured up in the back offices of IBM’s quantum computing department. It’s just a bunch of really smart people who are looking at the strange way God designed the little Lego blocks of our universe (quantum particles) and putting them to use for our computer systems. As that happens, it’s like taking a heavy bridle off the horse of computing power and unleashing its full potential.

We are in the age of massive acceleration, but God saw all of this way before we tapped into it. God is well aware of these advancements and has plans for his awakened sons and daughters to utilize these things for his glory. We all know computers can be used for horrible things, but they are also being used to share the Gospel like never before. With qubits in play, there will be a literal quantum leap forward in how we dispense and share the most important information on the planet: the truth and beauty of Jesus Christ.