Category Archives: Quantum Computing

At the turn of the millennium, when scientists sequenced the human genome, its full implications escaped popular imagination. Amid debates over its possible benefits and risks, genome science gave an unprecedented push to advances in biology, never as evident as now, two decades later, as the world battles a pandemic.

No one, after the coronavirus pandemic, can deny the capacity of science to surpass human imagination. Never before in the history ofsciencehave multiple vaccines emerged within months after the discovery of a newvirus.Production and even immunisation started even before 2020 ended. What the past year has shown us is what science can do if research advances, political will and coordinated global efforts merge.

With this backdrop in mind,we do some crystal gazing to explore what might become the reality in the next 10 yearsin select scientific areas. All may not fructify, but many could, particularly if science is backed by society.

SPACE: Are we alone in this universe?

This is a query that has enamoured scientists for decades. It received a boost half-a-century ago when Cornell University physicist Frank Drake, in a famous formula, demonstrated the theoretical possibility of having millions of such advanced civilisations just in the Milky Way galaxy alone. Soon the search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) began and till date, there is no dearth of excitement. The cigar-shaped Oumuamua that zipped through the solar system two years ago has added more fuel to the interest.

The next decade is likely to provide several crucial clues to answer this long-standing query. Astrophysicists are of the opinion that it would be an epoch-breaking decade in human understanding of the cosmos, because of the 6-meter class James Webb Space Telescope that will bethree times more powerful than the Hubble space telescope and would probe deep space as never before. The James Webb Space Telescope is expected to provide unprecedented information about atmospheres of extrasolar planets and perhaps help identify the molecular building blocks necessary for life there.

The grandiose space telescope would receive able support from three giant ground-based telescopes European Extra Large Telescope, Thirty Meter Telescope and the Giant Magellanic Telescope that will allow astronomers to penetrate the farthest part of the visible universe and probe the faintest objects in our own galaxy. The next generation radio telescope Square Kilometre Array will add heft to the quest by unveiling the most enigmatic, yet to be discovered radio signals from the universe.

Some discoveries that are likely include bio-signatures in the atmosphere of Earth-like exo-planets, implying the presence of life, discovery of the elusive ninth solar planet, exo-moons, first generation stars and better understanding of dark matter and dark energy that comprises the bulk of the universe.

But a human landing on Mars or colonisation of the moon are unlikely. More travel to the moon is possible, but is there a chance of settling there? Certainly notin the coming decade.

NANOTECHNOLOGY: 'Plenty of room at the bottom'

The late AmericanNobel laureate Richard Feynmanhadobservedin a 1959 lecture that there is plenty of room at the bottom, spawning the genesis of nanotechnologyor the science of the ultra small, but the beauty of Feynmans staggeringly small worldhas become evident only overthe last two decadeswith the realisation of the tools to see, measure and manipulate matter at the nanoscale.And to give you an idea about the scale that we are talking about, a single strand of human hair measures 50,000 nanometres across.

Research in nanotechnology has diversified enormously, fuelled by massive improvement inelectron microscopy, physical and chemical synthesis routes, emergence of the new class of materials (starting from graphene in 2004), and device technology to translate nano materials to product.Thegeneral physical properties of matter at nano-scale are relatively well-understood now, and there is a global efforttoexploit these properties to achieve unique therapeutic methodologies, as well as materials and devices that can impact life directly.

Medicine is one area where the technology holds enormous promises.Breakthroughs are likely in areas ranging from wearable fitness technology that would monitor our health daily to electronic tattoos to sense vital signs.There could even be sensors inside the body and multi-billion pharmaceutical firm GSK is alreadypursuing researchon electroceuticals. Also, scientists envision havingnano-robots inside the blood. Such nanobots will swim in the bloodstream to deliver cancer drugs to the targeted cellswithout damaging others. This, however, is unlikely to be realised in the next 10 years as scientists have to overcome the challenge ofunderstanding the toxic effects ofsuchswarms of nanobots inside the blood and how to mitigate them.

More realistic possibilities areadvancementsindeviceminiaturisation andimprovement in their performance. Its entirely possible to have computers with storage capacity 10 times more or completely foldable laptops and mobile screens as well as foldable electronic newspapers.There could be nano-sensors on aircraft, bridges or nuclear power plants to monitor health so that minor problems dont turn into a major operational issues.Paint industry is also an area that may be transformedas there would bepaintswith nanomaterials to keep your walls dry even in rain,resist scratches andmake a tankvanish before the eyes of the enemy.

WATER:The hunt to harvest

Nanotechnologywillplay a crucial role in improving peoples access to water. Although oceans fill uptwo-thirdsof the planet, scarcity of fresh water is severely threatening both agriculture and the availability of drinking water for regular household usage.Thesolutions that may be realised in the next decadewill depend largely on nanotechnology and nanomaterials.Technological breakthroughs are expected to lower the energy requirement of the desalination process so that they become commercially viable. Removal of arsenic and fluoride using new materials and technology is entirely doable. Scientists have made progress in harvesting water from natural sources like humidity and fog, which may come closer to reality in the next 10 years.

With the advancementof artificial intelligence and better solutions to big data problems, what is likely to be realised is a Google Earth kind of platform on water resources, mapping the water usageof everyhouseholdin the world and the nature of spending. Scientists believe this wouldnot onlyautomaticallylead to enormous savings in water use, but alsoconvert everycivil infrastructure intoa placeto harvest and conserve water.

COMPUTATION: The big wave is coming

There are several low-hanging fruits to be realised within the next 10 years, but it would take decades to witness the full potential of quantum computing the holy grail of computing. A foundation of the quantum computings backbone may be laid in the next 10 years.

Artificial intelligence, big data processing and IoT are beginning to change urban lives, even though their potential is far more. AI is the next big thing, which would result in self-driving vehicles, swarms of drones and rockets, robotic manufacturing, managing complex logistics and vertical farming. From stock markets to healthcare, AI will rule everywhere.

Riding on a 5G backbone, Internet of Things will make smart homes and offices a reality with remote and intelligent operations. In such homes and offices, every home appliance is connected and can be operated remotely. By 2025, it is projected that nearly 100 trillion devices will be connected through smart interfaces with an economic impact between $2.7 to $6.2 trillion annually and IoT will change the fundamental nature of business. But all of them will pale before quantum communication technologies.

A future quantum computer could, for example, crack any of the modern common security systems such as 128-bit AES encryption, the best one in the market in seconds. Even the best supercomputer would take millions of years to do the same job. However, it would not be easy to get there, even though the US National Institute of Standards and Technology has predicted that quantum computers will be able to crack the 128-bit AES encryption by 2029. Scientists hope, in the next 10 years, a backbone for a global secure quantum communication network would be in place, but problems like what materials are to be used in quantum computers, what architecture is to follow and what types of protocols are needed in quantum communication may take a far longer time to resolve. A better understanding of the quantum world would also equip the scientists with weapons to cross the final frontier the brain.

BRAIN: Cracking the cerebral codes

Every advancement in biology in the last century was aimed at the ultimate goal of treating diseases of the body.Theongoing centurywill see an equal,if not more,thrust on treating diseases of the mind aswell, withan increasing pool oftop-classbiologists, physicists and computer scientistsjoininghandstounravel the mysteries of the brain.

Dementia is one such area that would progress enormouslyin the next 10 yearsas thedisease now gets worldwide attentiondue to itshuge economicconsequence. Thegoal isnowtoidentifyearlybiomarkersthat get activatedtwo to three decades before the disease sets in.Earlydetectionwould lead toearlyintervention and better management ofmany such neurological illnesses.

As scientists try to crack the cerebralcodes,they often face a handicap due to theabsence of relevant disease models tocome out withnewdrugs and diagnostics.Advancement in stem cell technologyand creationof organoids provided good leadsso far, but the next decade will witnessrapidprogress leading to an accelerated pace of drug development.An increasingly more number of scientists wouldalso explorethe brain as an integrated system along with thebody'simmune system or microbiome.The aim, once again, would be tofind out thecurefordiseases of the mind.

Morefundamentalquestions likewhatdefinescognition orwhether there is free will, would have to wait longer for an answer.

GENETIC ENGINEERING: Look before you leap

Now, this one is aminefield. No doubt engineered microbes would bring revolutions in chemical and industrial processes, while advancements in RNA technology (as seen in Covid-19 vaccines) will overhaul vaccine development with its potential to create life-saving shots within weeks. But the big fear is whether technological progress would usher in an era of eugenics 2.0.

At the core lies CRISPR gene-editing technology a tool so powerful that humans can even think of playing God. Chinese scientist He Jiankuis feat of producing designer babies exacerbated such fears. There are two ways to use gene-alterations. It can be done through somatic editing to cure a particular disease or disorder caused by defective genes. This, in all probability, would emerge as a therapy. But, more dangerous would be germline editing, which would allow genetic changes to transmit to the next generation. Just think what would happen if traits like good looks, athleticism and intelligence become modifiable and hereditary. It's a complete no-no at the global scale and there are really tough scientific challenges to overcome, but scientists do fear the creation of a grey market for such designer babies somewhere in the world.

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The science of looking ahead - Deccan Herald

LONDON, Jan. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The cover story of this 226 page issue features the impressive Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, formerly of Virgin Money, who founded Snoop in 2020. And her start-up leads us into a feature length piece of investigative journalism from Emily Cashen on open banking and fintech.

The use of physical cash has been decreasing for many years now and a global pandemic with enforced shutdowns hastened that trend. Laura French explores whether we are now ready to embrace a cashless world.

Elsewhere in the magazine, Alex Katsomitros explores the potential impact of a set of proposals from the OECD that would completely reform corporation tax, put together after continued concerns over inequality and the need for a post-pandemic economic recovery.

Meanwhile, with governments the whole world over providing loans and financial aid packages to levels never previously seen before, Selwyn Parker discusses what happens next as we potentially venture into a sea of debt.

Additionally, Richard Willsher looks at how the forex markets navigated a pandemic by seamlessly shifting operations to a WFH environment thanks to the rise of e-platforms and online tools.

Topics also covered in the winter edition of World Finance includecryptocurrencies, corporate art, shipbuilding, Zoom's breakthrough year, quantum computing and recession success stories.

To read about all of this and more, pick up the latest issue of World Finance magazine, available in print, on tablet and online now.

http://www.worldfinance.com

World News Media is a leading publisher of quality financial and business magazines. It benefits from a global distribution network that includes subscriber lists of prominent decision-makers around the world.

CONTACT INFORMATION

World News Media Richard Willcox+44 (0)207 553 4151[emailprotected]

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World Finance offers in-depth and high-quality journalism on a huge variety of topics in its eagerly anticipated Winter 2021 issue, released today -...

Tyler Cowen| Bloomberg Opinion

Columns share an author's personal perspective and are often based on facts in the newspaper's reporting.

For obvious reasons, 2020 will not go down as a good year. At the same time, it has brought more scientific progress than any year in recent memory and these advances will last long after COVID-19 as a major threat is gone.

Two of the most obvious and tangible signs of progress are the mRNA vaccines now being distributed across America and around the world. These vaccines appear to have very high levels of efficacy and safety, and they can be produced more quickly than more conventional vaccines. They are the main reason to have a relatively optimistic outlook for 2021. The mRNA technology also may have broader potential, for instance by helping to mend damaged hearts.

Other advances in the biosciences may prove no less stunning. A very promising vaccine candidate against malaria, perhaps the greatest killer in human history, is in the final stages of testing. Advances in vaccine technology have created the real possibility of a universal flu vaccine, and work is proceeding on that front. New CRISPR techniques appear on the verge of vanquishing sickle-cell anemia, and other CRISPR methods have allowed scientists to create a new smartphone-based diagnostic test that would detect viruses and offer diagnoses within half an hour.

It has been a good year for artificial intelligence as well. GPT-3 technology allows for the creation of remarkably human-like writing of great depth and complexity. It is a major step toward the creation of automated entities that can react in very human ways. DeepMind, meanwhile, has used computational techniques to make major advances in protein folding. This is a breakthrough in biology that may lead to the easier discovery of new pharmaceuticals.

One general precondition behind many of these advances is the decentralized access to enormous computing power, typically through cloud computing. China seems to be progressing with a photon method for quantum computing, a development that is hard to verify but could prove to be of great importance.

Computational biology, in particular, is booming. The Moderna vaccine mRNA was designed in two days, and without access to COVID-19 itself, a remarkable achievement that would not have been possible only a short while ago. This likely heralds the arrival of many other future breakthroughs from computational biology.

Internet access itself will be spreading. Starlink, for example, has a plausible plan to supply satellite-based internet connections to the entire world.

It also has been a good year for progress in transportation.

Driverless vehicles appeared to be stalled, but Walmart will be using them on some truck deliveries in 2021. Boom, a startup that is pushing to develop feasible and affordable supersonic flight, now has a valuation of over $1 billion, with prototypes expected next year. SpaceX achieved virtually every launch and rocket goal it had announced for the year. Toyota and other companies have announced major progress on batteries for electric vehicles, and the related products are expected to debut in 2021.

All this will prove a boon for the environment, as will progress in solar power, which in many settings is as cheap as any relevant alternative. China is opening a new and promising fusion reactor. Despite the absence of a coherent U.S. national energy policy, the notion of a mostly green energy future no longer appears utopian.

In previous eras, advances in energy and transportation typically have brought further technological advances, by enabling humans to conquer and reshape their physical environments in new and unexpected ways. We can hope that general trend will continue.

Finally, while not quite meeting the definition of a scientific advance, the rise of remote work is a real breakthrough. Many more Zoom meetings will be held, and many business trips will never return. Many may see this as a mixed blessing, but it will improve productivity significantly. It will be easier to hire foreign workers, easier for tech or finance workers to move to Miami, and easier to live in New Jersey and commute into Manhattan only once a week. The most productive employees will be able to work from home more easily.

Without a doubt, it has been a tragic year. Alongside the sadness and failure, however, there has been quite a bit of progress. Thats something worth keeping in mind, even if we cant quite bring ourselves to celebrate, as we look back on 2020.

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. His books include "Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero."

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The silver lining of 2020 - SouthCoastToday.com

Have you ever heard of Quantum Chess? If not, we are confident you are in for a real treat.

Read on to find out more about this interesting take on a very ancient strategy game. But brace yourself, things are about to get a little "spooky".

RELATED: WINNER OF THE WORLD'S FIRST QUANTUM CHESS TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCED

Quantum Chess is a variant of the classical strategy game. It incorporates the principles of quantum physics. For example, unlike traditional chess, the piecescan be placed into a superposition of two locations, meaning that a piece can occupy more than one square.

Unlike chesspieces in the conventional game where, for example, a pawn is always a pawn, aquantum chesspiece is a superposition of "states", with each state representing a different conventional piece.

Conventional chess is a very complex game, although it is possible for computer algorithmsto beat the world's greatest chess playersby accurately determining the moves necessary to win the game at any point.

The main rationale behind the creation of Quantum Chess is to introduce an element of unpredictability into the game, and thereby place the computer and the human on a more equal footing. The game can also help "level the playing field" somewhat between human players of widely different skills and experience with chess.

Its like youre playing in a multiverse but the different boards [in different universes] are connected to each other, said Caltech physicist Spiros Michalakis during aLivestreamof a recent Quantum Chess tournament. It makes 3D chess fromStar Treklook silly.

But don't let the term intimidate you. New players to the game don't need to be experts in quantum physics a basic understanding of chess is more important actually.

While it might sound like something of a gimmick, Quantum Chess is an interesting and entertaining spin on the classic game that many find enjoyable. Unless, of course, you cannot live without knowing for sure what and where each piece is at any given time.

If that is the case, you might find this one of the most frustrating games ever created!

Quantum Chess, as you have probably already worked out, is not like any game of classical chess you have ever played. But, it is important to note that there are also several variants of Quantum Chess.

The best known is probably the one created by Chris Cantwell when he was a graduate student at theUniversity of Southern California.This variant differs from other examples by the fact that it is more "truly quantum" than others.

My initial goal was to create a version of quantum chess that was truly quantum in nature, so you get to play with the phenomenon,Cantwell said in an interview with Gizmodoback in 2016.

I didnt want it to just be a game that taught people, quantum mechanics. The idea is that by playing the game, a player will slowly develop an intuitive sense of the rules governing the quantum realm. In fact, I feel like Ive come to more intuitively understand quantum phenomena myself, just by making the game, he added.

In Cantwell's version of Quantum Chess, this superposition of pieces is indicated by a ring that details the probability that the piece can actually be found in a given square. Not only that, but when moving a piece, each action can also be governed by probability.

You can think of the pieces of the game existing on multiple boards in which their numbers are also not fixed. The board you see is a kind of overview of all of these other boards and a single move acts on other boards at the same time.

Whenever a piece moves, many calculations are made behind the scenes to determine the actual outcome, which could be completely unexpected.

That being said, moves do follow the basic rules of traditional chess, including things like castling and en passant. However, there are a few important differences:

Pieces in this version of Quantum Chess can make a series of either "quantum moves" (except for pawns) or regular chess moves. In this sense, the pieces can occupy more than one square on the multiverse of boards simultaneously.

These moves also come in a variety of "flavors".

The first is a move called a "split move". This can be performed by all non-pawn pieces and allows a piece to actually occupy two different target squares that it could traditionally reach in normal chess.

But, this can only be done if the target square is unoccupied or is occupied by pieces of the same color and type. A white knight, for example, could use this kind of move to occupy the space of another white knight.

Such a move cannot; however, be used to capture an opponent's piece.

Another interesting move is called a "merge move". This can be performed by all pieces except pawns and, like a split move, can only be performed on an unoccupied square or one occupied by a piece of the same type and color.

Using our previous example of a white knight, this would mean that two white knights could merge together on the same square. Again, this move cannot be used to capture enemy pieces.

So how do you take pieces in Quantum Chess?

Well, when two pieces of different colors meet on the same square the game makes a series of measurements.These measurements are designed to answer a specific yes or no question.

For example, the game's mechanics will look at certain squares to determine if they are occupied or not.The outcome of this can be to cause a piece's "superposition" state to "collapse".

If the superposition state collapses, then the desired move will be performed. If not, the move is not made and the player's turn ends.

Capturing is also very different in a game of Quantum Chess. When a player attempts to do this, the game will make calculations for the square where the piece is situated and for its target square, as well as any other squares in its path, to answer the question, "is the attacking piece present and can it reach the target?".

If the answer is no, it is important to note that this doesn't necessarily mean the attacking piece is not present. Nor does it mean that its path is blocked.

Another interesting concept of Quantum Chess is called "exclusion". If a moving target is occupied and is in superposition by a piece that cannot be captured by the move, it is called an exclusion move.

Again, calculations are made for the target square and any squares in the path of an allowed move by a piece in superposition. This is done to answer the same question as capturing, with similar outcomes.

Castling is also very different in Quantum Chess. This move always involves two targets, and the same measurements are made for both targets. Castling cannot be used to capture, and will always be an exclusion move.

So, you might be wondering how you actually win a game of Quantum Chess?

Just like traditional chess, the aim of the game is to capture the opponent's king. However, unlike in traditional chess, the concept of checkmate does not exist.

To win, the enemy king must no longer actually exist on the board. As any piece, including the king, exist in a state of superposition, they can either be captured or not which further complicates the issue.

The game, therefore, continues until it is known, with certainty, that a particular player has no king left. For this reason, it is possible for both players to lose their king at the same time and the game would then be considered a draw.

Another important thing to note is that each player has a set amount of time for the game. For this reason, you can also win by running an opponent's time out.

How you play Quantum Chess depends on the variant of the game you are playing. We have already covered the rules of one variant above, and that game can be played throughQuantum Realm Games. But another version created byAlice Wismath at theSchool of Computing at Queen's University in Californiahas some slightly different rules.

You can try that game for yourself here.

In her version, each player has sixteen pieces. These pieces are in a quantum state of superposition of two types: a primary and a secondary type.

They are also in an unknown (quantum) type or a known (classical) type.When a piece is "touched" it collapses into its classical state and has an equal probability of becoming either a primary or secondary type. The king, however, is an exception, and is always in a classical state.

Each player has one king and its position is always known.

All other pieces are assigned the following primary piece types: left rook, left bishop, left knight, queen, right knight, right bishop, right rook, and pawns one through eight. Secondary piece types are then randomly assigned from this same list of piece types so that each type occurs exactly twice in the player's pieces.

Each piece is created at the start of each game and superpositions are not changed throughout the game. Pieces also start as they would in regular chess, on the first two rows, according to their primary piece type with all, except the king, in a state of superposition.

Once a quantum state piece is touched (i.e. chosen to move), it collapses into one of its two predetermined states, and this state is suddenly revealed to both players.

This can mean that a pawn in the front row can suddenly become a white knight once the piece has been "touched". You won't know until the piece's quantum state collapses.

Quantum Chess boards are the same as regular chess boards except that when a piece lands on a white square it remains in its classical state. When pieces land on black squares, however, they undergo a quantum transformation and regain, if lost, their quantum superposition.

This means that a previously "revealed" pawn can also suddenly transform into a queen if that was one of its predetermined primary or secondary types. A very interesting concept indeed.

To play the game, each player chooses a piece to move and must move it. If the quantum piece collapses into a piece type with no possible moves, then the player's move is over.

Pieces in classical states with no possible moves cannot be chosen. All pieces move as they would in classical chess with some of the following exceptions:

Pieces can also be captured as normal, and quantum pieces collapse from their superposition state and are removed from play.

If a player touches a quantum piece that collapses into a state that puts the opponent's king in check, their move is over. The opponent, however, is not required to get out of check in such circumstances.

Pawns that reach the opposite side of the board can be promoted to aqueen, bishop, rook, or knight, regardless of the number of pieces of that type already in the game. Also, if a piece in the quantum state on the far row is touched and revealed to be a pawn, it is promoted, but the promotion takes up the turn. The superimposed piece type is not affected.

To win the game, each player must capture the enemy's king, as a checkmate does not happen in Quantum Chess. For this reason, kings can actually move into a position that would normally be considered check.

Games are considered a draw if both opponents are left with only their king in play or 100 consecutive moves have been made with no captures or pawn movements by either player.

It was recently announced that the world's first Quantum Chess tournament had been won by Aleksander Kubica, a postdoctoral fellow at Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and Institute for Quantum Computing. The tournament was held on the 9th of December 2020 at the Q2B 2020 conference.

The tournament games are timed, and Kubica managed to beat his opponent, Google's Doug Strain, by letting him run out of time. This currently makes Kubica officially the best Quantum Chess player in the world.

Not a bad way to see out one of the worst years in living memory.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a wrap.

If you like the sound of playing Quantum Chess, why not check out either of the versions we have discussed above in this article. Who knows, you might get proficient enough to challenge Kubica for the title in the not too distant future?

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What the Hell Is Quantum Chess? | IE - Interesting Engineering

In this year-end article, we look at the broad array of changes witnessed in 2020, transformative forces, and future trends for 2021 and beyond.

Some of the obvious developments for the year 2020 were offline or in-person meetings being replaced by virtual meetings, and travel and tourism being replaced by OTT and online binging. Office space was replaced by work from home.

Polluted air was replaced by cleaner air. Budget allocations for defence were reduced and budget allocations to stimulate the economy were increased. Going to schools and colleges was replaced by online classes or your teachers were replaced by teachers from anywhere. The swanky stores and fancy malls were replaced by online sales.

The most important change was that the GDP or the type of governance or the climate that a country had did not matter this is what I call a level playing field for the world.

All the above changes were across all countries, across all continents, across all levels of the society. It did not matter if you were developed or not, it did not matter if you had a medical infrastructure better than the others, it did not matter if you were in the tropics or not, it did not matter if you were rich or poor, and so on so forth.

The underlying impact of all of this will be short term and long term, is great or will be greater. For example, corporates are questioning the need to travel or to have office space in swanky zip codes. Parents are questioning the high school or college fees that they have to pay.

Governments are realising the importance of the impact of sporadic growth on the environment. They are questioning if chemical warfare is the future or not, especially when one country cant stay in isolation from the other.

The country that rules the tech space will rule the world, will be the future economic power.

Whilst all of the above developments were happening on the ground, there were huge enhancements in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, facial recognition software, quantum computing, data storage, wearable devices and adoption of 5G.

All of this combined will pave the future of the world that we live in. Based upon the above context, this is what I feel the coming year or two will be for all of us, or for the world at large.

The misuse of advancement in science and tech has also always had the negative impact on our future, form minor misuses on audio and video content distortion to the hacking of websites and passwords, to targeted warfare, I fear that the use of AI and ML by countries into social media or other digital means of communication can change the mindset of the society, a country or a generation gradually without them even realising it.

The predictive behaviour online of an individual or a group of individuals can be further directed into a more regimented/chaotic society by implanting the algorithms that one wants to, whether a political party or a country or a group of countries.

So, while we have to be careful on the use of or influence of online behaviour, especially social media, we also need to be careful of the fact that the countries will not trust other countries.

Land records and legal documents will be more authentic and safer. Tokenisation of investment in shares or equity, in land and property, and other assets will also revolutionise the world. Tokenisation will democratise investments across all sectors of investments. And many such things will be much more secure and easy to transact.

But will this lead to a new currency, an e-currency for every country and a new world order which will cashless and corrupt free? Would the countries or individuals that lose because of all this, let that happen? Not in 2021 or 2022, but we shall soon know of this too.

While life becomes smaller and easier, our memories would fade, as we will be more dependent on devices, our abilities to be human will gradually diminish, more knowledge will be imparted to us than we need or can digest. The speed of growth of the human race will be enhanced multifold, meaning thereby what has changed in the last decades will take years to change. Good or bad is for all of us to see and live.

Furthermore, in my opinion, here are a few things that hopefully will not change or will make a strong comeback.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

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Rewind 2020: Business, politics, social and professional impact, and what lies ahead - YourStory

Safe Deposit. Symbol of cryptocurrency safety. The man puts a physical bitcoin in small Residential ... [+] Vault. Toned soft focus picture.

Theres a lurking fear in cryptocurrency communities about quantum computing. Could it break cryptocurrencies and the encryption that protects them? How close might that be? Do the headlines around quantum supremacy mean that my private keys are at risk?

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The simple answer: no. But lets dive deeper into this phenomenon and really try to understand why this is the case and how quantum computing will interact with cryptocurrencies.

To start off with, lets define quantum computing and the classical computing were all used to, and seeing where the terms compare and contrast with one another. Quantum computing can be roughly placed in the same paradigm as classical pre-1900s physics and modern physics which comprises Einsteins insights on relativity and quantum physics.

Classical computing is the kind of computers weve grown used to, the extensions of Turings theories on computation, the laptops or mobile phones that you carry around with you. Classical computing relies heavily on the manipulation of physical bits the famous 0s and 1s.

Quantum computing relies on qubits, bits that are held in superposition and use quantum principles to complete calculations. The information captured or generated by a quantum system benefits from the ability of qubits to be in more than one physical state at a time (superposition), but there is information decay in capturing the state of the system.

One point that will be immediately relevant to the discussion is that quantum computers are not universally better than classical computers as a result. When people speak about quantum supremacy, including reports from Google GOOG and/or China, they really mean that a quantum computer can do a certain task better than classical computers, perhaps one that is impossible to do in any reasonable timeframe with classical computers.

We can think of this in terms of time scales from a computing perspective there are some, but not all functions, that go from being impossible to accomplish in any meaningful human-level time period to ones that become slow but manageable with a large enough quantum computer.

In a way, you can think of Turing tests and quantum supremacy tests in much the same way. Designed at first to demonstrate the superiority of one system over another (in the case of Turing tests, artificial language generation vs. human language comprehension, in the case of quantum supremacy tests, quantum computing systems vs classical computers), theyve become more gimmick than substance.

A quantum computer has to perform better at some minute and trivial task that might seem impressive but completely useless in much the same way a Turing test of machine-generated English might fool a Ukrainian child with no fluency in the language.

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This means that we have to narrow down to a function that quantum computers can be better on that would materially affect cryptocurrencies or the encryption theyre built on in order for quantum supremacy to matter.

One area of specific focus is Shors Algorithm, which can factor large prime numbers down into two smaller ones. This is a very useful property for breaking encryption, since the RSA family of encryption depends on factoring large prime numbers in exactly this manner. Shors Algorithm works in theory with a large enough quantum computer and so its a practical concern that eventually, Shors Algorithm might come into play and among other things, RSA encryption might be broken.

On this front, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has already started gathering proposals for post-quantum cryptography, encryption that would operate and not be broken even with much larger quantum computers than the ones were currently able to build. They estimate that large enough quantum computers to disrupt classical encryption will potentially arrive in the next twenty years.

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For cryptocurrencies, a fork in the future that might affect large parts of the chain, but it will be somewhat predictable there is a lot of thought being placed on post-quantum encryption technology. Bitcoin would not be one of the first planks to fall if classical encryption were suddenly broken for a number of reasons. Yet, a soft fork (as opposed to a hard one) might be enough to help move crypto-assets from suddenly insecure keys to secure post-quantum encryption.

Even an efficient implementation of Shors Algorithm may not break some of the cryptography standards used in bitcoin. SHA-256 is theorized to be quantum-resistant.

The most efficient theoretical implementation of a quantum computer to detect a SHA-256 collision is actually less efficient than the theorized classical implementation for breaking the standard. The wallet file in the original Bitcoin client is using SHA-512 (a more secure version than SHA-256) to help encrypt private keys.

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Most of the encryption in modern cryptocurrencies are built on elliptic curve cryptography rather than RSA especially in the generation of signatures in bitcoin which requires ECDSA. This is largely due to the fact that elliptic curves are correspondingly harder to crack than RSA (sometimes exponentially so) from classical computers.

Thanks to Moores law and better classical computing, secure RSA key sizes have grown so large so as to be impractical compared to elliptic curve cryptography so most people will opt for elliptic curve cryptography for performance reasons for their systems, which is the case with bitcoin.

However, quantum computers seem to flip this logic on its head: given a large enough quantum computer with enough qubits, you can break elliptic curve cryptography easier than you might break RSA.

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Both elliptic curve cryptography are widely used in a bunch of other industries and use cases as well RSA-2048 and higher are standards in the conventional banking system to send encrypted information, for example.

Yet, even with a large enough quantum computer, you would still have to reveal or find somebodys public keys so they could be subject to attack. With cryptocurrency wallet reuse being frowned upon, and a general encouragement of good privacy practices, the likelihood of this attack is already being reduced.

Another area of attack could be Grovers algorithm, which can exponentially speed up mining with a large enough quantum computer though its probable that ASICs, the specialized classical computers mostly used to mine bitcoin now, would be faster compared to the earliest versions of more complete quantum computers.

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This poses more of a stronger threat when it comes to the state of cryptocurrencies: the ability to mine quickly in a sudden quantum speedup could lead to destabilization of prices and more importantly control of the chain itself an unexpected quantum speedup could, if hidden, lead to vast centralization of mining and possible 51% attacks. Yet the most likely case is that larger systems of quantum computing will be treated like any kind of hardware, similar to the transition for miners between GPUs, FGPAs and ASICs a slow economic transition to better tooling.

Its conceivable that these avenues of attack and perhaps other more unpredictable ones might emerge, yet post-quantum encryption planning is already in process and through the mechanism of forks, cryptocurrencies can be updated to use post-quantum encryption standards and defend against these weaknesses.

Bitcoin and even other cryptocurrencies and their history are filled with examples of hardware and software changes that had to be made to make the network more secure and performant and good security practices in the present (avoiding wallet reuse) can help prepare for a more uncertain future.

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So quantum computers being added to the mix wont suddenly render classical modes of encryption useless or mining trivial quantum supremacy now doesnt mean that your encryption or the security of bitcoin is at risk right at this moment.

The real threat is when quantum computers become many scales larger than they currently are by which point planning for post-quantum encryption, which is already well on the way would come to the fore, and at which point bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can soft fork and use both decentralized governance and dynamism when needed in the face of new existential threats to defeat the threat of quantum supremacy.

More:
Here's Why Quantum Computing Will Not Break Cryptocurrencies - Forbes