Quantum Dawn

NASA gets a quantum computer:

In a sign the technology is creeping closer to practical use, Google, NASA, and the non-profit Universities Space Research Association (USRA) recently announced formation of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab and seeded it with a brand new 512-qubit D-Wave Two quantum computer.

Each D-Wave quantum computer is housed in a 10’ featureless black cabinet. Inside the box, an apparatus hangs from the ceiling like a high-tech stalactite. A niobium chip resides in the tip and is cooled to a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero, at which point it becomes a superconductor. But apart from being colder than deep space, the way the computer itself functions differs from the classical model.

Classical computers solve problems by systematically switching transistors “on” (1) and “off” (0). Quantum computers use qubits to represent both classical states (0 and 1) plus an in between state enabled by a weird quantum property physicists call “superposition.” In superposition, the qubit is both 0 and 1 at the same time, allowing the system to consider multiple problems simultaneously.

The questions you ask a quantum computer must be optimized into a quantum algorithm, otherwise it's about the speed of a normal electronic computer. But when they are optimized...

“The tougher, more complex [problems] had better performance. For most problems, it was 11,000 times faster, but in the more difficult 50 percent, it was 33,000 times faster. In the top 25 percent, it was 50,000 times faster.”

Yes, you could claim that the optimization means that this form of quantum computer is esoteric and of limited application. But so was UNIVAC -- and just look at the legacy of that machine. Literally, look at it; you're reading this article in this manner because of that very primitive start to electronic computing. And lest we forget, the computers which controlled the Apollo program and put men on the Moon were much closer in capabilities (or lack thereof) to UNIVAC than they were to your laptop or smartphone.

The real promise of quantum computers is that they may finally break out of the "linear thinking" which constrains electronic computers. That would enable them to "think" like mammalian brains -- i.e., in many directions at once. For all their speed, electronic computers are utterly incapable of inductive logic -- more commonly called thought of as intuition, which is something that we humans take for granted. The ability to assemble obscure and apparently unassociated pieces of information into a solution is the basis of all invention, arguably the trait which separates humans from lower animals.

Which brings up the legal status of a future quantum-based artificial intelligence that makes an undeniable leap of intuition to solve a complex problem or invent a useful tool. Does it become a sentient being with rights under the law at that instant?

Even more interesting, I've seen arguments (Charles Sheffield made it first, if I'm not mistaken) that the human brain operates on quantum principles -- i.e., in multiple dimensional and energy states simultaneously. Which means that once created, the product of a brain -- a mind -- never actually ceases to exist, as by definition it exists at all times and places simultaneously. In other words, a soul. If we accept that argument as valid (and I'm not sure I do, but for this purpose assume it is true), might a future, fully-fledged quantum computer have a "soul"? Will it demand the right to select a religious belief?

That's always been the issue with quantum mechanics: they bridge the gap between physics and metaphysics in ways we don't fully understand, and probably never will. Like so many things we only partially understand, we can still create technology based upon our limited information. Several of the very smart people who built the atomic bomb weren't entirely sure the first full-scale detonation wasn't going to result in a runaway reaction. There was many a puckered sphincter at Trinity. Now we're talking about literally making ourselves into gods by creating sentient intelligences that equal or even surpass the human brain in ability. In its potential impact on the human race, this makes the atom bomb look like a cheap firecracker.

Interesting times ahead.