The Basics of Quantum Computing

Even if you have a fibre internet connection, the speed of online services will be determined by the computing power of both the device you use and the servers that host those services. For example, elements (i.e., games) on the «Roulette77 Australia» site can run faster or slower – actual speed will vary according to computing power.

While increasing computing power is the first solution that comes to mind to gain more speed, it has physical limits. The processors of the computers and smartphones we use are subject to the constraints of the physical world: for example, they cannot be smaller than a certain form in size. But if you change your point of view completely, you can get incredible speed on sites that offer localised services such as «Roulette77 India» (and in any business that uses computers in general): this is the promise of quantum computing.

The difference between "bit" and "qbit"

The computers we currently use store and process information as "1" and "0". These are simply called "bits". For example, this web page you are currently viewing is a long sequence of 1s and 0s in "bit language". A bit has only one state. For practical purposes, you can think of 1s as "yes" and 0s as "no": traditional computers have to constantly switch between "yes" and "no" states when processing information.

For example, a traditional computer would view a DNA sequence as a very long 1-0 code and would take too long to decode the entire sequence because it would have to process each bit in it one by one. Such a job can take years. It is possible to reduce the processing time by upgrading the processor, or by using multiple processors at the same time, but in any case, limitations in the physical world will eventually cause a limit to be reached.

Quantum computers, on the other hand, are built on the "qbit" principle. This is simply an abbreviation of the term "quantum bit". In this technology, bits do not have a single state: each bit can be both 1 and 0 at the same time. This is a situation inherent in quantum physics and is very difficult to explain in a simple way. Quantum physics basically says that any object can be in any state, and the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment is based on this. A cat can be both alive and dead – both possibilities are valid until the user checks the cat's state and stabilises the quantum state.

Everything everywhere all at once

This means that quantum computers do not have to process bits one by one to work. A quantum computer can process all data in one go, because the state of the bits that make up that data is not "fixed". Let's use the example of DNA sequence again: quantum computers can see that sequence as a whole without having to break it down into bits and find the fastest way to decode it. This makes them 158 million times faster than today's supercomputers. To give a more practical example, they can do in four minutes what a conventional computer would do in 10,000 years.

This is not an easy concept to understand. But it has already become reality: IBM launched the world's first commercial quantum computer (Quantum System One) in 2019. Of course, this is not a system for end users to buy, it was developed only for research laboratories. Moreover, it is just a prototype: fully functioning quantum computers require 1,000,000 qbits of processing power, but as of 2022, IBM has not yet crossed the 127 qbit limit. Another quantum computer called "Big Blue" is targeted to reach 1,000 qbit by 2023. But this is a race that won't last long: most analysts think fully functional quantum computers will be available before 2050. And when they do, we can actually see a real artificial intelligence too: quantum computers have the potential to revolutionise technology.