🧠Quantum Computing: A Curious Primer
"The computer was born to simulate reality. The quantum computer was born to embrace it."
We are living through quantum computing's most consequential decade—caught between extraordinary promise and stubborn reality. After years of lab demonstrations, 2025 marks the year quantum began its awkward adolescence: no longer pure research, not yet transformative technology.
Here's my honest, 13-part multi-media primer for anyone who wants to understand what quantum computing really is, where it stands today, and how to think clearly in a field swimming in both breakthrough science and breathless hype.
Let’s begin with the great Professor Michio Kaku on why Quantum computing is the next revolution.
1. The Origin Story: When Physics Met Computation
Quantum computing emerged from a physicist's frustration.
In 1981, Richard Feynman observed that classical computers struggle to simulate quantum systems—the very foundation of chemistry, materials science, and much of physics. His radical proposal: build computers that operate on quantum principles themselves.
The theoretical foundation came quickly. Peter Shor's 1994 algorithm proved quantum computers could factor large numbers exponentially faster than classical ones—threatening all current encryption.
Lov Grover's 1996 algorithm showed quantum speedups for searching unsorted databases. But the physics remained brutally difficult.
It took until 2019 for Google's 53-qubit Sycamore processor to demonstrate "quantum computational supremacy"—performing a specific (if artificial) calculation faster than the world's best supercomputers.
Then in 2024, IBM's quantum computer helped solve a physics problem that classical machines couldn't touch, marking the first scientifically meaningful quantum advantage.
The shift from "can we build it?" to "what can we build with it?" has begun.
2. How Quantum Actually Works
Three quantum mechanical principles make these machines fundamentally different:
Superposition allows qubits to exist in combinations of 0 and 1 simultaneously. While a classical bit is definitively one or the other, a qubit can be 30% |0⟩ and 70% |1⟩—enabling parallel exploration of solution spaces.
Entanglement creates spooky correlations between qubits. Measuring one instantly affects its entangled partners, regardless of distance. This allows quantum computers to process information in ways impossible for classical systems.
Interference amplifies correct computational paths while canceling incorrect ones. Quantum algorithms are choreographed interference patterns that guide the system toward the right answer.
But here's the catch: quantum states are extraordinarily fragile.
Environmental noise destroys quantum information within microseconds—a phenomenon called decoherence. Today's best systems maintain quantum states for hundreds of microseconds. Useful applications will likely require millions of physical qubits to create thousands of error-corrected "logical" qubits.
Super cool TED Talk by Hartmut Neven, the founder and lead of Google Quantum AI.