Quantum Computing: The Real Goliath

I would like to preface this post with the statement that I am, in no way, an expert on quantum physics (no, really), or for that matter, an expert mathematician. However, I do have over thirty years of experience (yes, much of which was as a jack-of-all-trades) in the IT arena. From PICK database/app development (the original MongoDB), to developing full stack apps over 56k connections, to Y2K (mitigating millennium bugs, some of you remember), Local Government, Housing verticals, HCM, Database administration and much more.

I faintly remember a debate in the mid 90's everyone would have their own TV Station on youtube.

This discussion is about Quantum computing. AI, in general, has taken the business world by storm, but what if you had a tool that could mine all the remaining cryptocurrencies in a day (not just Bitcoin, but ALL)? Furthermore, that same tool could move any existing purchases to another account. Then decrypt the government’s cloud systems and send top-secret information to foreign adversaries. Then build a custom genetic organism to defeat cancer. Far-fetched? No.

The current estimate is in 4-5 years, they will have mastered the Quantum chip (btw, all the top players have one in development – Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, and Google). This speed is possible due to the fact that the normal computer processor works on binary bits (0 or 1), whereas the Quantum processor works on QuBits (can be any value between 0 and 1, and actually a percentage of both at the same time). This makes processing time exponentially faster.

So, all the security algorithms you have been told are impossible to crack (SHA-256 is still the most commonly used) would take milliseconds to crack. Even the government’s 2048/3072-bit encryption would be child’s play.

I was early onboard with ChatGPT, and I specifically remember prompting it with the possibility of AI performing mining tasks. And the answer was that it was not possible. Well, introducing Quantum Computing. I’m sure all of this sounds like it’s right out of Mission Impossible (yes, they got me too. Didn’t know it was a 2-parter).

Businesses today have a primary focus on becoming ‘Agentic’, with the vision of the agent performing repetitive job-related tasks in conjunction with other job-related agents (for example, the purchasing agent working with the accounts payable agent), and having necessary human approval at certain stages. And although QC will greatly assist in these workloads, i believe our greatest risk is Post-Quantum cryptography, which i will cover later.

I’m not ringing the alarm (maybe I actually am), but I believe that Quantum computing is the final frontier. The country that is standing on top of the Quantum mountain in 5 years will be the world's ‘Atlas’, from Greek mythology. The weight will be great, but the responsibility even greater. Let's all hope it falls into the right hands.