Although he agreed with Neil Bohr’s suggested quantum world, Hugh Everett, an American physicist who first proposed the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics, disagreed with Bohr in some respects. Everett believed that when a measurement was taken of a quantum object, it would cause an actual split in the universe. According to Everett’s theory of many-worlds, the universe is literally split into one universe for each outcome from the measurement.
So, the first question is, what is the duplication of the universe—the parallel universe — and does it really exist? The short answer is yes!
Anyone who is a fan of science fiction movies must know what the parallel universe concept is. Here is a scenario which is commonly known to the masses.
Imagine you are driving on the expressway; you find numerous exits which you may take, as per your needs. Now you hit an exit and you debate whether to go out on it and stop by some restaurant for a cup of coffee or tea. Because of some deliberation, you decide to keep driving for some more time before taking a break for coffee. After you drive for some time, you see a car which overtook you a minute ago get into an accident. You stop your car, come out and call the emergency services. But you see that the driver is badly injured and screaming for help. You somehow pull him out and the car catches fire. You await the arrival of the emergency services. When they arrive, the police take you to the station to record your statement, while the emergency services provides the person with medical aid. Since you saved his life, he wants to thank you. After you meet him, share your contacts, you two become close friends. In the coming days, this person influences your life in multiple ways - he helps you to get a better job, his daughter marries your son and has a wonderful life, and he has turned to be the closest friend you ever had in your life. Now you both are old and sitting with your grandchildren, who are curious to know how you two met, and you are telling them the whole story about how he got into an accident and you both became friends.
Now pause here for some time and go back to the time when you were driving on the expressway and debating if you should take the exit or not. You feel a craving for a cup of coffee or tea, and you take the exit and break the journey. After an hour, you resume and when you get to the road, you see emergency vehicles and paramedic staff surrounding the wrecked and burned car, which overtook you a minute before you took the exit with a body bag next to it. You pass by the accident without paying much attention. Now, you did not meet the person who got into the accident. All the influences he had on your parallel life has disappeared; you do not have that job which you got because of him. His daughter was even born to marry your son, because he died in the accident. As far as you are concerned, this person never even existed.
The hypothetical scenario above is something akin to what Hollywood sci-fi movies usually present. However, quantum computers are a new generation of computers which uses the parallel universe instead of a single universe to carry out computational tasks. How?
During WWII, the British mathematician and cryptologist Dr. Alan Turing invented the electro-mechanical machine that could decrypt code created by the Enigma machine, which was used extensively by the Nazis for encrypted military communication. That machine marked the beginning of digital computers, which after the invention of transistors, brought about a revolution that has changed every aspect of human life. Quantum computers will be an even greater, more monumental event for human history. Humanity is at the stage of a revolution – building the “ultimate” computer. Since quantum computers base computation on electrons instead of transistors, they have much more computational power—millions of times higher—than digital computers, because electrons can be two places at one time. So, a quantum computer does not work in one universe, but an infinite number of parallel universes.
“Quantum computation will be the first technology that allows useful tasks to be performed in collaboration between parallel universes,” said David Elieser Deutsch, a famous British physicist at the University of Oxford.
There is a common misperception about quantum computers. A large number of people believe that the quantum computer is a huge advancement in existing digital computer technology. This is a completely wrong perception. Quantum computers are built on an entirely different technology compared to digital computers, and they work differently. Comparing them is analogous to comparing a horse ride—one way to travel—to airplanes, just because they both are ways of traversing distance. Or saying that the light bulb is an improvement in candles, since both emit light.
So, the second question is, with huge advancements in modern digital computers, do we really need quantum computers, which need temperatures near 15ºmK (almost -273ºC) to operate? Once again, the short answer is yes!
Digital computers are based on binary code - zeros and ones - but reality is not; reality is based on particles, which act like waves, and digital computers cannot successfully solve complex wave equations.
Look around us. The green revolution is on the verge of its end. Once it ends, how we can feed the population of the world? With a quantum computer, we can unlock the secret of how to make fertilizer from nitrogen. In the energy sector, quantum computers can model stabilizing super-hot hydrogen to start fusion reactions. As we know, life is based on molecules and all diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, originate at the molecular level, which is beyond the reach of digital computers. Quantum computers can model these diseases on a molecular level because it computes using atoms. In medical science, quantum computers can bring about a proper revolution. In space exploration, equations about the secrets of the universe are so complicated that those could never be solved. However, those can be solved using quantum computers, and humanity will benefit from those hidden secrets.
This brings us to the third question, with all great powers locked in a struggle to perpetuate their hegemony, are humans ready to handle the enormous power that quantum computers will bestow humanity with? The short answer, unfortunately, is no!
There is a race between the US and China to build a 1,000 qubits quantum computer. Inside the US, several big companies are playing an important role in advancing quantum computing hardware and software. These companies are Google, Microsoft, Amazon, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), D-Wave Systems, and IonQ, Inc. The National Security Agency (NSA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US military and all other national security agencies are very vigilant about the progress of quantum computers all over the world, because they have the power to crack any code generated by digital computers within minutes; which even the fastest digital computers would need millions of years to decipher.
The fourth and final question should be: is the Pakistani leadership familiar with the challenges, and are they doing everything they can to equip the next generation to face these challenges? The short and simple answer is no.
Pakistan’s leadership is neither worried about training the youth, nor is the youth predominantly inquisitive about learning anything new. History has witnessed that every new technology is weaponized by powerful nations, and they use it to strengthen their control and predominance over other nations. The Pakistani leadership must create an environment that is conducive to letting young people, who will inevitably run the country in the future, equip themselves with the knowledge necessary to deal with incoming challenges.
Recently, in a NayaDaur Sunday show, “Azad Labon Ke Saath”, Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy said, “it is a common saying among quantum physicists’ communities that nature follows the laws of quantum physics, not zero, one, zero, one, zero, one.”