Welcome to the Quantum Edge newsletter. Join me in my year-long journey into the weirdness that is quantum computing.

I can explain digital logic down to the electron movement in a MOSFET, but I can't come close to the same with quantum computing. This newsletter is a journal of my quest to learn the fundamentals of quantum computing and explain them on a human level.

Issue 0.3, Dec 19, 2024

The idea of computing on a quantum scale dates back to the early 1980s with lectures from Paul Benioff and Richard Feynman. Benioff at that time proposed using the principles of quantum mechanics to develop a basic form of computer. Other physicists such as Feynman and Yuri Manin were thinking along the same lines at the same time. Regardless, through the rest of the century, quantum computers were largely thought experiments and of little practical value.

However, money did start flowing into the research community and many became excited at the potential for computing at speeds barely imaginable from the technology of the time. By the late 1990’s, proof of concept circuits were showing that there would be a future for quantum computing.

From Idea to Reality

Today, quantum computers are in the field doing real work. The quantum processing units (QPUs) are growing in capability, and labs are starting to make resources available to the general public. IBM will actually allow enthusiasts to directly access a cloud-available quantum computer. You can create quantum circuits, upload them and run your work on a live quantum computer.

Getting from here to there is still a bit of a journey. See you February 6th.

In a quantum world, are we not both knowledgeable and ignorant?

About Positive Edge LLC

Positive Edge is the consulting arm of Duane Benson, Tech journalist, Futurist, Entrepreneur. Positive Edge is your conduit to decades of leading-edge technology development, management and communications expertise.