The road to a quantum future may be longer and more winding than some expect, but the potential it holds is profound.
If the Sydney Harbour Bridge was rebuilt today engineers would design, build and test the new bridge in virtual worlds before a sod of dirt was turned.
Digital simulation has revolutionised science and technology, improving efficiency, reducing costs and significantly mitigating risks.
It could also do the same for medicine.
Today, drugs are not designed so much as ‘discovered’ because digital computers can’t simulate the molecular interactions within the human body, and hence can’t provide invaluable insights that would propel the development of novel treatments and cures.
Herein lies the promise of quantum computers.
In the future, chemistry will be simulated on quantum computers to design and test new drugs, materials and exotic new forms of matter.
Only time will tell if this will be a utopia, a technological doomsday scenario or just the mundane steady march of progress.
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