• Question: With the hopeful rise of Quantum computing, do you believe that quantum computing will be the limit of humanities computational power ? Or that there is actually a further technology available to be harnessed which will be even faster ?

    Asked by Josh Goddard to Alice, Bose, Christian, Emma, Steve on 7 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Alice Harpole

      Alice Harpole answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      I have no idea what it would look like, but I think there will be technology even faster than quantum computers in the future. Quantum physics and the standard model is our current understanding of particle physics, but it is possible that in the future we may find another model of particle physics that better explains our observations (just as quantum physics improved on the model before it). It is quite possible that by harnessing this knowledge, we could create technology that’s even faster than quantum computers could ever be.

    • Photo: Steve Marsden

      Steve Marsden answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      I’d argue that the brain is incredibly powerful compared with a PC, and is roughly the same size. That suggests that there is still a lot of room for improvement. Whether that’s brought with quantum computers or not is yet to be seen.

      In any case many people through history have said that they are at the pinnacle of society, and that technology can’t possibly get better. Every single person who has ever said this, has been proved wrong. I don’t think we’re going to be any different.

      We have a fantastic ability to not seeing how much society might move on. For instance, Alexander Graham Bell, after inventing the telephone said, “I truly believe that one day there will be a telephone in every town in America.”

      I suspect future technology will be far greater than anything we can imagine.

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