Most people don’t understand quantum mechanics. Even though it’s been almost a hundred years since the basic ideas of quantum physics were laid down, somehow those ideas have never fully penetrated into the public consciousness.
Personally, I think that the reason for this is not just that the mathematics of quantum systems are hard – the mathematics of designing bridges is very hard, but the average person still grasps the basics of the task. I think that the reasons quantum systems are not well understood are that (1) they are hard to visualize, and (2) they are weird.
Discover Quantum attempts to rectify that.
You are given control of a simulation of a quantum system, and you can perform on it any action you like. Simple actions, fully explained in a lengthy interactive tutorial, can visually explain the meaning of arcane concepts like superposition and quantum entanglement.
And once you understand those, you can go on to understand the basic workings of what might yet be a revolutionary technology, the quantum computer.
Stewart Brand, a self-identified ‘ecopragmatist’, said of new technologies, “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road”.
Today’s science and mathematics indicates that quantum computers are substantially better at performing some tasks than our modern-day computers. We don’t know when general-purpose quantum computers will become commercially available, but devices with limited quantum computing power are on the market today.
In the twenty-first century, we’re still living in the middle of the digital revolution – there is a chance that the development of large, powerful, reliable quantum computers will spur yet another revolution in the computing industry.
Features:
• Drag and drop single-qubit quantum gates
• After a gate has been placed, set arbitrary control qubits
• In-depth interactive tutorial explaining how to use this app
• Create, save, and load your own quantum circuits
• Includes the quantum Fourier transform and Shors algorithm