The crypto-sphere is never short on hectic energy, but there’s extra flying around right now thanks to this week’s announcement of Google’s new quantum computing “Willow” chip. According to their blog:
Willow can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits. This cracks a key challenge in quantum error correction that the field has pursued for almost 30 years.
Second, Willow performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (that is, 1025) years — a number that vastly exceeds the age of the Universe.
Exciting stuff for sure. But for Bitcoiners still basking in the glow of its recent $100k price smash, this news raises a shadowy question… will quantum computing soon bring an end to its epic run? After all, Bitcoin’s value is entirely created by its uncrackable algorithm — a mathematically robust code that has yet to be broken by any mortal computer. But can Willow change that?
In a fortuitous twist of fate, we asked quantum pioneer/theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson exactly that just last week. Watch the clip above to hear what he had to say.
And if that whets your whistle, watch the full interview below. We discuss everything from his time working on alignment at OpenAI, to machine consciousness and the race to quantum supremacy. We even figure out a religion for AI! Enjoy.
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