Google’s quantum computing breakthrough on Monday has left the physicist who heads the project a believer in ‘the idea that we live in a multiverse.’
‘Willow,’ the tech giant’s new quantum chip, succeeded in solving a computational problem so complex it would have taken today’s best super-computers an estimated 10 septillion years to solve it — vastly more than the age of our entire universe.
But Google said its new quantum computer solved the puzzle ‘in under five minutes.’
Calling Willow’s performance ‘astonishing,’ the leader and founder of Google Quantum AI team, physicist Hartmut Neven, said its high-speed result ‘lends credence to the notion that quantum computation occurs in many parallel universes.’
Neven credited Oxford University physicist David Deutsch for proposing the theory that the successful development of quantum computing would, in effect, affirm the ‘many worlds interpretation’ of quantum mechanics and the existence of a multiverse.
Starting in the 1970s, Deutsch, in fact, had walked backwards into becoming a pioneer in the field of quantum computing, less out of interest in the technology itself, than his desire to test the multiverse theory.
Astrophysicist turned science writer Ethan Siegel blasted Google over the claim, accusing them of ‘conflating unrelated concepts, which Neven also ought to know.’
‘Neven has conflated the notion of a quantum mechanical Hilbert space, which is an infinite-dimensional mathematical space where quantum mechanical wavefunctions “live,” with the notion of parallel universes and a multiverse,’ Siegel argued Friday.
Measuring 1.5-inch (4cm), a little larger than an After Eight mint, Willow paves the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer. Willow is said to have solved a computational problem so complex it would have taken today’s best super-computers 10 septillion years to solve it
Google Quantum AI’s Hartmut Neven (left) and Anthony Megrant (right) examine a cryostat refrigerator for cooling quantum computing chips at Google’s Quantum AI lab in Santa Barbara, November 25, 2024. Neven argued that Willow’s success could prove the ‘multiverse’ theory
In Siegel’s view, neither leading interpretation of parallel universes or a multiverse would be supported by a successful quantum computer.
In one version, many parallel universes exist out in deep-deep space, vast distances away from our own and possibly the product of their own Big Bangs.
In another, every action in our universe creates a fork in space-time, leading to in infinitude of timelines each hold one of an infinitude of parallel worlds.
‘You can have quantum mechanics work just fine, both physically and mathematically, without introducing even one parallel universe,’ Siegel wrote in his essay for Big Think, ‘much less an infinite number of them.’
Nevertheless, Siegel noted that he was impressed by the stunning technological achievement of Google’s results with Willow, which he called ‘a truly excellent step forward in the world of quantum computation.’
At the very least, the search engine giant’s breakthrough quantum computer could likely help humanity craft its own new world, helping scientists number-crunch their way to solutions to some of Earth’s most vexing problems.
‘This includes helping us discover new medicines, designing more efficient batteries for electric cars, and accelerating progress in fusion and new energy alternatives,’ Neven explained in a Google blog post.
‘Many of these future game-changing applications won’t be feasible on classical computers; they’re waiting to be unlocked with quantum computing,’ he noted.
A cryostat refrigerator for cooling quantum computing chips is displayed at Google’s Quantum AI lab in Santa Barbara, California
According to Google, Willow can run 105 ‘qubits’ — the basic unit of information in quantum computing, with more qubits meaning more power.
This is more than the company’s Sycamore chip, first revealed in 2019, which debuted at 53 qubits and eventually reached 70 qubits.
Quantum technology makes use of the so-called ‘spooky’ effects of quantum physics to vastly speed up information processing, which could lead to the most powerful computer on Earth.
Conventional or ‘classical’ computers function in binary fashion: they carry out tasks using tiny fragments of data known as ‘bits,’ only ever either expressed as 1 or 0.
But fragments of data on a quantum computer, known as qubits, can be both 1 and 0 at the same time — allowing each qubit to hold much more information and crunch the numbers on many more potential outcomes than a simple ‘yes or no,’ ‘1 or 0’ bit.
According to Google, Willow can run 105 ‘qubits’ – the basic unit of information in quantum computing – which is more than its Sycamore chip that had 70 qubits (pictured)
‘Spooky action at a distance’ or ‘quantum entanglement’ — wherein multiple subatomic particles are found to influence each other instantaneously regardless of how far apart they are — magnifies these gains, researchers believe.
With the power to cover those distances in a flash, ‘entangled’ qubits in a quantum computer can increase its power exponentially with each linked qubit.
Professor Winfried Hensinger, director of the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies, called the news about Willow’s results a ‘very important milestone’ for making quantum computers.
‘This result,’ he told DailyMail.com, ‘increases our confidence further that humanity will be able to build practical quantum computers enabling some of the high impactful applications quantum computers are known for.’
