HELLO FUTURE: Why Should I Care About Quantum Computing?

Kevin Cirilli sits down with science communicator and journalist Matt Swayne, senior writer and analyst at The Quantum Insider, to unpack one of the most complex — and misunderstood — frontiers in technology: quantum computing. For years, “quantum” has sounded like science fiction — a buzzword whispered in labs and venture capital circles. But what happens when it starts to shape your everyday life?

Kevin and Matt explore how quantum computers could revolutionize everything from drug discovery and financial modeling to national security and AI. They break down what “quantum supremacy” actually means, why governments and tech giants are racing to build the first practical systems, and how this invisible arms race could redefine the global balance of power.

It’s a crash course in the weird physics shaping the next digital revolution — and why the quantum era might arrive sooner than you think.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Everybody's talking about artificial intelligence, but I've actually got my
eye on quantum computing. It sounds like it's right out
of a science fiction novel, and nobody really can explain
it in a way that helps me understand why I
should care about quantum computing. Hello, Future, it's me Kevin.
This is a dispatch from the Digital Frontier. The year
is twenty twenty five. The planet is Earth. My name

(00:30):
is Kevin SURREALI, and my guest today, Matt Swain, approaches
these really dense topics as if he's a journalist, which
is awesome, and he's also been a professor level and
a researcher at various different colleges and universities, so he
really knows this stuff inside and out. Matt, thanks so
much for showing up to meet the future. What is

(00:50):
quantum computing and why should I care about it?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
So it really you just have to start at the
quantum mechanical level, and at the quantum mechanical level, you
have sub atomic particles that don't behave in ways of
classical computing. In the subatomic world, there are things like
superposition and entanglement that make a quantum computer work, but

(01:14):
they're also very sensitive and can cause calculations to go off. Kilder.
So that is a very simple explanation of what quantum
computing is.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I feel like I'm back in like my high school
science class with mister Riv. I would always fall asleep
and get in a lot of trouble with mister Riv.
So shout out to mister Riv because now it's all
coming back. Protons, neutrons, electrons. Okay, So you're essentially saying
that this is a level of computing that's not based
on the switches, for lack of a better word, of

(01:43):
my desktop or my laptop. Because with the computers, there's
an on switch and an off switch, right, and every
decision that the computer makes is either zero or a one.
But with quantum mechanics and quantum engineering, what I'm hearing
you say say is that it can make decisions an
infinite number of ways, because it's not just like flipping

(02:07):
a switch where it's on or off, but there's all
different types of possibilities because it could be on off,
or it could be both, or it could be sort
of on sort of off at the same time. You know,
someone put it to me yesterday that was in a
really interesting way, as if you're thinking of quantum computing
as a ball and you're thinking of regular computing as
a ball. For regular computing, there's the top and there's

(02:31):
the bottom, But for quantum computing, there's the top bottom,
and you can put a laser on any other point
of the sphere, which means it could have an infinite
amount of positions. Is that sort of on the right track.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, that's that's really on the right track. Now. I'm
very careful to use words like infinite only because I
get yelled at for some reason when I use those words.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Who yells at? You met the quantum nerds?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Very Yeah, the nerds. They're very sensitive to the language
around this, and we'll probably get into talking about that.
But one way that I look at it is, as
you explained, a classical bit is a switch that's either
on or off, one or zero. What you talk about
is this sort of probabilistically infinite space in between. That's

(03:23):
kind of that's what's referred to as superposition. And I
look at that as a fader of a light.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
A fader of a land. So I don't even know
what that means.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Have you ever seen a light fader where you can
turn the light way off or way back.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yes, so it's like that switch where you can fade
it on or fade it off. Okay, yeah, that makes
sense to me.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
A quantum computer is more like that fader and superposition,
where you can tune it to exactly where you want it,
whereas a classical bit is either on or off. Now,
classical bit's a lot more dependable than the fader. And
the second thing I think you alluded to is entanglement,
where if you have these cube which are the quantum

(04:02):
equivalent of a classical bit or a bit, if you
connect cubits together, they're in a state called entanglement, and theoretically, well,
I guess not theoretically, I guess it really happens. But
if you have a cubit where I'm at and I
measure it, and you have my entangled cubit partner where

(04:23):
you're at, those two cubits will instantly correlate. Okay, and
that sounds weird, but in my analogy, think about that switch.
So if you wanted to set your office perfectly lit
just the way you want it, you'd have to walk
around and flip switches on and off across the room.

(04:44):
In a quantum computer, using entanglement, you take that fader
and it instantly correlates with all the other cubits, and
what it does is increases the computational space you have
to get your calculation.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'm getting there. But again, I'm not the sharpest crown
in the box, Matt, but I'm trying to deal with us.
Thank you, I appreciate I am with you. But here's
what I don't really get is why should I care
about this? Like, Okay, I have a computer. It sends emails,
it does my banking. My computer is you know, I
work on it. I can go and do my personal finances.

(05:20):
I can watch sports videos, I can, you know, go
on YouTube, I can stream Why should I give? Why
should I care about quantum computing?

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, you bring up a really important point because I
think the way people when I talk to them about
quantum computing, they think that the quantum computer will just
take over and there will be no classical computer. So
the things that you're talking about are going to always
exist on classical computers. In my opinion. Now, what the

(05:53):
quantum computer is, it just does certain problems better than
class cool and we're talking much better we're talking about
being able to do a problem on a quantum computer
that might take a day that could take a classical computer,
like six septillion years or something crazy like that.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
Wow, you just said septilian years. You said a quantum
computer could solve a problem in a day that a
traditional computer would take septillion years. What is even a problem? Like,
I can't even my brain can't even compute what a
problem of that magnitude is. Can you give me like

(06:36):
a ballpark problem that quantum computing can solve in a
day that would take my laptop? I mean, I don't
even know how big. I can't even register how big
septilian years are. What's the level of problem that you're
talking about? I mean, are you talking about like curing
diseases or you're talking about like how the universe started?
Like what are these problems?

Speaker 2 (06:56):
I think any of those would be ideally suited foruantum computer.
And a quantum computer works really well on simulations and optimizations,
That's what it does better. So it can take a
ton of probabilistic equations, you know, come up with the
ideal solution with a lot of tweak in a lot
of work. I don't want to discount that. But so

(07:19):
drug discovery. Think about a molecule which would probably have
millions and millions of different combinations, and you want the
exact combination to cure cancer. Yes, okay, So a quantum
computer will probably have a better chance of finding that.
It's more efficiently than a classical computer. And you know,

(07:40):
we're today using the best classical computers and supercomputers, the
best algorithms to find these solutions, and we're only in
using AI and we're only now just sort of discovering
how how that can be done.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
See, Matt, this is all As you're talking, all I'm
thinking about is pac Man. I don't know if anybody
members pac Man. It's like when you're in that arcade
and you see the pac Man that's like eating the
whatever those things are in the maze and you're fighting
the bad guys that are trying to eat whatever. It
sounds like traditional computing is pac Man, but quantum computing

(08:18):
is a bunch of different pac Mans all at once
that lets you find the solution instantaneously because it can
be everywhere all at once. Is that's sort of the
right idea.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
I really wish I had that analogy years ago when
I was trying to clain.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
That that's sort of my superpower is listen, I'm really
good at coming up with the translations, because that's the
only way. Thank you for you know, my mom would
never let me play video games. But you know what, Mom,
I just explained quantum computing and pac Man with the
co founder of Quantum Insiders. So thank you for that.
Thank you for that. Kudos. So okay, So I love

(08:52):
the application of solving the cure for cancer. That's incredible.
I mean, who doesn't want to do that. I would
imagine that specifically when it comes to just even finding
you know, space exploration or being able to look for
different possibilities for different alternatives to energy, or to solve
the energy crisis on planet Earth. It might be really

(09:13):
good at finding different scenarios where we'd be able to
crack some different energy codes. And I don't even know
do I want to say nuclear fusion, Like, what do
you think about that?

Speaker 2 (09:23):
I think they're using or starting to explore the use
of quantum computers in nuclear fusion. Again, any of those
you know, physical processes that are super super complicated and
complex and fragile and subtle and supple. That's where the
quantum computer really works best. So I could see one

(09:46):
day them using quantum computers to optimize processes that are
used in fusion energy. I think that's going to be
probably a doable thing here. What I think it's missed.
I think we do try to concentrate on the practical,
real world applications, but I think exploring our universe, as

(10:06):
you were talking about, that to me is one of
the key things, not just exploring the physical universe, but
we're really kind of probing the fabric of reality when
we get into quantum computing, and it's this feedback loop
of the more we learn about physical reality, the more
we're learning about quantum computing, the more we're learning about

(10:26):
quantum computing, we can use that to learn about the
physical reality.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Well, Matt, stay with us because I know you're going
to come back on the program, But thank you so
much for showing up today to meet the future, especially
to explain what quantum computing is. And my big takeaway
from this conversation is that quantum computing can be everywhere,
all at once. Essentially, it can solve problems that would
take septillions of years, which is a really fun word

(10:52):
to say, septillions of years in a day, which is wild.
Thanks Matt, appreciate it.