Chapter 1 Quantum computing in society: impacts and implications
Yogesh Kumar Sharma, Manoj Wadhwa, Masira M. S. Kulkarni, Pranita Haridas Mokal · 2024
Recently, there has been a lot of interest in and funding for quantum computing in the academic and business communities. The “new race to the moon” is no greater task than constructing a workable quantum computer. Since this technology can crack many encryption methods used today, it is of great interest to national authorities, academics, and sellers of future computer technologies. If this technology were to mature, it may have far-reaching and disruptive consequences for our society. However, it is quite probable that many areas of computing will benefit from quantum computing. This chapter lays out our plans for how software-programmable quantum computers might revolutionize scientific computing in the future. This leads us to believe that quantum computers, similar to graphics processing units and coprocessor cards, will be integrated into hybrid-accelerated computing platforms shortly. Specifically, we discuss how quantum algorithms may revolutionize the field of applied mathematics. Lastly, we illustrate the potential societal effect of quantum-accelerated computational science with many cases.