Quantum Computers Could Solve These Problems

Quantum computing has attracted a lot of attention and much of what you read in the headlines is overhyped. But underneath the hype there's real promise. In this video I go through the applications of quantum computing that we can realistically expect -- if they ever get the devices to work...

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00:00 Intro
00:59 Quantum Computing Basics
04:34 Quantum Computing Hardware
08:42 Code Cracking
12:27 Quantum Chemistry
14:20 Finance
16:43 Logistics
19:45 Climate Change?
21:04 Summary
21:53 Easier LaTeX on Overleaf

#science #tech #physics

[dougpowers]

I don't think I've ever watched a SH video and not come away with a substantially better understanding of whatever she's talking about. She's an absolute gem of a communicator.

[kingwr]

Being too old to have learned this in college, I have always been amazed at the lack of clear explanation of this aspect of quantum computing. This video is the best of the dozens of videos I have watched and articles I have read. Bravo!

[minerharry]

I really appreciate how deliberate you were with your delivery in this video - especially in the intro section, your efforts to be clear and leave time for points to sink really really came across; you aren’t here to excite us or swindle us, you have no interest in sweeping information under the rug or speeding past less desirable concepts. Thanks for all you do!

[martifingers]

Watching this channel is always both intellectually challenging and somehow comforting at the same time.
BTW at 8.44 "Finance " seems to have acquired an extra cubit or is somehow showing some entanglement if I am not mistaken.😉

[JohnDoe-ltkl]

Finanance (8:47) "No spell-check in LaTeX", ChatGPT said to Clippy, and they both laughed their AA's off.

[video_enjoyer]

I love Overleaf! I used that for almost all of my homework while getting my math degree, it basically got me through university

[ciaopizzabella]

An excellent choice of subject. This can't get enough attention. I have been suspecting for a long time that the expectations for quantum computing were overblown but the last 2 years or so I was getting some doubts. This was a nice refresher.

[adammyers]

7:22 Minor correction, factorial is not the product of all integers these then the value, it is the product of all positive numbers less then the value (otherwise the factorial would be trivial for all positive numbers, by being the number 0).

[coolbananaboy]

Sabine is fantastic - her humor, especially!

[mariodegroote]

i looked at a lot of people explaing quantum.... you are the only one who explains it that a grunt like me can understand it, and your also honnest, you dont sell yourself or your principels, you cut trough there crap as a hot knife trough butter. i respect the human you are and how you do this work, we need way more people like you!

[epicooldude]

If there's one thing you've taught me, its cautionary optimism! Thanks for the informative video

[quatummind]

Sabine. You are amazing and you should have your own show or podcast. The world needs to hear what’s in your brain

[ominollo]

I have been waiting for such a video! Thanks Sabine!
OT:
It will be alway a mystery to me how you manage to 1) do research at university 2) publish high quality videos twice a week 3) spend time with your family!

[jehl]

Very interesting and well presented. Having been a "Travelling Salesman", and managed inventory in warehouses, I think I'm qualified to provide a real-world response to the idea of using quantum computing to calculate the ideal solution to those problem. Yes, it can and and will do so, "...but at the end of the day..." it's most likely not going to make a world-changing improvement? Why? Because of diminishing returns, and the corollary to the idea of "diminishing returns", which is "other factors".
Diminishing returns: Having planned my daily sales routes using different software packages, I quickly came to the conclusion that it is far simpler -- and just as effective -- to avoid planning bad routes. Mathematically -- if there are N! possible routes for N stops to be made, there are usually just a few "bad" routes. For example always moving from one stop to the furthest available next stop. Don't do that! Once you have eliminated the bad routes, the rest of the routes often have very similar values, and the downside risk of picking any of them is very small. So "at the end of the day", it doesn't matter which you pick since the difference between them may only be a few minutes of travel time. And given that any particular customer visit may have a variance of 10-15 minutes, saving a minute in travel time will not make a difference in the time that you arrive back at the hotel at the end of the day.
This brings me to the "other factors". In a world where optimization yields diminishing returns, other factors can quickly trump the benefits of sophisticated optimization techniques. In the example given above, a talkative customer, or maybe some unexpected news of a potentially big deal (which is why I was visiting customers in the first place!) may cause me to chuck my day's plan in order to spend more time with that customer. In the case of warehousing, you may spend countless hours calculating the ideal locations for parts based on their size, weight, value and projected activity level, only to be faced with stocking the next fad product (Look! Pet rocks! A Mood ring! Slime!!!) which will suddenly cause you to throw the whole scheme out and start again. It is impossible to predict the next fad product, in either the commercial realm, nor in industrial products. There is a world of unknowns out there waiting to jump up at some unpredictable time and ruin your ideal solution. So maybe the best solution is to not get too heavily invested in any solution, and instead focus on avoiding the stupid solutions. This could be summed up by saying "Just don't do anything stupid". There are evolutionary benefits to just not getting yourself fired/killed/eliminated, and living to fight another day.

[J_CtheEngineer]

Thank you for spreading the good word of latex and overleaf! I’ve been using it for awhile and have been super happy with it!

[factChecker]

Quote of the day:
"If you compute with something that doesn't exist, we call that politics." -- Sabine Hossenfelder

[mission]

Good job to Sabine for making complex topics understandable to the average person! 📚

[AndreiNeacsu]

I use a self-hosted Overleaf system on my own server (inside a virtual machine - VM). It works like a charm and with the advantages of VMs, I have backups of my entire manuscripts collection. So far, I have nothing but good things to say about it. Some of my colleagues use the paid version and the open-source that I run, but I find it very surprising how many others still exchange files over email despite me telling them about Sharelatex in the past and Overleaf more recently.

[draven]

Thank you, Sabine, for another excellent video. I have to admit that reading about QC's in the media, and some predictions, confused me. This video has clarified things for me. And your humour about physicists taking over this and that...please tell them to continue and maybe they'll eventually get to 'quantum politics'. Jeez, they certainly couldn't do any worse than the mess politicians seem to be in today, 😊

[MyName-tboz]

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this but quantum computing _could_ speed up the internet a little and maybe moderately by improving packet routing. Packet routing is another, "traveling salesman, " sort of problem. The shortest distance between two nodes might not be a straight line. Congestion is a factor, for instance.