I’m old school, I admit. That’s partly why quantum computing fascinates me. My paradigm for coding has been: if you need to find something in 1,000,000 boxes, you’ll need to check, on average, 500,000 boxes. This logic is wired all the way down into the chip. Semiconductors make up transistors that read either 1 or 0. Is it in this box? If not, check the next box.
But now we have quantum that reaches down beneath matter as we know it, into the weird worlds of particles and fields. And here we don’t have just 1 or 0. We have 1 and 0 at the same time. Some scientists trying to come to an intuitive understanding of this call it the multiple worlds theory. Where all possible worlds exist every moment. Far out and theoretical —except, quantum computers actually exploit this model. And by searching through multiple worlds simultaneously, they can slice those 500,000 average queries down to 1000.
So you can see how this gets interesting. Like a Zen koan: how can you search without searching? How can you not look in every box until you find something? Well, turns out you need an oracle. That’s actually what it’s called. The oracle emits a signal that reverberates the boxes, and a process amplifies this reverberation. This continues iteratively until one box is vibrating “pick me! Pick me!” loud enough to warrant opening it. And there you have it. There’s something deep going on here, but I can’t quite grok it. That you can call out for answers like that instead of turning over rocks.
Since our conscious mind seems inextricable linked to the quantum realm in eerie experiments like the double slit, perhaps it’s not a stretch to theorize, like some have, that consciousness actually has a function. It’s not just a byproduct of a bunch of neurons, it actually has a role to play in selecting which multiverse we enter, moment by moment. Thankfully, our conscious remains relatively stable because we delegate most of its functions to our culture and belief systems. This suggests an aberrant possibility that one may diverge from both the tribe and our own timelines in radical ways. But perhaps we should consult an oracle first.
Here’s my dialog with my buddy AI about this to get a better understanding