Goodbye to the universe as we know it? Google’s quantum chip defies scientists and speaks of parallel universes

On Monday 9th of december, Google announced Willow, the newest and most powerful quantum computing chip. While the claims of speed and reliability for the chip were certainly impressive, what really surprised the tech world was a far more contentious claim buried in the blog post announcing it. The reason for this, according to Hartmut Neven, the head of Google Quantum AI, was that the performance of the Willow chip was so phenomenally fast that it had to have “borrowed” the computation from parallel universes. And to the multiverse being parallel universes.

Though it might sound like the stuff of science fiction, some scientists argue that the idea is based on some good science. Quantum physics has long explored the possibility of parallel universes, with much of this research still in the realm of speculation. Neven’s provocative claim attracted immediate reactions. Some doubted the theory outright, but others agreed with him, citing continuing discussions and experiments into the area of quantum mechanics.

Google’s quantum leap: the role of willow in the multiverse theory

The fundamental advancement that underlies Willow’s performance stems from its capacity to execute calculations at a significantly faster rate than traditional computers. In contrast to conventional digital systems, which depend on bits (either 0 or 1), quantum computers utilize qubits. Qubits possess the unique ability to exist in multiple states simultaneously, leveraging quantum entanglement, a phenomenon in which particles remain interconnected across considerable distances. This capability enables quantum computers to tackle complex problems that classical computers are incapable of addressing even in their preliminary stages.

But what’s cool with Willow is its ability to significantly reduce errors in quantum calculations, which has been a major problem with previous quantum chips. Quantum computers inherently tend to make many mistakes because of the nature of the qubits, which are unstable. The more qubits used, the more errors tend to accumulate, which makes reliability a continuing problem. Google claims that Willow has overcome some of these challenges and, therefore, is closer to viable quantum computing.

However, some skepticism has still been raised regarding the claim that Willow derives its speed from tapping computational power from other universes. For one, this hypothesis is based on performance metrics from Google itself and, arguably, lacking in scientific basis. The performance benchmarks applied by Google when testing quantum computers were itself set by the company, which raises questions as to the appropriateness and relevance of the test.

Quantum mechanics and the theory of parallel universes

The multiverse is nothing new to physics, though-a fancy name referring to parallel universes. In fact, it has many forms. One of those is the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics: every possible outcome of every quantum event actually occurs in some universe or other. Some believe this is something that, if true, the extraordinary powers of quantum computers like Willow are at least a hint that we are living in a multiverse, where each computation interacts with various versions of reality.

To many, the idea of Willow getting her powers from parallel universes is something unbelievable, but quantum physics itself questions our conventional understanding of the universe. With the principles of quantum entanglement and superposition-where particles can exist in multiple states at once-it is not entirely impossible to think that quantum computing, at some point in the future, could exploit these phenomena in ways that could, in fact, validate the existence of more than one universe.

Quantum computing’s future and Its possibilities

Despite the skepticism surrounding his claims, the real importance of Willow lies in how it could change computing as we know it. By solving a few of the key problems that have prevented quantum systems from being practical, Willow could be the next major breakthrough to making quantum computing’s true potential a reality. If quantum computers could achieve that degree of efficiency, they could solve problems considered unsolvable, from discovery of drugs to modeling weather and more.

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However, the road to fully operable and stable quantum computers is long. Even though the breakthrough of Google with Willow is a serious move forward, much work is yet to be done. Today the idea of computing power from parallel universes may still be part of the realm of fantasy, but the potentials enabled by quantum computing are enormous, and its development can change our understanding of reality itself.

*This article was written in Spanish and translated with the help of AI.