Project Vision 21

According to a story published earlier this month, a new quantum supercomputer from Google can solve in seconds problems that it would take other quantum supercomputers 47 years to solve. In other words, the processing time was reduced from almost half a century to a few seconds.

If that same ratio were to hold when the next quantum supercomputer kicks in (and that will certainly happen sooner than you think), then the next generation of quantum supercomputers will be able to solve in millionths of a second what now takes a few seconds to solve.
 

But what are these supercomputers with that unimaginable processing capacity for? The first answer is that they will be used for autonomous vehicle navigation, but that seems too small a task for such supercomputers.
 

Personally, I think the new quantum supercomputers will be used, as seen in Star Trek, to help navigate spaceships. And why not? Before denying that possibility, let's remember that at some point not so long ago people believed that nothing heavier than air could fly. In today's world, saying "it's never going to happen" is meaningless.
 

At the same time, there are two other possibilities for new quantum supercomputers, and they have nothing to do with my speculations or my intention to continue watching Star Trek as a documentary.
 

Specifically, it has been mentioned that China would be studying the use of quantum supercomputers for the administration of that huge country. In that context, the time may come (and it may not be long) when we will no longer elect a president, but a supercomputer will govern us.
 

And, according to another report, quantum supercomputers could be used for a task beyond (it is usually said) the scope of current science and technology: communicating with extraterrestrial intelligence. Perhaps that is the main and real purpose of developing this new technology.
 

There is still another possibility, that of quantum computers becoming the brains of intelligent humanoid robots. (Do you remember Data?) The idea is not far-fetched. Just a couple of weeks ago, a “summit” between intelligent robots and human experts was held in Geneva to discuss “future possibilities for cooperation”.
 

Will robots with a quantum brain want to cooperate with us? They probably won't even want to listen to us. Let's think about this example: two weeks ago, the specialized magazine Plos One published an article about “cheap” robots built with LEGO pieces that can “purify” DNA.
 

If LEGO robots can do that, what can't super-intelligent robots do? Maybe it's better not to think about it, but don't say that to the Spanish archaeologist Eudald Carbonell because he already thought about it. 
 

Last February, Carbonell indicated that by the end of this century there will be four human species: traditional (organic) humans, hybrid humans (cyborgs), artificial humans, and digital humans. And all those species will live and work together on this planet. 
 

What will happen then when quantum supercomputers become the brains of intelligent robots? Whatever they want to happen will happen.