the i'm action or time seeing welcome back to going underground and the final show of this season after we've witness genocide in this region to the eyes of scholars, politicians and john les couldn't algorithm help the world out of its moral catastrophe. the mathematical procedure shows algorithm promises to 8 solutions to jump, politics, hunger, disease, climate change, even if it may leave the door open for cyber attack on the world's nuclear weapon systems. naturally laid capitalism is investing in it because the leads can honestly, algorithm for the parasitical financial services industry to create will beating investment strategies. political groups meanwhile, could use it to break the encryption on global bank transactions. the formula is shows algorithm its creator is the professor professor of applied mathematics. it might be peter sure, he joins me now from cambridge, massachusetts, and the usa presence. your thanks so much for coming on alarming that the entire financial system relying on electronic bank payment transactions,

nuclear codes, c i a file encryption, ms files. they might be good though for mid sin and yours for pandemic sin diseases. a lot of a lot of stuff is invested in sure was algorithm named off to you. i added simplest . what is what was algorithm. so source algorithm is a way of factoring large numbers using a quantum computer. so quantum computers are these hypothetical devices, which so far are only you only have very preliminary prototypes that show that they will work, but the prototypes are so small, they can't actually do anything useful yet. but if you know, if they keep on scrolling, the way they have been in the last 20 years,

probably in the next 10 or 20 years, they will be able to do useful things. and what shows algorithm is actually, it's a way of factoring large numbers, which needs quantum computers as no rush. i claimed it as a 50 cubic quantum computer. by the end of the year, there was a russian $116.00 at the end of 20, very 3. ibm says they've got a 1121 cubic cube. it being a unit, a like binary for the old, for your laptops, binary switches inside be inside your laptop. explain exactly what the quantum computer is because most people think of their own computers switching on and off. and it's loads of these switches that simulate sums that make graphics and games and all the other things that you do on your computer. yeah, so uh to bit is, uh, well, that's basically a quantum binary um switch,

which means either it's 0 or one. the think about 2 bits, as they know that they have a classical bet, it's either 0 or it's one. and there is no in between or cubits. uh cubic can be in a superposition of both 0 and $1.00 at the same time. just kind of fun at the option. well, it's more than a 3rd option. that's a whole continuum of options. and you know, at 1st before you say, well, what's the use of it being and supervision, and 01 the same time. what can you do with it? a really interesting thing is that there are algorithms you can do using cubits that you cannot do on a single computer. and one of these is the one i discovered called shows, algorithm edits for factoring large numbers and 2 primes.

ok, so we may have to go through another stage before we fully get it to your algorithm . then because the other day microsoft was saying, you figured out a way of error correction in these quantum computers. because if you're going to get a continuum rather than a discrete 0 and a one of the whole point of a laptops is they have systems in there because there's always a mistake going to happen. and there's a way of correcting it. i thought the whole point of quantum mechanics and you might have to explain that to split experiments as well. is it? when you identify a particle, you change where it's at. so in your rec, quantum computer, when you find out where the switch is, you all to where the switch is. yeah, that's right. so um, when quantum computers 1st came out, um, you know,

the general consensus was that you would never be able to build these things because they were impossible it correct arrows on. and, you know, quantum mechanics is such a delicate 3 that there is no way of building quantum computers that will do gates, that are absolutely error free. i mean, we still think this true that you can never build a problem computer with gates that are free, but what's different is that we figured out a way of correcting the errors. so quantum mechanics, if you measure something, if you change it state. so if you major the state of a bottom, peter, in the middle of a computation, the state will collapse and then the computation will no longer be valid, you valid. so how can you measure errors without correcting power? and if you don't measure errors, how can you possibly know whether you have an error and correct?

so the solution to this was to come up with a way of encoding the state of a quantum computer so that you can measure the error without major in the state that the computer is actually. yeah. and then once you've done that, you know what the error is. you haven't disturbed the computation because you didn't measure the state of the computation. you just make it the state of the error. so now you can correct the error, continue on is usually error related to where this is. well, not if you do it right. if you do it right, there's a state of a computation which is protected by the find them error correcting code. and there are the errors which apply to the cubits, but do not change the state of the quantum computer. now if you have a big enough, there are so suppose, you know, suppose you have an error correcting code,

you can have an error correcting coast allow to you to correct safe by the errors at once. but if you have one of these and you get 7 errors, then that is going to change the status of a quantum computer. but if you have a 5 error correct and code and you only get 5 errors, then you're fine. you're correct. there's and keep on with the computation. ok, well back to the algorithm. then we're not advising people who have access to nuclear weapons systems to investigate, to show us how good them, uh, with respect to them. but at the moment, with normal computers, you can't break into the c, i a or whatever, because of cryptography. why? what is, what are the reasons why you can't break into a code, say that edward snowden released to the world,

that we were all being bug go whenever he had access to the documents. to break into the documents, you'd have to require the length of the life of the universe. so something to be able to break into it. why is that cryptography so strong? but why is it's a week in the face of your algorithm? so i guess before around 1975 or so if you know, if you had, if you wanted to predict the secret and you wanted to communicate by so good code to somebody else you needed to have gotten together with the other person and exchange the secret key and if you both have the secret key, then you can, one person can encode the message using the secret key and the other person can decode it is what, what side of the telegram and facebook messenger, all the social media apps used today as much i think yeah, but, but they, um,

but you know, it's, it's really cumbersome and awkward and expensive to exchange secret. keyes with everyone you're communicating with. so 3 people, i guess the best should be, or can edelman figured out how to exchange messages without using secret keyes that both people know and these are called public key crypto systems. and they are basically the basis of most communication today. i don't know that, but they're used for protecting nuclear secrets and things like that, but no banks, how many? um, you know, why are they so secure this process? okay, so they're so secure because um,

if you suppose you have 2 prime numbers like 11 and 17, i can take eleven's and 17 and multiply them together and get 187. but suppose i give you 100 p, so it's much more complicated to take 187 and back to it and learn it. so 11 times 17, actually with 187. it's not so complicated. but if you had a 100 digit product primes, it's much more complicated had if you have a 300 digit product of primes, the fastest computers in the world don't know how to do it efficiently. so and what the rest should be around hillman did was they came up with a code so that in order to encode something, you can multiply 2 number 2 prime numbers together and get the product and use that as the basis of the criptos system. but to decrypt the system without knowing the

2 factors that gave rise to this prime, you need to factor with this large number into primes. and that is, you know, basically impossible for computers today. so this is why our as a is use so much now i showed that if you had a quantum computer, you could factor numbers much more efficiently than on a classical computer. so the number of steps on a quantum computer per factoring a large number is essentially not much more than the number of steps it takes to take 2 numbers to get to take 2 numbers and most buy them together to get this large number. so that means that you hope you have find them computers. so i say public key cryptography is no longer

secure. and before anyone thinks that this is just a break into a secret codes, even if it isn't in the public interest, the factoring into primes of big numbers is an important concept in the whole of life on a, even genomes, dna proteins and met. i think you got that a little bit wrong. so factoring large numbers into primes is really not very important. that scheme of things. what is important is that quantum computers can solve quantum mechanics problems very quickly. and you may not think that's important. but when you realize that, you know, chemistry is

a quantum mechanical problem. designing drugs is a quantum mechanical problem. building new superconductors that have start conducting a larger temperatures than ever before is a quantum mechanical problem. and if you could solve those quantum mechanical problems, you could really to make great strides in our knowledge and useful um technology and other things provides a visual. i'll stop you the more from the world when and computer scientists and divisor of shows algorithm off of this by the

in 1941 with the nazis health relation ultra nationalists, the massages proclaimed the independent state of croatia. shortly off the seizing power. they built the scene of us concentration camp a place associated with the worst atrocities committed in yugoslavia during world war 2. use dash is used to come system to isolate and exterminate subs, roma, jews, and other non catholic minorities, and political opponents of the fascist regime. conditions in the san of us come with her and the gods to which it to arise and the prisoners they send them a consultation temps. so most of them died. it was incredible genocide. the

welcome back to going underground. i'm still here with the award winning can be designed as an advisor, show us albert and professor peter sure. for as a sure we were talking about, or you correcting me about the fact that it's going to mechanics not too much was algorithm in the factoring a prime is that good solver? so many problems in health care and who knows? who knows what else of funding on basic science in your country, the united states that the lowest isn't the lowest for 2 decades. presumably in favor of weapons hunting or something up is that because policy makers don't understand the potential of quantum mechanics and they don't understand what possibilities quoted mechanics offers or they're trying to cover it up. know, i'm sure they know china covered up. is it very expensive to research?

actually, quantum computing has a ton of money for it right now it's and that of course is presumably because it's useful bore, and one of mechanics is also useful for cryptography. what doesn't have a lot of money is that more basic basic science? so i think they think of quantum computing as applied science, which is actually it's still pretty far from applied, but it gets classified that way by the policy makers. so if you're trying to, well, i don't know, understand the biological pathways and molecules that might be hard to get funding for that. of course, that is something that could profoundly affect medicine. so yeah, the policy makers are putting more money into more applied science and less money into the very basic science which may lead to

a deficit of knowledge about basic science. which could be very, you know, and that this knowledge could really be useful many years in the future. yeah. millions of dollars going into that into that end of it. not at the beginning and just um, try and explain to the layman like myself. why or how one would write a program for quantum computers because they probably code is out there thinking of how you write a little piece of code for a laptop. how do you, how do you write those basic computer program? harnessing quantum mechanics in a quantum computer. well, it's not so horribly different from reading programs for laptops. so what a platinum computer does is that applies. want them gates,

which are really, you know, i guess control tulsa's if this then that yeah, things like that. so, 22 bits and the basic um you know, and the basic control pulses are like, i guess, control not gates, which say, if this is a one negate this other bit, qu bec, and if this is a 0, leave it alone. and things like rotate this cubit to by 90 degrees and some basis. and um, and you can rotate things by 90 degrees because well, because 2 bits are continuous, so they don't just have 2 options. rotating it by $180.00 degrees would be getting it so well they get by 90 degrees is the square root of negating it,

which is something that doesn't exist on classical computers. so what you need to do is you need to come up with a way of giving these elementary commands that make the computer do what you want to do. and, you know, just like classical computers, you have programming languages which take the sequence of steps that you want, but what would be the don't actually do and break them up into elementary gates. and i guess the difference is that there are some constructions, one computing which don't exist in classical computing. you make it sounds so simple. why is it so difficult to construct a even a simple quantum confused event? what are they made or they're looking? well, there are at least 3 or 4 different things they're made of. so

one way you can do find them computing. so for uh, compete for a cubic you need, uh, or you need a to state system which is either say on our of our spin up or spin down or something like that. so if i am traps, the basic element is an ion, and you use the electronic state of an ion and one state is a 0 and another state is a one. and you manipulate these states in 2 ways. one way is by shining lasers on them and that will change the state of a single ion. and another way is if you have to i engine the high end trap, there is a vibrational mode of the ion trap were all behind. so moving back and forth at once. and what you can do is you can shine the laser to the right frequency,

the couples, your electronic state, of the eye on to this, back and forth motion. and then couples this back and forth motion to a different ion, and that makes the 2 ions interact. and that gives you a gate between these 2 only have these 2 cubits. so that's ion traps. and you know, there, you will have these little silicon chips and you have these little groove in them and in the grooves, you arrange electromagnetic fields to called your ions. and another um you know, another similar method is neutral, adams where you have a very similar to high end traps, but you have neutral, adams, so they are not charged and again,

their health and traps. and you can use lasers to manipulate their quantum states. and there's a completely different method which is superconducting cubits. and there you have a chip with some superconducting material, i guess deposited on it. so it's the silicon chip with the superintendent mutari o and the super conducting the trio. you have little integrated circuit elements called trance months and a 0. there is a magnetic flux going around clockwise kind of one, there's a magnetic bucks going around the counter clockwise and manipulate these by of basically electronics. okay, well i mean, is it, it seems relatively cobra and symbol yet, mackenzie of a controversial log we, consultancy firm says it only about 5000 quantum computers by 2030. so what,

why is it going to take so long to get even a basic cubit computer like the one you just described to maybe only 10, which is maybe you can do much with that on the market. yeah, well i mean 1st if there's only time keep it's only a 100 cubits or maybe even only a 1000 cubits. you really cannot do anything with your quantum computer because like i walk through thousands relate to is it right? yeah, it's not even as good as a poppy calculator, but um, because to do i mean for a while we thought that without error correction you still might be able to do something on the quantum computer. but it's looking more and more like to do anything is going on quite a bit because we do need care oppression and to, to error correction of the quantum computer.