When Google’s supercomputer solved an optimization problem in only three seconds, most people were impressed, yet not everyone understood the ramifications of the accomplishment. Tristan Bishop Pan says that the event signaled a new millennium for the world. “It was like going from the prehistoric age to the 21st century,” he explains. “We’re talking about the difference between driving a stone wheel-and-buggy to flying an F-22. Quantum computers have taken us far beyond what we have thought was possible and are the beginning of a completely new frontier, one that will have enormous benefits but also dangers.”

Tristan Bishop Pan says that quantum computers are computing machines of mass power. “They’re not meant for your Facebook and Instagram or for writing emails. As you’d guess, they’re incredibly expensive, but eventually, at the speed we’re going, the super wealthy won’t be the only ones who own them.”

Instead, Tristan Bishop Pan predicts that quantum computers will become something regular people can own. “That’s when we’ll really see some problems because as more people own them, more of their power will be unleashed on the world.”

Tristan Bishop Pan gives the example of the blockchain. “Currently, it’s practically unhackable because you have millions of people on the chain verifying the data against each other at any given point in time. In order to hack the chain, you’re not hacking one person – you’re hacking 500,000 people and changing their data all at the same time so that the chains can link up and the data can be verified. You cannot do that with today’s technology.”

With quantum computers, you can. “This is why I believe that quantum computers are one of the scariest, if not the scariest, things to have been invented by mankind,” Tristan Bishop Pan reveals. “That includes the atom bomb and tanks. Quantum computers can do unfathomable damage. At this speed of computation, it outdoes the human brain. It can outdo anything and everything we are capable of throwing at it. The only thing that can outdo a quantum computer is a quantum computer. Its sheer magnitude, size, and computing power makes the entire whole of what we have learned in evolution a blip on the radar.”

Tristan Bishop Pan says the danger of quantum computers is that we have lost our advantage. “Until now, we have been able to out-innovate computers because we can process this information and understand it better than a computer can. That’s no longer the case.”

Tristan Bishop Pan gives this example: “As human beings, we learn over time. If you’ve lived in a house, you know that over the years, you learn about what you want to do for your next house. Take my wife, who likes to have this little caddy in her shower, and we said that in our next home, she wants to have a built-in caddy. Those are things you learn from your experiences as a human being.” 

Imagine a computer that can run similar simulations, Tristan Bishop Pan continues, but for a 10,000-year existence and arrive at the answers in only three seconds. 

“What would you be able to do if you lived 10,000 years?” Tristan Bishop Pan asks. “Imagine the amount of experience you would gain. The number of things you’d understand, the innovations you could create.”

Tristan Bishop Pan throws out another scenario. “Now let’s say we had the world’s smartest people. Let’s say we had Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, and we gave them 10,000 years to innovate. Wouldn’t that be something? That would create an entirely new world as we know it, but let’s say that we could do that same innovation in just three seconds. 10,000 years of computations in three seconds.”

This, Tristan Bishop Pan finishes, is how scary quantum computers are. “Quantum computers, in effect, can outlearn us, outdo us, and out-innovate us. Where will that kind of power take them and humanity?”