The Economist.
Tim Cross, as The Economist's senior science writer, you've covered technology closely for a long time.
How many times have you written that quantum computing is just around the corner?
I think I've lost track at this point.
I probably need a quantum computer to to keep track.
But in my defense, I will say it's more and more increasingly round the corner.
It's really really just round the corner at this point.
We are close to the corner.
Are you excited or worried about that?
I think probably a bit of both.
Having all these mathematical superpowers that we're about to have is very exciting.
But I guess like all superpowers, you can use them for evil.
Is that just too trite and lame?
I mean, what's what's the worry?
Like what is the badness?
So the badness is that quantum computers will give us
is the ability to quickly break pretty much all the encryption
that protects everything from credit card details to login details
to holiday pictures to corporate secrets as they travel over the internet.
Okay, give us the good news.