The end of the world is coming. Be very afraid

One day soon, At a research laboratory near Santa Barbara or Seattle or a secret facility in the Chinese mountains, it will start: opening the world’s sudden secrets. Your secrets.

Cyber ​​security analysts will launch this day Q-Day-the day when someone builds a Quantum computer The forms of encryption can be broken widely. These mathematics problems have maintained intimate humanitarian data for decades, but on the day of x, everything can become weak, for everyone: emails, text messages, unknown posts, site history, bitcoin governor, police reports, hospital records, power stations, and the entire global financial system.

Michel Muska, who co -authors the latest report “The Quantum Timeline” from Global Risk InstituteThat is estimated at the time we left. “will probably Win if you play only once, but it is not a good game to play. When Muska and his colleagues included cybersecurity experts last year, expectations were realistic: one chance on Q-Day before 2035. actually Siped a secret? Some people who spoke to 15 percent – around the same time you will get from one of the pistol cylinder.

Corporaate Ai may have stolen newspaper headlines in recent years, but the quantum arms race has been getting more heated as well. The artificial intelligence today pushes the limits of classic computing – the type that works on 0S and 1S – represents Quantum technology A different form of computing. By harnessing the nerve mechanics of the world without atomic, it can work on 0S or 1S or anything between them. This makes quantum computers very terrible, for example, storing data but it is very likely, for example, finding the recipe for new future materials (or your email password). The classic device is governed by a gradual account life: try one set of ingredients, fail, cancel everything, try again. But quantum computers can explore many possible recipes together.

Therefore, of course, technology giants such as Google, Huawei, IBM and Microsoft were chasing quequum applications that are countless – not only for material science as well as communications, drug development and market analysis. China is plowing huge resources State -backed effortsThe United States and the European Union pledged millions of financing to support local quantum industries. Of course, everyone who wins the race will not only have the next great engine for the global provider. They will also have the greatest machine to break the code in history. So it is normal to ask: What kind of Q-Day that humanity will get-and is there anything we can do to prepare?

If you have a global pickline, you may tell everyone – or you may keep it hidden in your pocket as long as possible. From a typical person’s point of view, the Q-Day Day may not be recognized at all. It may seem to be a series of strange and non -connected news, apparently spread over months or years. The energy network in London is declining on election day, and the city is drowned in the dark. An American submarine on secret task surfaces to find herself surrounded by enemy ships. Embarrassing materials begin to appear online in larger and larger quantities: classified intelligence cables, presidential coverage, and billionaire photos. In this scenario, it may take decades before we can completely identify it when the day of Q-Day actually happened.

Then again, the universal pickline holder may prefer the results of disasters: everything, everywhere, at the same time. Destruction of the network. Disable missile silos. Spread the banking system. Open all the doors and leave the secrets outside.