Alexander Ploier

What I do

I am a trained mathematician and during my time at university I ended up being part of the quantum computing world. I am focusing my time and energy into demystifying “quantum” as a concept — oftentimes quantum is used as a cop-out in science fiction when the writers are lazy and want their characters to sound smart without actually wanting to explain their science. This in return might suggest that quantum science has to be the most advanced and complicated science there is, when in reality it is just how nature actually behaves.

Furthermore some people or companies do promise the new-age computing when quantum computers are finally, readily available to solve problems efficiently, but that does not mean every person will have their own personal quantum computer sitting at home under their desk and I want people to know the difference between hype and what is realistic.

But if I am wrong and in a couple of years every person has their own personal quantum computer, you can tell me I was wrong.

Why it matters

In our small quantum bubble sometimes we do forget that not every person is interested in the latest algorithmic speedups, or the latest updates on how many qubits we currently can have in the best quantum computer in the world, or how good we can manipulate one single qubit. It is not the job of the general population to inform themselves about those advances, it is our job as scientists to make people care and this is what is most important to myself.

Further reading