On Monday, Google announced Willow, their newest quantum computer processor, promising previously unheard-of speed and dependability. Even in and of itself, the chip’s record-breaking computing speeds were impressive. But Hartmut Neven, the founder of Google Quantum AI, made a daring claim that has sparked a lot of interest: Willow’s remarkable performance raises the possibility that we live in a multiverse.
According to Neven’s blog post, Willow completed a computation in under five minutes that would take the fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years a timescale so vast it dwarfs the age of the universe. Neven speculated that such capabilities could only be explained by quantum computation tapping into parallel universes. This aligns with the multiverse theory proposed by physicist David Deutsch, who suggested quantum computations could occur across multiple realities.
The concept of a multiverse, while often associated with science fiction, is taken seriously in quantum physics. Willow’s performance reignites the discussion about the nature of reality, with some experts finding Neven’s conclusions plausible. However, skeptics argue that these claims rely on Google’s own benchmarks for measuring quantum performance, leaving room for doubt about their implications.
On Monday, Google announced Willow, their newest quantum computer processor, promising previously unheard-of speed and dependability. Even in and of itself, the chip’s record-breaking computing speeds were impressive. But Hartmut Neven, the founder of Google Quantum AI, made a daring claim that has sparked a lot of interest: Willow’s remarkable performance raises the possibility that we live in a multiverse.
Despite Willow’s advancements, quantum computing remains in its infancy. The more qubits a quantum computer uses, the more susceptible it becomes to errors. Google’s mission with Willow was to address this issue, and Neven asserts that the chip significantly reduces errors.
While Willow’s achievements are groundbreaking, whether it definitively proves the existence of a multiverse remains an open question. Nonetheless, it underscores the transformative potential of quantum computing.
