One of my favorite story tropes is where the main character is magically transported back in time, enabling them to use their “modern-day” scientific knowledge to appear powerful and gain advantage over the relatively primitive denizens of their new surroundings. The most famous, well-known example would be the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, but this idea appears throughout literature and film as far back as 1889 in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. I’m also known to repeatedly quote Arthur C. Clarke (who also used this trope in his seminal work Childhood’s End), “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
It’s not magic but it might as well be
The information security industry is currently abuzz with quantum computing talk, particularly so because of President Biden signing into law the “Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act” at the close of 2022 which instructs government agencies to begin preparing their security to withstand quantum-computing powered encrypting breaking tools. For most of us, quantum computing sounds like something you would read about in a Clarke novel, and if you try to get into the details, it might as well be sorcery. The second line of the Wikipedia article literally states:
Classical physics cannot explain the operation of these quantum devices…
Quantum computing – Wikipedia
And there are probably very few of us who could even begin to explain how today’s computers work, let alone one powered by quantum physics. Knowledge is power, and we are increasingly at the mercy of devices that are essentially magical to us, and more so to the ones that control the knowledge and technology that powers them. This is particularly relevant with regards to the vast amount of valuable data locked in LastPass’s stolen but encrypted data vaults. If I could tie it to another famous movie trope, imagine bank robbers attempting to crack a massive, steel vault with a fancy laser drill while counting down the seconds until the lock is drilled through. Substitute quantum computing for the drill, and hackers for the bank robbers, and you have today’s unfolding scenario: an escalating technology arms race that requires federal laws to be passed and a select few wizards anointed to make sure we are kept safe. Wizards are traditionally feared and respected in fiction for good reason, and as in Baum’s famous tale, not necessarily always operating with everyone’s best interests in mind. Does it require you to understand quantum computing, to become a wizard, just to keep yourself safe? No, but keep your eyes on the wizards (and their handlers – kings, presidents, lawmakers, etc.) to make sure they wield their power ethically and safely.
Image generated by deepai.org based on the single word “Wizard”
