IARPA: Disbelief to Doubt

Enjoy this sneak peak of IARPA: Disbelief to Doubt Episode 4!  In this upcoming episode of Disbelief to Doubt we speak with former Program Manager Michael DiRosa and explore how quantum computing differs from classical computing approaches, how this technology may eventually change the world, and how IARPA has been at the forefront of quantum research for nearly two decades. 

What is IARPA: Disbelief to Doubt?

IARPA: Disbelief to Doubt explores the history and accomplishments of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) through the lens of some of the most impactful current and past programs and the people who worked on them in IARPA's technical offices of Collection and Analysis. In each episode, Program Managers (PMs), technical staff, and research performers will offer candid insights into their personal journeys, what led them to IARPA, and how the unique mission of the organization enables them to be force multipliers as they tackle some of the most difficult cross-community scientific challenges.

IARPA: Disbelief To Doubt Podcast
Episode 4: Quantum Leaps
Guest: Dr. Michael DiRosa

Episode 4 Teaser Transcript

Michael DiRosa:
That to do this with a quantum computer would take, about some tens of millions of qubits. And the algorithm itself would take some tens of billions of steps. After that, through this algorithm with a quantum computer, you would arrive at an answer to that problem - that if left to a classical computer would take, round estimate, a quadrillion years to solve. That's a long time! Longer than the age of the universe. There is the allure then for quantum computing to be applied to other problems and to the earliest visionary ideas for using quantum computers and that was for: simulating physical systems, for simulating physics and related problems in chemistry, biology, medicine.
How could we arrive at superconductivity at room temperature? How could we discover drugs and cures faster than we do now? So, there's this sense that quantum computing is not superior in every regard to classical computing, but there are some classes of problems that gives it impetus to discover what this frontier of computing might be like.