Week 2 Review — Where Quantum Goes From Here

Over 14 days you've covered: ✅ Superposition, entanglement, interference — the physics foundation ✅ Quantum gates and circuits — how algorithms are built ✅ Shor's and Grover's — the algorithms that change cryptography ✅ Hardware — superconducting vs trapped ion, noise, error correction ✅ Near-term applications — quantum chemistry, optimisation ✅ Long-term applications — cryptography, AI, logistics ✅ Post-quantum cryptography — what to do about the security threat today ✅ Quantum ML — the hype and the reality ✅ The industry players — IBM, Google, IonQ, Microsoft ✅ Quantum networks — how they work and what's deployed ✅ Business strategy — what to actually do about quantum now ✅ Quantum simulation — the clearest near-term win You can now hold an intelligent conversation about quantum computing with technical teams, evaluate quantum vendor claims critically, and make informed decisions about post-quantum security.

Here's an honest calibration: 2024-2027 (NOW): NISQ era. Real hardware, real experiments. Quantum chemistry for small molecules. No broad advantage over classical yet. Post-quantum cryptography standards being deployed. 2027-2032 (NEAR): Early fault-tolerant systems. First commercial quantum advantage in quantum chemistry and possibly financial optimisation. Cryptographic relevance still years away but harvest-now attacks continuing. 2032-2040 (MEDIUM): Fault-tolerant quantum computing at scale. Real drug discovery acceleration. Cryptographic threat becomes acute. Quantum networks connecting major data centres. 2040+ (LONG): Quantum internet. Full quantum advantage across chemistry, optimisation, AI training. RSA/ECC entirely obsolete. The honest advice: monitor, understand, plan for cryptography, experiment on the cloud. Don't bet your business on quantum advantages before 2030.