Don’t know if this is the correct community to ask this question but here goes.
I am a physics/math major and I am fascinated by computers. I want to work on a field that deals with cutting edge computer hardware (sort of like how ssd was in the age of hdd). But most of the research seems to be on stuff that will be used by corporations (not affordable for common people).
Does anyone have any idea what field is closest to what I’m looking for?
Quantum computing sounds great for a physics and math major. There’s certainly still a lot to learn. I think the biggest challenges are still mostly in the physics aspect of quantum computing, but software development is an important part as well.
I actually think the tech is mostly there, all we really need is application. Once there’s a real world need for quantum computers, they will get more developed over time. If there is nothing to be gained by making them quicker, more efficient, et cetera, then it will remain niche.
Which is partly why I mentioned AI. Currently, of course, most of AI applications run on very powerful GPUs with a huge amount of bandwidth. At some point, it will no longer be profitable to increase scale (not to mention the already disastrous environmental impact). I am hoping that quantum can solve both scale up and evolutionary issues that AI is facing.
Mind that I’m not just talking about LLMs, AI is much broader than just coding assistants or silly chatbots. AI has been around long before ChatGPT, it’s just that LLMs have provided a real world use that appeals to a much wider audience (scale up).
When it comes to its evolution, it’s mostly about ‘putting AI in everything’, something that on this platform is a bad thing about which most people here say they don’t want it. I can sort of see why for some aspects, but there’s always been a voice of resistance for disruptive tech. Combining computers with agriculture was long seen as nonsense, until they started seeing how much data they actually could process in a much shorter time. Enabling internet access on a lot of home appliances was seen as daft until home automation became more widespread. Putting excellent camera tech on portable devices seemed a weird combination until social media required you to share photos all the time. It’s unclear which field will benefit most from AI integration at this point, but I’m fairly confident there will be one. Quantum computing can help solve efficiency issues that will give us the opportunity to combine AI with all kinds of applications to see which one might benefit most.
If we stop trying to see the dystopian part of all these developments, I think AI evolution will solve a lot of our issues pertaining to energy usage and transition away from fossil fuels, climate change and the way we live with environmental shifts, language barriers and other sociological challenges that cause friction, space travel and exploration, our understanding of the planet and the universe, education…
But we need to be wary of power struggles, privacy, fascism, time (in the event our ecosystem collapses before AI can help us solve our issues), inequity of access to improvements gained by AI (ie how will the poorest of us benefit. Computers were once only for the elite, now almost everyone has something like a pc, laptop or smartphone).
I’m split 50/50 between optimistic and pessimistic about the future of AI but if we can leverage quantum the way science has promised us quantum may help, that tips the scale to 70/30.