1980s: Machine Learning
Do you know that today's massive algorithms probably know you better than you know of yourself?
It all started with Alan Turin saying a famous and interesting phrase in the 1950s: Can machines think?
That is when they started to investigate algorithms in which machines could learn by themselves from data. Until a few years later, when an IBM researcher named Arthur Lee Samuel created the first machine learning algorithm in the game of checkers and popularised it among IT researchers.
For various reasons, there were about 25 years without any optimal algorithm results and the popularity of machine learning declined considerably, until the 1980s, when the backpropagation algorithm (neural network) was developed. From then on, different algorithms were developed and improved. Until today where machine learning is one of the most used fields collecting massive amounts of data and looking for patterns among them (without privacy) to improve the experience of each user. Depending on how you approach the application of machine learning in reality you may like it or not.
Finally, I would like to add that if the Web 3.0 project ("Privacy") emerges, the usability of machine learning today could become obsolete, unless it is focused on other fields.
1990s: Quantum Computing
Will quantum computing be able to solve problems or dilemmas in quantum mechanics?
The vision of being able to translate quantum mechanics into computation is the cause of the emergence of quantum computing. Today we can already see the emergence of quantum computers. But before the creation of the first quantum computer, algorithms and principles were formulated which could be applied to quantum computing, such as Shor's algorithm(1) or the principles of superposition, entanglement and interference.
As we know, a classical computer works through bits (0 or 1) can only be in one state only. On the contrary, a quantum computer works through Qbits (0 and 1) in which the state can be 0 or 1 at the same time, there lies the power of quantum computing. These Qbits can be made up of different types of atoms (electrons, photons, and more). The first Qbits ever created was in 1998, a computer made up of two Qbits. From then on, quantum computers with more Qbits and new algorithms were developed at the same time.
At the moment, today's quantum computers can only perform very simple operations and are not very useful compared to classical computers. But that's why big investors are putting a lot of money into their development.
We are still a long way away from quantum computers becoming useful because, for example, in order to compute Shor's algorithm you need at least 1000000 Qbits and today the maximum number of Qbits inside a quantum computer is 100. It will be complicated because Qbits are very sensitive, they have to reside in a totally noiseless space (no waves), but nothing is impossible.
(1): Shor's algorithm is used to factor very large numbers, reversing the one-way-function. In other words, it compromises the integrity of today's cryptography.
2000s: Blockchain
Could blockchain technology be implemented on the Internet (Web 3.0)?
It is one of the most interesting technologies that has been discovered in the last decades. Why? Until a few years ago, everything was regulated and controlled by companies, and by "everything" I mean banks, data (personal and non-personal), etc. In other words, everything was centralised, controlled by the CEOs of big companies. Blockchain technology eliminates the CEOs. Everything involved is decentralised, held by different people around the world and connected by a single and untouchable ledger. This ledger is made up of blocks of validated data and each block is related to the previous one, making the data written and validated in a block untouchable.
The implementation of this technology has become popular in cryptocurrencies, when in 2009 a person or a group of people with the nickname of Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin with a type of blockchain implemented.
Another project that is starting to emerge and is based on the blockchain would be Web 3.0. Imagine the internet of today but instead of Facebook belonging to Mark Zuckerberg, it would belong to all the people who own Facebook's own cryptocurrency, you could buy an amount of those cryptocurrencies yourself and you could be involved in the decision making for the improvement of Facebook.
The blockchain is a technology that more and more companies are implementing in their projects because it is secure, immutable and distributed.
Marti Pujol
Comments
Post a Comment