Quantum Computing is coming…is sinful humanity ready?

Quantum Computing represents the current pinnacle of the computing world. Instead of using 1s and 0s like a traditional supercomputer, quantum computers use subatomic particles to record information. Because of a phenomenon of quantum physics called “superposition,” these subatomic particles can be separated by great distances, and still maintain connection with each other, giving a much faster computation time.

A recent computational test of a quantum computer versus a normal supercomputer was performed by the Google AI division. A problem that would take approximately 10,000 years for the supercomputer to solve was actually solved by the quantum computer in just over 3 minutes. This is being hailed by experts as an incredible breakthrough, and you can read an article about that here.

With all this news and positive heraldry, it makes me wonder if people realize that all this will really do is allow us as humans to sin faster and with more accuracy. Unlike what the current crop of Bible-challenging, God-denying scientists will tell us, humans by our very nature are imbued with and overcome by sin from birth. You see, our first parents, Ish and Isha (Adam and Eve in Hebrew), disobeyed God and fell (leaped really) into sin. They were judged, placed under a penalty of death, and then punished by expulsion from their idyllic home. Worse, because that judgement involved a curse from God, their sinfulness became affixed to the very nature of who they were, and has been passed down to every person born since then. Not one of us has escaped this original sin.

Sinfulness is not a computational problem. It is a problem that so-called science and technology cannot correct. It cannot be removed by any natural means at our disposal. It is not a problem of genetics. It is not a problem of technology, of poverty, of social construct, or any other natural phenomenon. It is a supernatural judgement, and it must be dealt with by supernatural means. This means that no human can deal with it, because we are restricted to the natural realm. That’s the bad news.

The good news is this – God loved His creation so much that He became a man in the person of Jesus Christ that lived a perfect life under God’s own Law (known to most as the Ten Commandments, but covering far more) and then gave that life as a once-for-all sacrifice to save all those who would ever believe and turn to Him from that death and ensuing eternal damnation that results from that judgement. Because that sacrifice of obedience pleased God the Father, He raised His Son to new life and now shares the throne of the universe with Him.

Quantum computing has nothing to offer the sinner that is of salvific or redemptive value, although there will doubtless be physical and intellectual benefits to quantum technology. Given that humans are no longer capable of choosing God or anything God would see as good, what value is there in computational speeds that allow things like artificial intelligence? Sinful humans still program the computer, and a computer is only as good as its programming.

Like the old human adage says, to err is human – but to really foul things up, you need a computer.