thanks to quantum mechanics. Most likely, the future quantum computers will
reach the necessary performance to handle the artificial intelligence of robots and
spaceships of the twenty-first century. Each processor will reach with a few hundred qubits – the quantum equivalent of traditional bits – an unbelievable computing power by today’s standards. The governments of the US, Russia and China, as
well as private companies in Silicon Valley, are investing billions to achieve technological supremacy in quantum computing. The European Commission has allocated $1.2 billion for research in this area and ESA is planning research programs
for quantum communications
4
as well.
Cyberspace will be the next global battleground, where wars will take place
both in the visible orbits around the Earth and the invisible ones where the electrons spin around atomic nuclei.
In 1951, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a popular science book The Exploration of
Space, where he realistically anticipated NASA’s space missions on the red planet:
we will send a vehicle into orbit around Mars, under the guidance of a small
but complex electronic brain; it will fly over the planet closely and a camera
will photograph the landscape while the images will be transmitted to the
distant Earth via radio. It is unlikely that a real television broadcast will be
possible with such a small apparatus at such a distance. The best we can
expect will be still images broadcast every few minutes, which may be
enough for our purposes.
5
During that same year, Clarke also wrote the short science fiction story The
Sentinel,
6
which inspired the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey in the sixties. In the
novel, Clarke imagined that a computer equipped with artificial intelligence while
driving the spacecraft Discovery on a mission towards Saturn begins to erroneously think that the two crew members are sabotaging the mission. It then panics
and ends up killing one of the astronauts before being disabled by the other. This
astronaut continues the mission alone and ends up crossing a mysterious black
monolith that sends him towards an unknown solar system after a hallucinating
space-time run. Arthur Clarke was not only an admirable novelist but also a brilliant scientific and intellectual personality who realistically predicted many future
space missions that humankind would later carry out. Moreover, his literary vision
of a computer equipped with artificial intelligence that gets rid of the human
beings who created it should be a warning for all of us regarding what may await
us in this century.
4
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/
Space_photons_bring_a_new_dimension_to_cryptography.
5
Clarke, Arthur Charles. 2007. The Exploration of Space. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing,
LLC (first edition 1951).
6
Clarke, Arthur Charles. 1991. The Sentinel. Harper Voyager Edition (first edition 1951).
Conclusions 137
reach the necessary performance to handle the artificial intelligence of robots and
spaceships of the twenty-first century. Each processor will reach with a few hundred qubits – the quantum equivalent of traditional bits – an unbelievable computing power by today’s standards. The governments of the US, Russia and China, as
well as private companies in Silicon Valley, are investing billions to achieve technological supremacy in quantum computing. The European Commission has allocated $1.2 billion for research in this area and ESA is planning research programs
for quantum communications
4
as well.
Cyberspace will be the next global battleground, where wars will take place
both in the visible orbits around the Earth and the invisible ones where the electrons spin around atomic nuclei.
In 1951, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a popular science book The Exploration of
Space, where he realistically anticipated NASA’s space missions on the red planet:
we will send a vehicle into orbit around Mars, under the guidance of a small
but complex electronic brain; it will fly over the planet closely and a camera
will photograph the landscape while the images will be transmitted to the
distant Earth via radio. It is unlikely that a real television broadcast will be
possible with such a small apparatus at such a distance. The best we can
expect will be still images broadcast every few minutes, which may be
enough for our purposes.
5
During that same year, Clarke also wrote the short science fiction story The
Sentinel,
6
which inspired the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey in the sixties. In the
novel, Clarke imagined that a computer equipped with artificial intelligence while
driving the spacecraft Discovery on a mission towards Saturn begins to erroneously think that the two crew members are sabotaging the mission. It then panics
and ends up killing one of the astronauts before being disabled by the other. This
astronaut continues the mission alone and ends up crossing a mysterious black
monolith that sends him towards an unknown solar system after a hallucinating
space-time run. Arthur Clarke was not only an admirable novelist but also a brilliant scientific and intellectual personality who realistically predicted many future
space missions that humankind would later carry out. Moreover, his literary vision
of a computer equipped with artificial intelligence that gets rid of the human
beings who created it should be a warning for all of us regarding what may await
us in this century.
4
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/
Space_photons_bring_a_new_dimension_to_cryptography.
5
Clarke, Arthur Charles. 2007. The Exploration of Space. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing,
LLC (first edition 1951).
6
Clarke, Arthur Charles. 1991. The Sentinel. Harper Voyager Edition (first edition 1951).
Conclusions 137