Ask Ethan: Does quantum computation occur in parallel universes? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Dec, 2024

By improving quantum error correction, quantum computations are now faster than ever. But parallel universes? That’s utter nonsense here.

Quantum computation is, simultaneously, a remarkable scientific achievement with the potential to solve an array of problems that currently are wholly impractical to solve, and also a breathless source of wild, untrue claims that completely defy reality. In 2021, there were claims that Google’s quantum computing team developed a time crystal that violated the laws of thermodynamics. (The first part is true, the second is not.) In late 2022, a team claimed to demonstrate the existence of wormholes using a quantum computer, which was incorrect across the board. And now, here in 2024, Google has introduced a new quantum chip, Willow, that the founder and lead of Google’s Quantum AI states proves the existence of parallel universes.

Do you sense a pattern here? Are you a little suspicious of such a wild claim? Well, you should be. Whitney Clavin certainly is, as she wrote to me to ask:

“Have you seen all this crazy talk about Google’s quantum computing breakthrough providing evidence for the multiverse?! Google said this! I think you need to write a story…