The Quantum Question Panel – Live from zkSummit14

About this episode

A live panel discussion on quantum computing held at zkSummit14 featuring various experts and spontaneous contributions.

This episode was recorded live at zkSummit14 in Rome. In it, Anna and Nico Mohnblatt hosted the live ‘Quantum Question’ panel which began as an interview, but became something harder to categorize: part seminar, part group therapy, part improv theater, and — depending on the timeline you expect for viable quantum computers — part emergency briefing. The logistics of the panel were really unusual. The guests were meant to be Justin Drake and Dan Boneh , but Dan’s flight was delayed. And so the panel began with just Justin Drake and the hosts — what someone in the room jokingly described as the highest moderator-to-panelist ratio in zkSummit history. To compensate, the format broke open: researchers from the audience, including Daira-Emma Hopwood from the Zcash team and Jens Groth (author of Groth16), joined the conversation. A park bench materialized in real time. The conversation veered into the history of quantum computing research, why Shor’s algorithm threatens today’s public-key cryptography and pairing-based SNARKs, fault-tolerant ‘logical qubits’, physical qubit fidelities, and why neutral-atom machines—despite slower cycle times—may be the most practical path to ‘Q-Day.’…

People in this episode

Hosts: Anna, Nico Mohnblatt

Guest: Justin Drake

Topics covered

• quantum computing
• public-key cryptography
• post-quantum schemes
• improv theater
• seminar
• group therapy

Keywords

• quantum computing
• Shor's algorithm
• public-key cryptography
• post-quantum cryptography
• zkSummit14
• logical qubits
• neutral-atom machines

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Rome

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