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This is a special sneak preview of the Neural Newsletter. We’re talking about quantum technologies, trying to figure out who observes the observers, and sharing the further adventures of Bella the puppy this week. Don’t forget to sign up here so you can science up your Saturdays if you haven’t already.

Howdy folks,

I’ve spent the past few months taking a deep dive into the quantum services industry.

What began as a quest to understand the business side of quantum computing turned out to be an odyssey of discovery.

I’ve been frenetically transcribing interviews (yawn), researching the market from a financial perspective (yuck!), and studying physics like nobody’s business (yay!).

And the sum of my findings? We’re living in the last few moments before “quantum technologies” become as important and commonplace as AI, the internet, and electricity.

• Businesses around the globe are in a wild-dash to update encryption from the 44-year-old standard to post-quantum encryption.
• Quantum annealing systems demonstrate clear advantage over supercomputers in optimization tasks.
• Academia and big tech are combining their efforts in order to speed up the development of futuristic gate-based quantum processors.
• Cloud-based quantum computing services are poised to be a cash cow for early investors and the companies that deliver them.
• Artificial intelligence may finally move beyond deep learning and into more brain-like quantum states.
• Quantum computing is just one of about half-a-dozen important quantum-based technologies that will revolutionize STEM in the next decade.

I can’t wait to share more with you over the next few months.

The last time I was this excited about a future-facing technology was when deep learning came to prominence in the wake of Ian Goodfellow (et al.)’s paper on global adversarial networks.

I believe quantum technologies will have a greater impact on humanity than anything that came before — including fire.

And it’s all coming much sooner than you think.