Quantum computing and AI: the leap that reorders civilization

Quantum computing and AI: the leap that reorders civilization

Google has modeled a quantum processor that, according to the claim, is just 'four steps' away from being truly usable, and some already say that today's civilization is about to be completely transformed, with no defined replacement model. The thesis, defended vehemently in a long and contested analysis, is that combining quantum computing and artificial intelligence amounts to holding 'a kind of god' in your hand. This is not about collapse; it is about a shift in rank. And the problem, according to that same strand, is not that civilization disappears: it is that it evolves into something no one knows how to describe.

What does a quantum processor change?

The difference is explained with a simple image. Faced with a maze, a person tries paths, makes mistakes and retraces their steps; a conventional computer goes through the routes one after another, even if it does so at great estimulante ilegal. Quantum processing, by contrast, works as if rain fell on all paths at once and found the exit almost instantly. That leap, combined with training AI models, would make it possible to solve in seconds problems that today consume years in the lab: molecular design, protein synthesis, materials chemistry.

The list of consequences being discussed is broad and at times dizzying. Fully automated factories. Engineered bacteria capable of turning soil into oil. Custom-engineered grains. The old alchemist dream of turning lead into gold, brought into the realm of matter. The less pleasant part of the forecast points to a highly stratified system, closer to Brave New World than to a dystopia of walled-off elites.

The skepticism: 'hype for investors' and algorithms that don't yet exist

Not everyone buys the story. Part of the analysis argues that today's AI is a simulator of appearances: it looks convincing, but nothing that comes out of it should be used without exhaustive review, and even less so in a critical component. Quantum computing also carries a deeper problem: quantum processing solves nothing on its own; it requires algorithms that, for the most part, have not even been sketched out. Only cryptography has the minimum conceptual groundwork ready.

Some lower expectations even further and call Google's presentation pure investor marketing, recalling that much of what was shown consists of simulations. And one participant sums up the mood with an example: we're still waiting for the flying cars and lunar homes that dreamers promised sixty years ago.

From physics to theology: Guenón, Chardin and the Omega Point

The technological leap drags along a metaphysical debate that is, at bottom, the same old one. Transhumanism, with technological singularity as its goal and the idea of transferring consciousness into a machine to achieve immortality, generates as much enthusiasm as rejection. Against that reading, two frameworks are used as a mirror: Teilhard de Chardin's Omega Point, which sees an ascending convergence of humanity, and René Guenón's denunciation, for whom technical pogre first cuts ties with nature and then ties with the spiritual.

The more theological version of the matter closes with a warning: if paradise is offered on Earth — the end of work, rejuvenation, almost infinite energy — the offer is hard to refuse. And among the signs cited is one that is no longer a hypothesis: a church in Switzerland installed an AI-based 'Jesus' in its confessional as an experiment, to test whether the faithful would be willing to place their trust in a machine.

Milei, Musk and energy for data centers

The economic side of this scenario comes with names. It is noted that certain leaders from the Spanish-speaking liberal spectrum have become regular interlocutors for Silicon Valley, and that from there come previews of plans and scenarios. The clue highlighted is twofold: lax regulations so as not to slow AI projects, and abundant electric power, which means restarting nuclear programs.

The material detail is not minor. In Aragón, several data centers are planned with huge server halls, an interesting business for the region that does not automatically make anyone a technological leader: that is done in research institutes. Moreover, those facilities consume a lot of electricity and quite a bit of water. And some raise the suspicion, without proven evidence, that energy restrictions will end up falling on agriculture and livestock while data centers are fed.

---

If the forecast comes true, the next decade will look like none before it: advances will not arrive every fifty years, but every year. The most skeptical recall that the human mind today is barely distinguishable from that of year zero in ambition and violence, and that any technology will end up being used for the same old things. The caveat, then, is not technical. It is knowing whether this silicon god elevates us or burns us, and to that question, today, no one has responded with data.