If all the quantum spam has tired you, Paul Davis’s new book, Quantum 2.0: Strange physics is driving a new revolution in technologyCan help. Yes, there’s the q-word in the title, but for the best possible reason. Beginning with a brief explanation of what “quantum” actually means, the book explains in clear language how quantum mechanics changed science over the last century – and how it will continue to do so in the future.
Paul Davis is a theoretical physicist and director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. A renowned science communicator, he has written more than 20 books on subjects ranging from the origin of life to the nature of time.
Gizmodo spoke to Davis about navigating so-called quantum noise and how to understand what quantum mechanics has contributed to our understanding of the universe. The following conversation has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.
Gayoung Lee, Gizmodo:so the title of the book quantum 2.0. This implies that there was a quantum 1.0. What was Quantum 1.0? What was the turning point that brought us to Quantum 2.0?
paul davis: Very good question. The technical term for the branch of quantum physics we are talking about is quantum mechanics, which began in 1925. It is the most successful scientific theory of all time, as it has explained the nature of matter from sub-atomic particles all the way to stars.
It also gave rise to some very familiar technology that underpins much of the modern world, for example, lasers, microchips, MRI machines and nuclear power – your cell phone is loaded with quantum devices.
This all stems from what we’re calling “Quantum 1.0,” which is quantum mechanics developed over 100 years ago. Coinciding with the centenary last year, UNESCO declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. It’s quite clear that a brand new quantum revolution is bursting upon us.
And the difference is actually the following: with Quantum 2.0, it is possible to manipulate individual particles – for example electrons or photons – and sculpt their quantum states so that information is actually encoded in individual particles, not in large devices like transistors or gates.
gizmodo:With this revolution today, it seems like everyone is connecting things with “quantum”. What does that really mean? What makes something “quantum”?
Davis: Well, if it’s not a business ploy – and it usually is – then, in the past, people wouldn’t usually say, “You should go for a quantum MRI scan,” but it uses quantum mechanics. Or you wouldn’t say, “We’re going to build a quantum nuclear power station,” even though that uses quantum principles.
With Quantum 2.0, “quantum” is usually the signature of something exploiting the sub-atomic world. This is not just a gimmick. This means manipulating quantum physics in some non-trivial ways. [by utilizing concepts such as entanglement or superposition].
gizmodo: Strictly speaking, quantum effects affect everything in the universe. But they are also often in conflict with observable reality. It seems that scientists don’t know exactly how the two are connected. Still, if Quantum 2.0 is here, it means we’re using these vague ideas to make tangible things.
Davis: Quantum mechanics is full of paradoxes and strange concepts that don’t match the everyday world. In everyday life, we have things like tables and chairs that we think actually exist, whether we measure them or see them. But at the atomic level, that is not the case.
A particle such as an electron does not have a complete set of properties prior to measurement. If you ask, well, before the measurement, did the particle actually have both position and momentum? The answer is that you cannot say. even Nature It is not known what properties the particle had.
The great difficulty is to connect the shadowy world of the quantum, where things do not exist in fixed, well-defined states, with the everyday world, where everything seems to have a concrete reality. Even after 100 years, physicists are debating how to explain it. This remains an outstanding problem for the next generation of physicists.
gizmodo: Your book offers many examples of how quantum science has left its mark on science. Is there anything in particular you would like to highlight?
Davis: There is an entire chapter on quantum biology in the book. Erwin Schrödinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, realized in 1925 that within a few years, quantum mechanics could explain the nature of matter from subatomic particles all the way to stars. But living matter seemed to have its own rules. To a physicist life seems like a miracle.
In 1943, Schrödinger asked “What is life?” Gave a series of lectures named. He hoped that the powerful nature of quantum mechanics could explain the strangeness of living matter. But he was also open to the possibility that there might be something beyond quantum mechanics – some new kind of physical laws, he said – prevalent in living matter.
In recent years, people [are considering] Effects such as superposition and entanglement, or possibly quantum information processing, are at play in living organisms. I’m a little skeptical myself, but it’s interesting. Could life’s apparently miraculous abilities ultimately be an exploitation of some kind of deep quantum mechanics?
gizmodo: At the beginning of the book, you write that quantum is “the science that gave us AI.” How exactly did quantum mechanics give us AI?
Davis:There are two sides to this. One is AI as we know it, but the other possibility is what I call quantum artificial intelligence, which would be an even bigger leap forward and be even more disruptive.
Let’s answer your original question. AI is actually the result of processing very large amounts of information very rapidly on a very large scale. If you sit down and try to work out the number of quantum devices involved in AI, there will be hundreds of components that fundamentally rely on quantum mechanics through their principles.
But quantum AI will have a very different kind of consciousness from us, because it will see all possible realities simultaneously according to quantum mechanics. It will be able to roam freely in the space of infinite possibilities and somehow capture it all in its mind at once. So it wouldn’t just be a supermind, but actually an alien supermind.
gizmodo: On that joyful note, if Quantum 1.0 was underpinning things in the scientific realm, and Quantum 2.0 was manipulating individual quantum systems, what would we need to reach quantum 3.0? And should we be excited or horrified?
Davis:Interesting question-I was not asked about this before. But what immediately comes to my mind stems from the answer I just gave about quantum AI. Some people are excited by the prospect of what are called mind-machine interfaces. One example that I find extremely interesting is a helmet that you can wear with quantum magnetic sensors. These helmets can measure tiny, flickering magnetic fields in your brain in very high resolution. With its sophistication, they can literally read your thoughts.
So, Quantum 3.0 could be where we poor human observers, who are limited to seeing a small part of the universe, can somehow connect our brains to a quantum computer. We can then investigate these other possible realities by connecting human consciousness to quantum consciousness.
And that will be my Quantum 3.0 – terrifying and interesting in equal measure. But I think we’re still a long way from getting there.
gizmodo: I think these examples show how closely quantum science is connected – philosophically speaking – to the things that define our humanity, like consciousness or personal and intellectual desires.
Davis: There is no doubt that starting in the 1900s – the term “quantum” was coined in 1899 – there was a sense that although we did not know everything about the world, we understood its conceptual foundations, that the world is made up of physical particles that actually exist.
The big shock of quantum mechanics is that observations do not reveal reality. They create reality. it’s very strange. The act of observation seems to bring into existence the concrete reality that you see.
And that’s exactly what 100 years of quantum mechanics have done. It has changed our understanding of what it means for something to exist, what it means for something to have properties, and the relationship between the observer and the observed – and these are unresolved issues. There is no consensus on how to interpret this. So, again, this is a job for the next generation of physicists.
Quantum 2.0: Strange physics is driving a new revolution in technology Published in the UK on November 29, 2025, and now available worldwide through February 2026 through the University of Chicago Press.
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