Solar Eclipse and the Great Leap Forward in Medicine

Monday solar eclipse is a special celestial event that reflects the interconnectedness of nature, with the Earth, Moon and Sun aligning. This alignment can only be viewed from specific geographic locations on Earth. In other words, the state of the viewer influences the phenomenon experienced.

Similarly, in quantum mechanics, the observer influences the nature of observed reality. This is no different from well-being, always influenced by our own perception.

Medicine is constantly changing; the discovery of penicillin, the development of vaccines, the invention of MRI machines – each step has transformed our practice. But now, unbeknownst to most, the biggest leap of all is underway. Quantum computing will challenge what we know about medicine, how we view health and how we promote it. A completely new, or new, mutation in the evolutionary chain of medicine. This is an exciting time; heralding the alignment of machine learning and quantum computing in healthcare.

Using the principles of quantum mechanics, quantum computing is predicted to outperform conventional supercomputers, making unimaginable things possible processing ability. But it goes much deeper than strength and speed; it all starts with the fundamental unit of operation: the qubit. Unlike traditional computers, which rely on the dichotomic bits, the qubit can actually be in two states at the same time, encoding data from 0 and 1. at the same time – represents multiple combinations of possibilities. This stems from the basic quantum principle of superposition, where subatomic particles, such as electrons, exist everywhere and always, with different probabilities. It allows quantum systems to exponentially increase their computing capacity because they inherently consider multiple possibilities.

In addition to superposition, so has the quantum principle of entanglement astonished physicists throughout history and is no less philosophically astonishing. It means that qubits are intrinsically connected, or entangled, so that the state of one qubit influences that of another – even at great distances. This enables interconnected systems that can compute together efficiently depending on their intrinsically connected nature.

Health research and innovation have undoubtedly made rapid progress with AI, but the promise of true precision medicine is yet to come. First, we must recognize the richness and complexity of the data required to create truly personalized medical models.

In my opinion, a paradigm shift is needed; all data is medical data. Our medical history, intertwined with our diet, the environmental conditions we are exposed to (such as pollution and temperature), physical activity, genetic and epigenetic makeup including social habits – all influence our health. In other words, our health is intrinsically intertwined with all other aspects of our being. If we can’t model it, we won’t be able to make the leap forward with AI, because ‘big data’ will always be somewhat small data, leaving out crucial health determinants.

Quantum computing has the potential to analyze the complex data interactions between biological systems, while also being supported computationally. This was the premise for IBM and Cleveland Clinic’s unveiling of the first quantum computing for health a year ago. This past week, Microsoft announced potentially groundbreaking news: an error-correction algorithm for quantum computing, which has yet to be proven in real-world medical applications. The problem of computational errors is significant, as qubits, with their great promise, are very sensitive to errors, sensitive to disturbances due to vibrations or temperatureknown as noise. Reliable calculations are essential to moving forward, especially in the medical world where lives are at stake.

Until then, we must trust our doctors to separate signals from noise and create a safe space to consider multiple options that ultimately converge into one decision.