1. Myth: Quantum technologies will replace all existing technologies
Reality: They will not. They will rather become a set of specialized tools: quantum computers, quantum sensors, quantum communication, post-quantum cryptography, metrology, and simulation. Their strength lies exclusively in specific applications.
2. Myth: A quantum computer will simply be a faster version of a supercomputer
Reality: A quantum computer does not speed up everything. It may be groundbreaking for selected problems: simulations of chemistry and materials, parts of cryptography, certain optimization models, or quantum physics. For most everyday and business tasks, classical computers will still be better.
3. Myth: A quantum computer calculates all possibilities at once and immediately gives the best answer
Reality: For many problems, we do not know algorithms that would provide a real advantage over classical methods.
4. Myth: Quantum will break all cryptography and shut down the internet
Reality: The threat is real, but it mainly concerns parts of public-key cryptography, such as RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography. A large, fault-tolerant quantum computer could break them. This does not mean the end of digital security. Post-quantum cryptography is being developed: new algorithms resistant to quantum attacks.
5. Myth: Quantum communication will be absolutely unbreakable
Reality: Quantum communication can increase the security of encryption key exchange. However, it still requires classical infrastructure, authentication, good hardware, and protection against implementation errors. “Secure thanks to the laws of physics” does not mean “secure always and everywhere.”
6. Myth: Quantum teleportation means teleporting people, objects, or information faster than light
Reality: Quantum teleportation does not transport matter. It transfers a quantum state from one system to another, using entanglement and a regular, classical communication channel. It cannot be used to teleport a human being. It also does not allow communication faster than light.
7. Myth: Quantum sensors will see everything: through walls, through the ground, and through the body
Reality: Quantum sensors can be extraordinarily sensitive, for example in measuring magnetic fields, gravity, time, acceleration, or environmental changes. They may have applications in medicine, geology, navigation, defense, and infrastructure. But they are not a universal “X-ray of the world.” They have limitations: noise, operating conditions, calibration, cost, scalability, and data interpretation.
8. Myth: Quantum clocks and quantum navigation will replace GPS and solve the security problem
Reality: Atomic clocks and quantum technologies can improve time precision, network synchronization, telecommunications, energy systems, finance, and navigation where GPS is unavailable or jammed. But this does not mean the immediate end of GPS. Rather, hybrid systems will emerge: classical, satellite-based, inertial, and quantum.
9. Myth: Quantum technologies will solve the problems of climate, energy, medicines, and materials
Reality: This is where there is a real promise, but it is very easy to overstate it. Quantum simulators and quantum computers may help design new materials, catalysts, batteries, medicines, or chemical processes. This does not mean “a cancer cure within a year” or “the end of the climate crisis thanks to quantum.” Years of research and scalable technology are still needed.
As part of the Quantum Path at Perspektywy Women in Tech Summit, we present the real advantages of quantum technologies, speak honestly about what has and has not been achieved so far, and discuss real-world implementations as well as the current stage of their development here and now.
We also talk about career paths in this field today: what is worth studying, and what will be needed to build a “quantum career” in the perspective of 5, 10, and 15 years.
