Why Do Quantum Computers Make So Many Mistakes? | Mikhail Lukin on Quantum Error Correction

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You can’t copy a qubit. So how do quantum computers remember anything? In this episode, we sit down with Mikhail Lukin, Harvard physicist and co-director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative, whose lab is building quantum computers from arrays of individually trapped atoms. Lukin explains the paradox of quantum error correction—how you can safeguard quantum information even though it can’t be copied or measured directly—and why this breakthrough may be the key to making large-scale quantum computers possible. We dive into the strange logic of superposition, entanglement, and “small cat states,” explore what makes quantum evolution inherently analog, and learn how Lukin’s team uses optical…