Qubits are being studied in research into quantum computing.
I can't help but think of Q-bert, a popular video game from the 1980's.
I have only a vague notion of what the research really means or how it works, but it does sound most impressive. I have difficulty understanding what is meant by a bit that can be both zero and one at the same time. Does that mean it has three possible values, rather than two, and the speed increase derives from increased capacity or bandwidth? Or would there be five possibilities: 1, 0, 00, 10, or 01? I don't really understand a single thing about quantum mechanics, insofar as why it works. I can almost grasp how it works, but not why.
As far as I'm concerned, electricity is magic. I've never understood electricity in a proper way. The inner workings of personal computers also seem like magic.
I suppose it is possible, if written and recorded documents were lost in an Apocalypse, such as after a nuke attack or comet strike, that much technology could also disappear, because many people don't really have a good idea as to how their gadgets work and could not begin to recreate them, especially without preexisting tools and other supplies. It is easy to understand and recreate such things as a cart, a wagon, and even a saddle from easily obtained natural resources, but to build a car and the infrastructure to support it and its fuel, that would be quite a trick for an ordinary person left to his own devices. The only guarantee we have is about the Renaissance level of technology. Hopefully, though, there will always be a cache of technological information stored somewhere in a computer disk or a book.
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