We invited Dr. Keeper Sharkey and Reesë Tuttle onto Masters of Influence expecting a conversation about digital apocalypse. What we got instead was a meditation on consciousness, creativity, and what makes us human.
The Setup
I’d been marinating in the breathless quantum computing headlines touting quantum supremacy, the end of encryption, and the unmatched capacity of these machines. The narrative seemed clear—these machines would crack every password, break every security system, and shift the balance of power toward whoever controlled them.
Dr. Keeper Sharkey seemed perfect to walk us through this doomsday. She’s vice chair of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium’s Use Cases Technical Advisory Committee, she is the founder and Director of ODE L3C a quantum on quantum awareness and education organization (https://odestar.com/), she chairs the IEEE’s P1947 standards for a quantum cybersecurity framework working group.
Joining her was Reesë Tuttle, secretary of the IEEE P1947 standards for a quantum cybersecurity framework working group, a cybersecurity researcher tracking where quantum computing intersects with security threats, and her company AP2T Labs focuses on cyber security and cyber security training.
I came prepared with questions about encryption vulnerabilities and surveillance. Then Dr. Sharkey said something that completely reframed everything.
The Unexpected Turn
About fifteen minutes in, Keeper dropped this: “A quantum computer is basically just a camera. You’re taking a picture of a quantum system—making a measurement of which state that system is in.”
Then we took a turn into chemistry and biology. And I realized two things:
1. The smaller things get the bigger and more interesting they become. The smallest particles in the universe have some of the most outrageous qualities.
2. Humans are stuck in an attempt to recreate human thinking, but the brain does things that an algorithm can’t do and likely never will.
What I expected to be a conversation about the diminishing power of humans, became a discussion about the uniqueness of the human brain and life itself.
What We Actually Learned
Quantum computers aren’t coming for your passwords anytime soon. We’re looking at 2050 before quantum computers might crack modern encryption at scale. The engineering challenges are massive, costs astronomical. “The threat is theoretical,” Keeper explained, “but technically there isn’t a threat right now because of scaling issues.”
Quantum computers are incredibly fragile. They operate near absolute zero, require perfect isolation, and researchers run experiments late at night because footsteps can disrupt measurements.
The real revolution is on making things more secure. Quantum technology is already being used for security—protecting information systems before data gets stolen.
But Here’s Where It Got Really Interesting
Somewhere in the middle of discussing qubits, we started talking about consciousness and what it actually means to be alive.
Which led to the revelation that your brain is a quantum computer, the rest is a poor copy.
The brain processes multiple probabilities simultaneously. It collapses possibilities into outcomes. It operates through quantum information science in your DNA, your neurons, the chemistry that makes you conscious.
And we’re trying to build quantum computers to do what brains already do naturally.
“I don’t think nature does mathematics,” Keeper said. “I don’t think AI or quantum systems will ever be able to perform mathematical thinking—the creative kind that solves novel problems.”
Reesë nailed it: “There’s no life to it. It’s literally doing equations,” humans have the capacity for creativity and novel thought.
“The complexity behind an algorithm that would solve deep mathematical problems would be far too complicated,” Keeper explained. “A human wouldn’t be able to create that algorithm.”
The most advanced quantum computer we can imagine still can’t match the creative capacity of a human mind. Not because it lacks processing power, but because it lacks life.
The Question We Should Be Asking
We keep asking: “When will quantum computers take over?”
The better question: “What are quantum computers teaching us about consciousness and what makes us human?”
Quantum computers aren’t threatening to replace human thinking. They’re showing us just how extraordinary human thinking actually is.
The power implications
This conversation reframed my understanding—not just of quantum computing, but of consciousness and creativity.
It feels like we may be losing control to algorithms, that they are gaining power over knowledge, but the truth is they still can’t achieve the complexity of the human brain and may never get there.
Humans still hold the ultimate power: creativity. And whatever breathless headlines appear, remember that you are the most sophisticated quantum computer in existence.
What are your thoughts? Did this challenge how you think about quantum computing or what makes human thinking special? Hit reply—I genuinely want to know.
