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Cato Video • June 14, 2021 

# Quantum Technology Hype and National Security 

You’ve heard the hype: Quantum technologies will supposedly disrupt cybersecurity and revolutionize computers, communications, and sensors. Perhaps they will. Perhaps not. Accurate or not, technology hype is common and consequential. This discourse does work. Evoking exceptional expectations about future tech can shape military research and development, as well as threat perceptions. The future is difficult to predict, however. Hype isn’t all bad, but it can mask important gaps between the imagined and actual performance of quantum technologies. It can also draw attention away from less flashy but more significant social and technical change.

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##### Featuring 

##### Frank Smith 

Director, Cyber Innovation Policy Institute

[![Brandon Valeriano](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Brandon%20Valeriano.jpg?itok=uWBnrysC)](/people/brandon-valeriano) 

##### [Brandon Valeriano](/people/brandon-valeriano)

Former Senior Fellow, Cato Institute