The following is a transcript of an answer that I posted on Stack Overflow in response to the question:

I read a while back that quantum computers can break most types of hashing and encryption in use today in a very short amount of time (I believe it was mere minutes). How is it possible? I’ve tried reading articles about it but I get lost at the “a quantum bit can be 1, 0, or something else”. Can someone explain how this relates to cracking such algorithms in plain English without all the fancy maths?

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I discovered a nice website called Medium the other day (having been sent a distressing piece on the decline of antibiotics), and started browsing for interesting reading. One of the articles I came across encouraged readers not to read, but to write.

The author argues that today’s Internet is so focused on consumption that there’s no need for creativity any more, which I find kind of sad. I’ve always believed in learning through explanation and discourse (partly why I enjoy teaching), so the author’s suggestion is appealing.

So this is what I’m going to do: write a blog article every week or two, and see where things go.