The X-Challenges’ Relational Combinatorial Explosion: The Next-Generation Civilization Application Scenario for Quantum Computing

The Real Challenge for Quantum Computing Isn’t Only Technology, But Application Scenarios

Recently, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang made a rare public pivot, shifting from predicting quantum computing would need 15-20 years to reach practical applications to acknowledging its commercialization timeline might accelerate significantly. This transformation reveals that quantum computing’s key challenge has moved from hardware implementation to application scenario development.

Globally, hundreds of billions of dollars are being invested in quantum hardware, exceeding $30 billion in 2023 and projected to surpass $100 billion by 2026. However, a critical overlooked question remains: what problems should these quantum computers solve?

Quantum Computing Is Not “Faster Traditional Computing”

Quantum computing isn’t simply about speed improvements. Traditional computers operate like accountants, processing information step-by-step according to rules; quantum computers function more like dreamers, simultaneously considering countless possibilities. They utilize quantum principles like superposition, entanglement, and interference to create an entirely new computing paradigm.

When this revolutionary technology encounters industrial thinking frameworks, a profound paradigm conflict occurs. Industrial mindsets view quantum computing as an “accelerator” for traditional computing, used to solve known problems like code breaking and molecular simulation. This approach is equivalent to mounting a race car engine on a horse carriage—it increases speed but misunderstands the technology’s essence.

“Relational Combinatorial Explosion in Graph Theory”: The Ideal Application Scenario for Quantum Computing

The X-Challenges proposes “Relational Combinatorial Explosion in Graph Theory” (RGCE) as a perfect application scenario for quantum computing. This concept describes how in relationship networks, as node numbers increase, possible relationship configurations grow explosively at super-exponential rates.

For example, a 10-person group’s possible relationship combinations reach 35 trillion, while a 30-person team exceeds the number of atoms in the universe. Traditional computing struggles to handle such complex relationship networks, but quantum computing may excel through its superposition and entanglement properties.

Education: The First Revolutionary Stage for Quantum Computing

Traditional education models face relational combinatorial explosion challenges. A typical American 18-person classroom has possible relationship configurations (2^153) far exceeding Earth’s atoms, while a Chinese 40-person classroom’s relational complexity (2^820) is practically unimaginable.

Globally, education receives $5 trillion annually, representing 4.5% of GDP, yet yields only a 3.5% return on investment. The traditional model—”one teacher facing dozens of passive students”—is a simplified model incapable of effectively managing complex learning relationship networks.

The 3.0 Future School first build in 2012 has proposed a new educational paradigm: from standardization to personalization, from separation to integration, from static to dynamic, from linear to networked. Quantum computing can support this educational transformation through quantum-assisted learning network optimization, quantum cognitive mapping, and more.

From Industrial Civilization to Meaning Civilization

Industrial civilization is built on material production and consumption, pursuing standardization, efficiency, and scale. However, this civilization model has reached its ceiling: material abundance brings meaning crises rather than satisfaction; standardization results in innovation scarcity rather than efficiency; scale expansion creates ecological crises rather than prosperity.

Meaning civilization focuses on meaning creation and value generation within relationship networks. In this civilization form:

• Meaning derives from relationships: Value stems from creating meaningful connections rather than material scarcity
• Diversity trumps standardization: System resilience and innovation come from plurality rather than uniformity
• Holism replaces fragmentation: Problems and solutions are viewed as interconnected wholes rather than isolated fragments
• Dynamic balance supersedes static control: Success standards become adaptation and evolution rather than control and rigidity

The combination of quantum computing and relational combinatorial explosion thinking provides the technological foundation for this civilization transition. Quantum computing can process high-dimensional complex systems while capturing dynamic evolutionary processes and holistic emergent properties—precisely the computational capabilities meaning civilization requires.

Implementation Paths for the New Civilization

Transitioning from industrial to meaning civilization requires multi-level collaborative efforts:

1. Educational transformation: The 3.0 Future School model has begun influencing school transformations globally, benefiting over 100,000 students and teachers
2. Quantum social technology development: Applying quantum computing to social organizations and decision systems to create tools capable of processing high-dimensional relational complexity
3. Meaning economy experiments: Exploring new economic models based on value creation and sharing, transcending pure material production and consumption
4. Relational organizational forms: Developing flat, networked organizations beyond traditional hierarchical structures while maintaining efficient coordination

Whoever first discovers truly appropriate application scenarios for quantum computing may lead the next round of technological competition. This isn’t merely a technological issue but a fundamental shift in cognition and values—from focusing on material accumulation to meaning creation, from pursuing certainty control to embracing emergent complexity, from centralized thinking to holographic perspectives.

Join this thought revolution and explore the new era opened by quantum computing and relational combinatorial explosion—a civilization era centered on meaning.