:00:00. > :00:00.In about ten minutes we'll have this week's edition of Newswatch.
:00:00. > :00:35.How would you like to earn money just by doing this?
:00:36. > :00:46.Dan Simmons has been given exclusive access to a new global currency
:00:47. > :00:53.project which is backed by some big investors and which means that
:00:54. > :01:10.You can simply make money by walking.
:01:11. > :01:28.My footstep goes up, I make more money.
:01:29. > :01:36.It's a big change in life. Do you believe it? Yes.
:01:37. > :01:42.So we had that crazy idea that since we are walking so much,
:01:43. > :01:47.And since we didn't find anyone who actually does that, we decided to
:01:48. > :01:56.create an app that allows anyone to generate money by simply walking.
:01:57. > :01:59.It is a crazy idea from two crazy guys.
:02:00. > :02:07.Last year's project, a $7 US bee stick that acts like a computer,
:02:08. > :02:16.went from one school in Nairobi, to now being used in 87 countries.
:02:17. > :02:19.Now they have schmoozed $10 million from Japanese investors to create
:02:20. > :02:30.Unlike bitcoins, the bitwalking dollar won't be mine
:02:31. > :02:34.It will be generated by human movement.
:02:35. > :02:36.Like today's wristbands and fitness trackers, the go app counts
:02:37. > :02:42.the steps you take, shows how many bitwalking dollars you make and
:02:43. > :02:55.By now you have probably had the same thought is me.
:02:56. > :03:04.It uses GPS tracking, motion type and speed sensing,
:03:05. > :03:07.and it caps most of what humans can reasonably do, limiting earnings to
:03:08. > :03:20.But you will be able to buy extra bitwalking dollars to make that big
:03:21. > :03:35.And depending who you buy from, that could make a huge impact.
:03:36. > :03:37.Malawi stands on the verge of a food crisis.
:03:38. > :03:39.The average rural income is $1.50 a day.
:03:40. > :03:42.And the President's platitudes were swiftly followed up by a 10% tax
:03:43. > :03:49.Nobody is suggesting that bitwalking will sort this out any time soon.
:03:50. > :03:51.A growing but still small number own smartphones here.
:03:52. > :03:53.But for those few it could make a difference.
:03:54. > :03:57.Salim walks two hours a day to teach technology in the local school.
:03:58. > :03:59.We take walking is as simple as nature.
:04:00. > :04:03.But this time it will change my life because as I will be walking
:04:04. > :04:12.Creating a new currency is a careful balancing act.
:04:13. > :04:14.If the money behind it runs out, it falls over.
:04:15. > :04:17.But bitwalking will start in just a few countries.
:04:18. > :04:19.It has a big partner in Japanese electronics giant Murata,
:04:20. > :04:21.whose staff actually do this exercise every morning.
:04:22. > :04:24.They are also making a bitwalking bracelet to do away
:04:25. > :04:33.And there is evidence you do not too much cash to get people on board.
:04:34. > :04:41.Japan's largest convenience store, Lawson,
:04:42. > :04:45.has a scheme that pays workers $50 a year to keep fit and eat well.
:04:46. > :04:51.Like this scheme, bitwalking dollars will only be
:04:52. > :04:54.initially be able to spent in one store, an online one which
:04:55. > :04:57.Crucially, giving employers, sports brands, health insurance
:04:58. > :05:00.companies, or anyone who has an interest in getting us moving,
:05:01. > :05:04.to join this scheme and accept the dollars will be the real test.
:05:05. > :05:09.But let's not forget the wealth of information a project
:05:10. > :05:13.Retailers want to get to know us personally more than ever.
:05:14. > :05:15.Details about our daily routines, well, that could be
:05:16. > :05:25.And one of the main reasons that bitwalking may actually succeed.
:05:26. > :05:28.Concerns around privacy and security are being taken seriously.
:05:29. > :05:30.Whether a currency that can be endlessly
:05:31. > :05:32.printed by walking can succeed will make this an interesting experiment,
:05:33. > :05:35.as it launches this weekend across several countries, including
:05:36. > :05:44.Dan, please tell me you did what all the way from Japan to Malawi
:05:45. > :05:48.No! OK.
:05:49. > :05:57.But I have to wonder what really is in it for the backers,
:05:58. > :05:59.for the people pouring loads of money into this?
:06:00. > :06:02.It is about being part of something that will probably be
:06:03. > :06:06.The project is about environmental beliefs, it is about social equity,
:06:07. > :06:20.A lot of the companies thought to be backing this scheme who will come on
:06:21. > :06:22.board, will be insurance companies, will be sports companies.
:06:23. > :06:24.They'll want to be associated with something like this.
:06:25. > :06:27.And it will be in their interest because we will maybe buy more
:06:28. > :06:31.Well, if we're walking we're going to need more trainers, right?
:06:32. > :06:35.The other thing that strikes me is that
:06:36. > :06:39.at the moment bitwalking dollars can only be spent on the online store.
:06:40. > :06:42.This thing lives or dies by which companies are willing to give
:06:43. > :06:50.It is whether people want what is on the store and whether there is
:06:51. > :06:52.enough of these products to satisfy demand, depending
:06:53. > :06:54.on how quickly people start earning these bitwalking dollars.
:06:55. > :06:57.These are the early days of a new currency, a new idea.
:06:58. > :07:00.We're not sure it's going to get off the ground or not.
:07:01. > :07:04.If it does, great, if it doesn't, that will be an Achilles heel.
:07:05. > :07:17.100 years ago this week, Albert Einstein unveiled his general
:07:18. > :07:20.theory of relativity, one of the most ground-breaking, space
:07:21. > :07:36.He studied and later returned to work here at ETH, Zurich, the Swiss
:07:37. > :07:40.And I have come to see some of the records of the man
:07:41. > :07:44.These are Albert Einstein's marks when he was an undergraduate here.
:07:45. > :07:50.And what is most amusing is in the third year in practical physics,
:07:51. > :08:01.I think the theory is actually not that it wasn't very good at physics,
:08:02. > :08:07.it was actually that he didn't bother turning up.
:08:08. > :08:10.So what are the theories of special and general relativity?
:08:11. > :08:14.Well, I would love to put them in a nutshell for you, but to do
:08:15. > :08:20.so I would need to accelerate them close to the speed of light.
:08:21. > :08:24.Maybe it is enough to say that they have shaped our understanding
:08:25. > :08:26.of the universe, of black holes, of the Big Bang.
:08:27. > :08:30.And Einstein did not stop at relativity.
:08:31. > :08:34.His further thinking gave birth to the idea of quantum physics.
:08:35. > :08:38.And that is a very weird world indeed, where
:08:39. > :08:43.things can be two things at once, or be in two places at the same time.
:08:44. > :08:48.But he himself found the whole area far too weird.
:08:49. > :08:51.So I wonder what he would have made of what is in this lab?
:08:52. > :08:58.It's a laser table with a quantum computer in the middle of it.
:08:59. > :09:14.The laser pushes the atom and it changes the shape of the atom.
:09:15. > :09:19.These are our tools for controlling the information in the atom.
:09:20. > :09:25.Believe it or not, it's a very basic one.
:09:26. > :09:29.Now quantum computers deal with data in a very different
:09:30. > :09:35.Instead of using bits that are either zero
:09:36. > :09:38.or one, these things deal with quantum bits, q-bits, that are both
:09:39. > :09:48.What kind of problems would a quantum computer
:09:49. > :09:52.be able to deal with that a classical computer can't?
:09:53. > :10:01.One of the standout problems is in cryptography,
:10:02. > :10:04.which relies on big numbers that you can't process in a computer.
:10:05. > :10:06.Some algorithms in a quantum computer can break
:10:07. > :10:10.into these numbers in a way that a classical computer could never do.
:10:11. > :10:15.They're calcium atoms that can each be in two shapes at the same time.
:10:16. > :10:27.A chain of these can in theory solve a problem extremely quickly by
:10:28. > :10:30.considering all possible solutions at the same time and then jumping to
:10:31. > :10:36.Now I say in theory, because this whole field is still
:10:37. > :10:41.How close are we to having quantum computers that
:10:42. > :10:51.This lab here operates a quantum transistor, maybe many times.
:10:52. > :10:53.We need maybe a million quantum transistors to get
:10:54. > :11:02.We will need to shrink this down quite a bit.
:11:03. > :11:05.What would Einstein have made of this?
:11:06. > :11:08.He did not like the basic laws of quantum mechanics.
:11:09. > :11:11.Here in this lab we have got the basic laws of quantum mechanics
:11:12. > :11:16.So I think it may have set him at ease or it may have made him
:11:17. > :11:20.That is more than enough quantum for this, the short version
:11:21. > :11:25.Much more great stuff in the full version, which you can