Transcript
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Hi. This short talk is to share with you some peculiarities of
the quantum computer word that I've noticed over the years.
In the three years that I've been involved in quantum computing,
I collaborated with, learned from, and tutored
people of all ages, genders, cultures,
religions and backgrounds. But I've also
been in context where the majority of people were male,
heterosexual, white and cisgender.
It was useful to observe those difference between those contexts
and those inclusive ones. In the former,
those air was stagnant, the interactions unproductive.
There was an atmosphere of competition and defense of own's
work that soon made them stale and obsolete.
Speeches were often dry discussions not aimed at
building something together. Speakers did
not aim at bringing something to others,
but at showing their superiority.
And those who ask questions were often not motivated
by real interest. On the contrary, they usually already
knew the answer, but wanted to show off to others.
I think that the key of the success of the inclusive
environments is the awareness of difference.
Knowing one's own physical and cognitive
peculiarities goes along with those respect of for others.
This leads to mutual consideration, open mindedness
and willingness to share one's work.
And that's for two reasons.
First, the knowledge and skills you build
during your life are unique. No one can steal
them from you, so don't be afraid to share them.
And second is that the collaboration is
crucial. It could be hard to go on
on your own. I learned a lot in
inclusive environments. On a technical and on a personal
level. People much more experienced
than me found time to listen to my doubts,
to explain what I did not understand
and guide me step by step in different aspects.
On the technical side, they taught me how to create
a demo, but not with arrogance. They let
me make my own mistakes, highlighting them
and allowing me the time to learn and improve
from them. On the social
side, I found less technical people, but socially skilled,
who helped me build my network and figure out how
to move in such a fickle world.
I believe that the predisposition for inclusiveness
of such environments is rooted in two causes.
On the one end, we can observe that very slowly
our society is changing.
The push toward inclusiveness is getting stronger,
and we are beginning to see the first results.
On the other hand, it is related precisely to quantum
computing. Quantum technologies will
have a massive impact on our reality.
We already know that with sufficiently powerful quantum
computers, we will revolutionize many sectors with
radical impacts on our lives, just to
mention two of them. The discovery of new materials
to fight climate change and reduce our impact on planet Earth,
or the possibility of finding new medicines
for diseases now dreaded or incurable.
But those change needs to be addressed together.
We should not remain deaf to the lessons artificial
intelligence are imparting to us right now.
We are developing them poorly,
filling them with dangerous biases,
and failing to legislate and listen to those addressing
the ethical problems they might trying.
History has shown us over and over how
a new technology can be as wonderful,
if well managed, as fearsome if
misused. We need to develop
technologies in a more inclusive environment,
respectful of others. To have a broader view,
we should leverage on a diverse environment
and on the fact that new technologies cover different
aspects of our lives.
We can call in experts in different fields from all over the
world, from any culture or identity, because each background
can give different insights to the implementation
and use of technology.
An inclusive environment help us better
understand both how to harness it and how to
avoid gray areas that might backfire on
us, or at the very least, how to live as
few as possible.
Not only that, thinking about technology
even before it gets to the supremacy stage,
imagining how we can integrate it,
even visually into everyday life will save
us a lot of effort later.
Let's see just a few examples of the professions
that will be affected by the quantum computing revolution to
get an idea of the cross cutting nature of its
impacts.
Some of you may have already heard about post quantum
encryption. Many companies,
particularly banks or those involved in security,
are already taking steps to make their data secure
to possible decryption attacks that will come with quantum
algorithms. Data that has been
or is being stolen now, even if not decryptable
at the moment, will most likely become decryptable
in a few years, so it is necessary to
move in anticipation.
One aspect that we are considering, much less is
quantum readiness to data management and architectures.
Even with quantum computers ready on real use
cases, we might not be able to use Azis data.
We often have outdated architectures and data cataloging
systems that are already struggling to be optimized
on current systems. Those will
make it impossible to use quantum algorithms on such structures.
It is time to adapt them and be ready to incorporate
quantum solutions when they become available.
Another area that will be involved will
be graphics and interfaces.
Quantum systems will have to be usable,
so it is important to create integrated interfaces
between classical and quantum systems to
ease the transition. And finally,
the trying of technology translations figures
is becoming increasingly crucial.
That is, those figures who have hybrid knowledge
both of quantum computing and other fields such as finance,
chemistry, telecommunications and so
on. We need them in order to
facilitate and optimize communication between
experts in quantum solutions and those in the various
fields of application and
we need them to understand when and how to apply
quantum technologies. We should look
back at artificial intelligence and see how using
it with out of control hype
has led to its indiscriminate, even inappropriate application
resulting in wasted money and time.
And for quantum technologies this issue will be
even more relevant. In conclusion,
over the years I've learned from and collaborated with
people older and younger than me,
with male, female and queer people,
with Christians, jewish, Muslim,
hindu and artist people, with people in physics,
mathematics, business, comics, chemistry and graphic
design. And in my experience I
can tell you that not only it is possible to create more
inclusive work environments and make the most of
them, but it is already happening.
Please feel free to reach out to me on
social networks if you would like to talk about quantum technological
and social revolution or if you have any
ups about this talk. Thank you for listening and happy
learning.