Post by Susanne Gold

Last week, I attended the #Siemens #QuantumComputing Symposium. Big 🙏 to Christoph Niedermeier. More on that in the coming weeks. (Stay tuned. 🤗) In my #Siemens articles, I write about quantum technologies in an industrial context — concrete applications, ideas still on the drawing board, and what it might realistically deliver. But somewhere along the way, I always find myself sitting with questions I didn’t set out to ask. What technical developments actually triggered this hype? And why exactly now? Use cases make the topic feel tangible. At first. 💭 That moment of clarity rarely lasts. Because the moment you try to understand why quantum computers might actually work, you step onto the terrain of quantum #physics. And quantum physics contradicts our everyday understanding of reality on almost every level. As a humanities scholar, I approach this field less through equations than through #philosophy. And that’s exactly where a connection emerged that genuinely surprised me: 🌏 Physics and the humanities are both searching for explanations of the world — and of how we perceive it. In our lived experience, the world is unambiguous: On or off. Black or white. You or me. Beginning or end. In quantum physics, systems can occupy multiple states simultaneously — what’s known as #superposition. Only measurement “decides” the outcome. ⁉️ How to explain that? Physicists have been arguing about it for decades. (Which, incidentally, is something they have in common with social scientists. 😜) 🎤 Three interpretations I find particularly fascinating: 🥁 Many-Worlds Interpretation Every possible outcome actually occurs — just in different, branching realities. I’ll admit it: I find myself imagining those. In fact, the cover image is #AI-generated — a version of me, sitting in the palm of my own hand. 🥁 Hidden Variables Theory The world might be more deterministic than it appears — we simply don’t yet understand some of the underlying factors. Though I’ve always found this idea a little arrogant, if I’m honest: trying to understand an entire #universe with six senses. 🥁 QBism (Quantum Bayesianism) Quantum mechanics as a theory of knowledge and expectation. Superpositions don’t necessarily describe reality itself — they describe our state of information about it. This sounds suspiciously like the #Positivismusstreit — #Adorno vs. #Popper, 1960s #sociology, same question. QBism would have ended it quietly: the observer is always part of the picture. There is no outside. The deeper I go, the stranger it gets. And something unexpected happens along the way: thinking about this changes how I think about reality in general. What do I mean by that? That deserves its own piece — maybe later this year in the Utopiensammlerin e.V. magazine. ✍️ Have a great sunday! ⭐️