Quantum physics surpasses human imagination. It totally contradicts everyday experiences. Even literal and mathematical explanations cannot substitute for a non-intuitive behavior that puzzles many of us. Commercial quantum computers are in reach within this decade. History provides examples that the appearance of new technologies brought metaphors to life that may explain up to that point poorly understood knowledge domains (e.g., "brains are hardware while thoughts are software"). The author describes why the proliferation of quantum computers will be accompanied by the rise of metaphors that explain quantum effects. For one, those might help to better communicate about the best use and consequences of quantum computers. But those metaphors could also shed light on organizational performance at all. To show a practical example, the author proposes how the use of quantum metaphors could help organizations to prepare for the quantum computing era - without being exact in predictions about most likely technical implementation of quantum capabilities.
Quantum physics surpasses human imagination. It totally contradicts everyday experiences. Even literal and mathematical explanations cannot substitute for a non-intuitive behavior that puzzles many of us. Commercial quantum computers are in reach within this decade. History provides examples that the appearance of new technologies brought metaphors to life that may explain up to that point poorly understood knowledge domains (e.g., "brains are hardware while thoughts are software"). The author describes why the proliferation of quantum computers will be accompanied by the rise of metaphors that explain quantum effects. For one, those might help to better communicate about the best use and consequences of quantum computers. But those metaphors could also shed light on organizational performance at all. To show a practical example, the author proposes how the use of quantum metaphors could help organizations to prepare for the quantum computing era - without being exact in predictions about most likely technical implementation of quantum capabilities.
Quantum computing is attracting increasing attention due to both the threats and the opportunities it may present. Nonetheless, the technology is still nascent and thus far lacks substantive commercial applications that can demonstrate, let alone validate, its potential impact. This uncertainty challenges organizations’ ability to make strategic decisions concerning quantum computing. In this study, we explored the practitioners’ discourse about quantum computing and the metaphors used to describe the technology and its prospective value. Building on a thematic analysis of 140 video presentations by quantum computing practitioners, we identified ten distinct metaphors of quantum computing. Subsequently, we sorted the metaphors based on the perceived feasibility and strategic potential of the technology to reveal four ways quantum computing may impact the prevailing digital logic. These findings shed light on the alternative development paths of quantum computing business applications and extend the theoretical foundation of this incipient discourse.
There are signs that we are approaching a technical revolution that might take humankind’s computational capabilities to a new level. Quantum Computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, enabling the computational power to solve specific problems currently intractable for classical computers (e.g., cracking cryptographic keys). Since we are getting to a point where we can no longer build smaller, more powerful, more efficient devices with conventional methodologies, we need to think of new ways for technological progress. The manufacturing of microchips is reaching its limits in the use of traditional architectures. Hence, new and more advanced technologies need to address the challenges of increasing energy consumption and data processing. Connectivity, scalable architectures and concepts like Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service have already helped to scale computational-intense applications in the last years and have attracted the interest of IS researchers (e.g., Benlian et al. 2009 ; Benlian et al. 2018 ; Messerschmidt and Hinz 2013 ). Looking ahead to the next generation, computing will comprise technologies that enable high-performance applications far beyond today’s possibilities. One prominent example with a disruptive potential is Quantum Computing. While there are abundant open questions and directions for further developments, researchers in this area have made substantial progress in the last decade, indicating that, after medical imaging, lasers, and superconductors, another quantum-technological innovation might be approaching. We, therefore, intend to provide an overview of the current state of Quantum Computing research and outline how this new technology might stimulate research in Information Systems.
In recent decades it has become common throughout the social sciences to think of the human mind simply as a very complex computer. Drawing on an older materialist metaphor of the mind as a machine, the “computational” model of the mind took off after the mid-century invention of the computer and subsequent cognitive revolution in psychology, and has since permeated the social sciences in the form of rational choice and other prominent social theories. The contributions of this model have been huge; but it has always been assumed that the computations going on inside our heads are classical. Quantum brain theory challenges this assumption by proposing that the mind is actually a quantum computer. Classical computers are based on binary digits or “bits” with well defined values (0 or 1), which are transformed in serial operations by a program into an output. Quantum computers in contrast are based on “qubits” that can be in superpositions of 0 and 1 at the same time and also interact non-locally, enabling every qubit to be operated on simultaneously. The idea of a quantum computer was first proposed in the 1980s and is still far from being realized technologically, but it has fired the imagination of scientists by raising the prospect of unimaginable increases in computational power, and other neat tricks besides. If quantum brain theory is true, then our model of the mind would be similarly radically altered, irrespective of the issue of consciousness. Quantum brain theory hypothesizes that quantum processes at the elementary level are amplified and kept in superposition at the level of the organism, and then, through downward causation constrain what is going on deep within the brain. On this view, information from the environment is continuously transformed from the macro- to the micro-level, and then channeled back upward into an “internal quantum state,”
Abstract Classical physics states that physical reality is local—a point in space cannot influence another point beyond a relatively short distance. However, In 1997, experiments were conducted in which light particles (photons) originated under certain conditions and traveled in opposite directions to detectors located about seven miles apart. The amazing results indicated that the photons “interacted” or “communicated” with one another instantly or “in no time”. Since a distance of seven miles is quite vast in quantum physics, this led physicists to an extraordinary conclusion—even if experiments could somehow be conducted in which the distance between the detectors was half-way across the known universe, the results would indicate that interaction or communication between the photons would be instantaneous. What was revealed in these little-known experiments in 1997 is that physical reality is non-local—a discovery that Robert Nadeau and Menas Kafatos view as “the most momentous in the history of science”. In The Non-Local Universe, Nadeau and Kafatos offer a revolutionary look at the breathtaking implications of non-locality. They argue that since every particle in the universe has been “entangled” with other particles like the two photons in the 1997 experiments, physical reality on the most basic level is an undivided wholeness. In addition to demonstrating that physical processes are vastly interdependent and interactive, they also show that more complex systems in both physics and biology display emergent properties and/or behaviors that cannot be explained in the terms of the sum of parts. One of the most startling implications of non-locality in human terms, claim the authors, is that there is no longer any basis for believing in the stark division between mind and world that has preoccupied much of western thought since the seventeenth century. And they also make a convincing case that human consciousness can now be viewed as emergent from and seamlessly connected with the entire cosmos. In pursuing this groundbreaking argument, the authors not only provide a fascinating history of developments that led to the discovery of non-locality and the sometimes heated debate between the great scientists responsible for these discoveries. They also argue that advances in scientific knowledge have further eroded the boundaries between physics and biology, and that recent studies on the evolution of the human brain suggest that the logical foundations of mathematics and ordinary language are much more similar than we previously imagined. What this new knowledge reveals, the authors conclude, is that the connection between mind and nature is far more intimate than we previously dared to imagine. What they offer is a revolutionary look at the implications of non-locality, implications that reach deep into that most intimate aspect of humanity: consciousness.
The subject of “quantum entanglement” in general doesn’t seem to be particularly considered in Europe in the form of popularizing books or of educational physics projects. These authors have started to spread out this kind of scientific culture in both forms, including popularizing seminars too. Concerning the entanglement phenomenon, recently, new thought experiments have been outlined, new laboratory results have come out in the form of real discoveries in quantum optics, new studies on “bio-entanglement” and “global consciousness effects” have been carried out, and very sophisticated new ideas have been developed in the fields of quantum physics, biophysics, cosmology and epistemology. These authors intend to show their effort of diffusing widely this growing scientific knowledge. Beyond all this there is a long-term strategy aimed at inculcating new concepts in physics in order to trigger the interest of scholars at all levels, in that which is probably the most innovative and interdisciplinary subject of the human knowledge of this new millennium. In order to accomplish this difficult task, these authors are acting in the following ways: A) explain, using intuitive examples, the basic physical mechanism (1, 2, 3, 4) of entanglement at the particle level; B) explain all the possible ways in which entanglement may involve quantum or “quantum-like” non-local effects occurring also in the macro scale (2, 3, 4) represented by biological (DNA bio-computing, microtubules), psychophysical (consciousness, synchronicity and Psi effects), astrobiological (neural spin entanglement), and cosmological (Bit Bang) environments; C) study and spread the scientific knowledge concerning alternative ways for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (5) and – specifically – prepare research projects regarding possible non-local aspects of SETI (NLSETI) and their applicability (4) on the basis of our physics knowledge and technology; D) prepare extensive plans for post-graduate courses in physics (6) with a special address to “anomalistic physics”, brain biophysics and mathematics; E) train persons and students to reach optimal concentration states – by using well experimented techniques – in order to permit them to exploit at the maximum level their intellectual and consciousness potential. All of these educational and promotional actions are aimed at training people in understanding the strict link existing between physics and consciousness in all of its aspects, in the light of a probable general phenomenon that occurs at all scales by involving (micro and macro) matter, mind and consciousness. A strategy plan containing in a self-consistent way all of these aspects will be schematically illustrated.
Quantum computing is an approach to data processing and computation that uses principles of quantum mechanics to solve complex problems that traditional computers cannot handle. This panel aims to explore the potential of quantum technologies and their impact on IS scholarship and practice. We will discuss lessons from the past, the outlook for the future, and how quantum computing may either challenge or expand the current modus operandi of business and society. Building on common images of quantum computing in the popular discourse, the panel considers five metaphors used to describe quantum computing: a mirage, a crypto buster, a supercomputer, a silver bullet, and a paradigm shift. Overall, we call on the information systems community to help transform the discourse on quantum computing, shifting from an exclusive interest in technical issues to a broader interest in quantum information systems that focuses on the application and commercial advancement of quantum computing.