ESEP 16:25-30 (2016)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00171

ABSTRACT: The claims made in a manifesto resulting in the European quantum technologies flagship initiative in quantum technology and similar enterprises are taken as a starting point to critically review some potential quantum resources, such as coherent superposition and entanglement, and their dormant usefulness for parallelism and communication. Claims of absolute, irreducible (non-epistemic) randomness are argued to be metaphysical. Cryptanalytic man-in-the-middle attacks on quantum cryptography are well known to be feasible but hardly mentioned. If all of this is taken into account, a more sober perspective on quantum capacities emerges, but it may be ethically more justified than the ‘hype and magic’ that drives many current initiatives.

KEY WORDS: Quantum computation · Quantum information

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Cite this article as: Svozil K (2016) Quantum hocus-pocus. Ethics Sci Environ Polit 16:25-30. https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00171 Export citation Share:    Facebook - - linkedIn