“I’m not a philosopher”

“I’m not a philosopher”, said physicist Hans Bethe, while working on the Manhattan project, which developed atomic bombs in the United States. Bethe is famous, among other things, for her later engagement in nuclear weapons awareness policies.

Bethe is not alone as a anguished scientist — Santos Dumont, brazilian pioneer aviator, was also devastated to see planes being used for war. And I, although a mere doctoral student, am also distressed.

I research quantum computing, and one of the great promises in the area is the processing capacity that is far superior to current computers. This is essential to broaden the study of studying molecules, the universe and everything that requires a lot of computational power. On the other hand, cryptography as we have it today is weakened.

While quantum physics is both poison and antidote — quantum cryptography, when developed, would be espionage-proof — I still think about the implications of that. Who will get their hands on this technology? With what purpose?

When I was younger, I believed that the world was divided into people that were good in humanities or were good in STEM. A wise woman, my mother, told me that this was just an arbitrary and baseless division.

Still, many people divide and limit themselves in this way. But more and more I see how new technologies give rise to many philosophical questions. Automatic cars, for example, have resurrected the trolley dilemma, a classic ethical theme.

With the advent of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence, what exactly is “thinking”? By the way, here is a fascinating Medium post about it.

How to fight the ever rising quackery without understanding the scientific method and epistemology?

Unless we go full luddite, we cannot impede progress. The most useful thing to do is start discussions. Be as philosophical as we can. We will all be Bethe if we don’t realize that we are not in a bubble dissociated from reality.