100 million times faster than your PC! - Quantum Communication and the Construction of a Future Present

This interdisciplinary project investigates the technological and socio-political dimensions of current efforts to build the first quantum internet. Situated at the intersections of physics, computer science, science and technology studies and sociology, it provides insight into current levels of development of quantum communication networks and identifies the major research, funding and government bodies that are involved in the global pace to complete the first network of this kind. In so doing, this project pursues two major interrelated themes: first, it investigates quantum networks as sociotechnical systems that will have multifarious impacts considerably beyond the dimension of technology alone. Second, this project investigates how such imagined futures of a world that has gone fully quantum set and determine today, in the here-and-now, what the quantum internet can be: imaginaries of the future manifestly shape sociotechnical developments today.

In particular, this thesis develops the following research questions:
1 - How does quantum communication feature in the public imagination? How is quantum information theory being portrayed in popular news media and science magazines?
2 - How are future quantum networks shaping society today? What are the expected likely major applications of quantum communication networks?
3 - Who are the agents and institutions involved in building quantum networks? How is their work funded and what are the expectations of funding bodies?
4 - What is the import of quantum communication for theory-making in the philosophy of technology, science and technology studies and sociology?

Methodology
The project surveys recent experimental and theoretical work in quantum communication as published in relevant venues. It aims to identify, analyse and integrate various research pathways, projects and milestones in a mapping study that provides an accessible overview of global activities in the field. The project presents findings from a discourse analysis of the ways in which advances in quantum communication are being portrayed in newspapers and popular science mags in order to highlight the particular positioning from which science reporting takes place. Interviews and science ethnographies constitute the second empirical dimension of this project across a regionally and culturally diverse range of researchers in the fields in order to observe daily routines, procedures, flows and dynamics over a six-week period. This is to investigate the lab as a site of multiple discursive intersections where knowledge is produced subject to various enabling and constraining factors.

Social and political relevance of the research project
With regard to the global security architecture, the potential of the quantum internet to be employed for military purposes is surely the most obvious one. Quantum computers, chained together over networks, would give state actors and intelligence services unprecedented computing powers to build vast new surveillance systems. Scientific research, on the other hand, may turn out to be an arena where quantum communication could have more benign effects, e.g. in terms of experimental work that requires large number-crunching capacities. The effects on social and collective behaviour of ordinary citizens are likely to manifest over the development of new forms of apps for the secure exchange of data, as current encryption services are likely to be compromised. Already, the current level of technological development in the fields of computer science have reached a level of complexity that many find difficult to follow. Quantum technologies will only further exacerbate this problem, which prompts urgent questions about how governments should invest in training and education to ensure that large parts of the population are not left behind by the unprecedented complexity of this technology.

The proposed CDT in Web Science Innovation will have significant economic and societal impact, as it develops a substantial cohort of students equipped to navigate the disruptive transition to a digital economy. The training methods utilised by the CDT are based on a model of intensive industry partnership, thereby situating students directly in contemporary industry contexts and engaging them in a range of communications with industrial partners. This training context will develop important leadership skills, and will contribute to the formation of a better-skilled and more entrepreneurial workforce in the Digital Economy. Graduates will be able to understand the challenges and opportunities of the web from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, and therefore will have impact for a range of local, national and international businesses, within diverse sectors. As the proposed CDT combines both technical and societal approaches to Web Science, they will be able to identify and deploy effective digital solutions that have social traction. This will have considerable social impact creating a workforce capable of a holistic and therefore more effective approach to innovating in the digital economy.

Engagement with government will also allow for impact on a policy level. As interdisciplinary approaches to topical issues are developed through the CDT training, a cohort of graduates who can analyse and synthesise across perspectives will develop, providing cogent expert advice to policy makers. This societal impact will be significant, as key contemporary topics, such as online privacy or internet child pornography, are becoming increasingly complex and significant.

The CDT will also cultivate graduates who are adept at public engagement and outreach, having developed skills by engaging in a range of public activities throughout the course of their training. The ability to communicate broadly and clearly with a range of audiences, and to engage as leaders in a broad economic field, will be at the heart of the training.

The research undertaken by the postgraduate cohort, directed towards Web Science Innovation, and conducted in close co-operation with a network of industry partners, will generate significant new intellectual property within the UK economy. A particular innovation focus for the CDT will be Open Data, which amplifies the opportunities for value creation downstream from the original data creators and publishers. Our students will have the skills and opportunities to develop a range of novel and socially authentic Web services, through partnerships brokered by the Open Data Institute with government organisations, large firms, SMEs and startups.