April 14 marks World Quantum Day!
To celebrate it, Prof. Miriam Meckel and her research team would like to share a couple of thoughts about Quantum Computing.
Cheers to #WorldQuantumDay!
“ The economics and commercial-focused articles carry the most positive sentiment, while technical-focused articles show neutral and governmental and political-focused show a slight positive sentiment”
While quantum technology is fascinating to a growing academic and business community, we still have to figure out its impact on business and society and its applicability on a broader scale of computing tasks. For all of this social acceptance of this new technology will be crucial.
In our project at University of St.Gallen, we are working on the #narratives on #quantumcomputing. Sentiment analysis and emotion analysis are valuable methods to uncover underlying #attitudes and #emotions in texted-based documents. We use these methods on three categories of articles about quantum computing: economics and commercial focus, technical focus, and governmental and political focus.
Our - very preliminary - results show that （1）the economics and commercial-focused articles carry the most positive sentiment, while technical-focused articles show neutral and governmental and political-focused show a slight positive sentiment， （2）Out of eight emotions (anger, anticipation, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise, and trust) evaluated, articles across all three categories display high anticipation and trust. Specifically, articles with an economics and commercial focus show the highest levels of anticipation and joy; articles with a governmental and political focus show the highest average rate of fear; and articles with a technical focus display the highest levels of sadness.
This is, first of all, an interesting observation. It seems to confirm a trend we know from other technologies: business is more in the (emotional) driver's seat than politics or governments. But: It is way too early to draw that conclusion. We will keep on working on some empirical explanations.
There is now a push to replace it with “Quantum advantage”, as some have criticized the use of “supremacy” due to its association with racism and dominance.
In our research we have gladly noticed that the term "Quantum supremacy" is being replaced by "Quantum advantage". “Quantum supremacy” refers to quantum computing’s dominance or advantage over classical computing in certain tasks, a term that has become very popular after Google claimed they had achieved “Quantum Supremacy” in 2019.
There is now a push to replace it with “Quantum advantage”, as some have criticized the use of “supremacy” due to its association with racism and dominance. This shift in the use of language is just one example of how the #framing of quantum computing is evolving. With the rapid advancement in this field, it is important to pay close attention to changes and developments in #narratives of quantum computing. ”
We know: social acceptance of a new technology is driven by how we talk about it. So what is all this #quantumsupremacy about? Wrong word, wrong purpose. If quantum technology is about the struggle for supremacy, we are doing it all wrong. Indeed, there is a global race going on about which country will build the fastest, most stable quantum computer. But if we really want to tap into the full potential of QC, this is not helpful.
In our research we have gladly noticed that the term "Quantum supremacy" is being replaced by "Quantum advantage". “Quantum supremacy” refers to quantum computing’s dominance or advantage over classical computing in certain tasks, a term that has become very popular after Google claimed they had achieved “Quantum Supremacy” in 2019.
There is now a push to replace it with “Quantum advantage”, as some have criticized the use of “supremacy” due to its association with racism and dominance. This shift in the use of language is just one example of how the #framing of quantum computing is evolving. With the rapid advancement in this field, it is important to pay close attention to changes and developments in #narratives of quantum computing.