Quantum for Good. A case of technosolutionism?

Our QISS researcher Eline de Jong, together with Clare Shelley-Egan, has published a thought-provoking paper on the intersection of technology, ethics, and societal impact. In their article, they explore the question: Quantum for Good — what could possibly be wrong with that?

As Eline de Jong explains: “The reflex to turn to technology to address essentially social challenges has been pejoratively labelled 'technosolutionism'. On this critique, technosolutions are not really solutions at all: at best ineffective, at worst inventing the very problems they purport to solve. The real question is when a technosolution becomes morally problematic. Not only when it is ill-suited, or when problems are selectively “shopped for”, but also when it ignores, obscures, or depoliticises the underlying causes of those problems. How, in this light, should we appraise the ambition of Quantum for Good? It is technosolutionist, clearly: it reframes social problems as technological ones. But does that make it objectionable?

In our paper, Clare Shelley-Egan and I investigate this question. We argue that if Quantum for Good is to live up to its commitment — and become more than a normative veneer legitimising strategic innovation agendas — it must be open about the limits of quantum solutions for societal challenges and attentive to the sociopolitical and ethical dimensions of the problems it seeks to address.”

You can read the open-access paper here.