DANTE HUB presents a Dialogue Between Poetry and Quantum Science
This meeting concerns the most visionary and unpredictable aspect of our technological era, which is the application of quantum physics to the creation of quantum computers. We do not know how this technology will transform our future. During this event, which will take place at the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), we will investigate the poetical and humanistic aspects of quantum computing through the metaphor of language suggested by the celebrations of DANTE HUB and the future of the cities.
Thursday 24th June, 7 pm Italy (10 am USA, CANADA)
International Center for Theoretical Physics
streaming from the Budinich Lecture Hall
social channels: FACEBOOK and YOUTUBE, Stazione Rogers by Antonio Giacomin
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN POETRY AND QUANTUM SCIENCE
Presentation of TQT Trieste Institute of Quantum Technologies by Antonello Scardicchio, Italy, Professor
Amy Catanzano, USA, Poet, Transmedia Artist, Professor
Marta Mauri, Canada, Quantum Software Engineer
Giuseppe Mussardo, Italy, Theoretical Physicist, Professor
Lella Varesano will reflect with her guests on three main themes:
• Personal and professional experiences as well as point of view on quantum technologies.
• The potential – if any exist – of the poetic and humanistic aspects of quantum computing.
• The future of cities with quantum technologies: is it possible to imagine the future with quantum technology developed through a humanistic lens? Will we prototype more city space for sensitive human use, or will space be standardized and dedicated only to infrastructure and security control?
Lella Varesano: I like to think that there is a poetic aspect to everything that has been created by human beings.Where does the poetic aspect of quantum technology reside? Poetic creation or poiesis,’doing from nothing,’ tells us that every action has a kind of poetry in it. In technology, everything takes place on two levels, realization and programming the machine. Intuition tells us that software embodies interpretative poetic aspects and we must look into it precisely because software is a language. Currently, the most advanced form of languages are the algorithms that govern artificial intelligences, which are pure poiesis because they create unusual outputs. AIs were created to constantly analyze data and increase predictive levels, yet their actions are becoming inexplicably unpredictable. In a space that is dematerializing in the digital world, what remains of the human body, of the body of cities, and worse still of the body of nature? Cities and technology live an indissoluble intertwining which, like every human creation, takes shape in a natural way and continues unpredictably beyond humankind.
Amy Catanzano will present a poetry reading for World Lines: A Quantum Supercomputer Poem. She will read the poem, which contains many poems inside it, and briefly discuss its relationship to quantum computing and quantum theory as well as the poem’s computational possibilities.
Amy Catanzano is a poet and transmedia artist who explores the intersections between literature, science and art. An associate professor of English and poet-in-residence at Wake Forest University, she often collaborates with scientists and visits scientific research centers for her projects. These include CERN, where she was a research artist with the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. She is the author of three books and recipient of the PEN USA Literary Award in Poetry and other prizes.
Marta Mauri is a Quantum Software Engineer at Zapata Computing Canada, where she landed in 2019 soon after her Master’s degree in physics at the University of Milan. Her background revolves around Quantum Many Body Physics, Condensed Matter and Computational Physics, along with some experience with Artificial Intelligence met during her Bachelor and Master thesis projects. She is passionate about developing software to face fundamental research questions in Quantum Machine Learning, and she loves working on quantum algorithms for real world applications.
Giuseppe Mussardo, theoretical physicist, author of more than one hundred scientific publications in international journals and of the monograph Statistical Field Theory published by Oxford University Press, is also interested in scientific dissemination. He has published several articles on the History of Science and was in the recent past Director, at SISSA, of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Natural and Humanistic Sciences whose purpose is to explore the relationship between scientific and humanistic culture, promoting public events and initiatives focused on Science. Art, Philosophy and History.
Antonello Scardicchio, MS in Physics from the University of Bari, Ph.D in Physics from MIT (2006), has been Junior Fellow of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Sciences and Visiting Research Scholar at Princeton University, Columbia University, and the City University of New York. Since 2009 he is professor of Physics in the Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics group of the ICTP, Trieste. Italy. He has received several international awards, his research activity is focused statistical mechanics, in the fields of condensed matter and high energy physics. He is currently member of the TQT where he works on complex systems, quantum computing, and quantum algorithms.
Lella Varesano, graduated in Philosophy in Trieste, Phd in Multimedia Communication in Udine, specializes in new media languages, semiotics and digital communication strategies, mainly in the use of technologies as creative tools. Since 1998 have been teaching subjects dedicated to digital and ID Interaction Design. From 2000 to 2005 created and directed the NewMediaLab in Trieste, a private institution devoted to the use of technology in the humanities. She is currently a senior digital freelance consultant and teaches Social Digital Innovation in Udine University.
Production Stazione E.N. Rogers, Trieste Sponsored by Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia in collaboration with ICTP – TQT , University of Trieste
