Protecting The Young, and Defending Independent Thought, in the Age of GenAI
Users of ChatGPT, and other LLMs that have shaped today’s age of generative AI, report a loss of creativity and capacity for independent thought. With AI consuming ever more of our data, how can we protect the data of today’s youth? Now the most vulnerable, they are the creators of the future and humanity’s most precious asset. Can GenAI’s power be redirected, not to replace but instead to enhance our uniquely individual human power for creativity? With the future in the balance, we explore some of the possibilities for a happy median between technology’s speed and our slower but far more inventive time for reflection.
Accounting for Quantum Cause and Effect: Tensor Networks and Process Matrix Formalism Advance the Quest to Conquer Probability
Researchers recently reported success in predicting sequences of cause and effect in a fluid flow, a task that had until now been impossible because of the computational burden. Using the techniques of tensor networks, which are fundamental for quantum computing, and process matrix formalism, the research finding holds promise for simulating fluid motion, and for conquering probabilities that can result in quantum circuit decoherence.
After Centuries of Exploring the Mysteries of the Great Pyramid Shafts, Will Robotics Help to Uncover Their Purpose?
Over 200 years have passed since French Emperor Napoleon’s night in the Great Pyramid puzzling over its purpose, and there remains no consensus but many theories on the question. The reason for the shafts in the King’s and Queen’s Chambers is particularly mystifying, and we explore many possibilities. Will robots, which have penetrated the shafts most deeply, help to unlock the secret that’s thousands of years old?
Industry, Schools, and Recruiters Promote Rapidly Expanding Space Career Options
We explore the expanding career paths for space-related work and learning. Whether it’s supporting constellations of satellites essential for communication and navigation on Earth, exploring the cosmos as an astronomer using ground- and space-based telescopes and data analysis with computer science and machine learning, or preparing for the industrialization of space, there is an expanding number of roles promoted by schools, recruiters, and industry where students can gain hands-on experience.
Editorial Perspectives
|
Blog
The Corruption of Four-Dimensional Humanity with Two-Dimensional Technology
Words and images on two-dimensional screens can create a powerful fantasy world, but one that's far removed from the complexity of four-dimensional human living. A social media broadcaster like the world's wealthiest human can be oblivious to the effects on vulnerable adults and children from offers of million dollar payments to voters, "free speech," and threats of termination targeting 2.3 million government workers. Social media's catastrophic failure is that it doesn’t allow us to see when we’re being bad in the eyes of others.
|
Blog
An Urgent Appeal for Separation of Tech and State
For the same principles and benefits that separation of church and state brought to democracies, the power of giant tech companies and their leaders must be kept separate from government. The power of the people, which is the constitutional goal of democracies whether it's practised or not, deserves no less. Tech and state must disentangle, if the people are to have any hope of remaining technology's masters. The alternative, if we cede control to our technological creations, is unconscionable.
|
Blog
Protecting Sensitive Financial Information From Data Brokers is a Crucial Government Responsibility
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is at risk of being eliminated, along with its proposals to bring data brokers under the same rules that govern credit bureaus. Relaxing financial regulations exposes consumers to risks from the buying and selling of their sensitive financial data, including fraud and blackmail by bad actors. To safeguard consumers and prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial collapse, government's role in financial regulation is crucial.
In Focus
What Did the JWST Really See on Exoplanet K2-18b? Was it the Strongest Clue for Extraterrestrial Life or a False Alarm?
A possible biosignature detected on exoplanet K2-18b by the James Webb Space Telescope made headlines early in 2025, with researchers suggesting that dimethyl sulphide—produced only by life on Earth—might be present in K2-18b’s atmosphere. Independent follow-up analyses have challenged that interpretation, and we trace the unfolding scientific debate: what did JWST really see, why the signal sparked both excitement and skepticism, and what it reveals about the challenges of identifying life across interstellar distances.
Thinking in the Age of Machines: Global IQ Decline and the Rise of AI-Assisted Thinking
Are our minds adapting—or deteriorating—in the digital age? As global IQ scores decline and artificial intelligence assumes more cognitive tasks, new questions emerge about the future of human thought. From the reversal of the Flynn effect to the rise of “brain rot” in online culture, researchers are examining how technology, media, and shifting environments are subtly reshaping our capacity to think.
Cleaning the Mirror: Increasing Concerns Over Data Quality, Distortion, and Decision-Making
As AI systems become more powerful, the spotlight often focuses on models—yet the real bottleneck may lie in the data they consume. From flawed training sets to recursive feedback loops of AI-generated content, recent studies reveal that data quality is not just a technical detail—it’s a foundational concern for the future of trustworthy machine intelligence, especially in crucial functions like healthcare.
Podcasts and Webcasts
Lindsay House: Leading 20,000 Citizen Scientists to Uncover Dark Energy’s Secrets
The Fascinating World of Mathematics at the Fields Institute, with Dr. Deirdre Haskell
Keeping Humans in the Loop: a Discussion with Saima Fancy
The Quantum Record is a non-profit journal of philosophy, science, technology, and time.
The potential of the future is in the human mind and heart, and in the common ground that we all share on the road to tomorrow. Promoting reflection, discussion, and imagination, The Quantum Record highlights the good work of good people and aims to join many perspectives in shaping the best possible time to come.
We would love to stay in touch and add your voice to the dialogue. Add your name and email below to be notified of updates to the publication:
Latest Quantum Computing
Accounting for Quantum Cause and Effect: Tensor Networks and Process Matrix Formalism Advance the Quest to Conquer Probability
Researchers recently reported success in predicting sequences of cause and effect in a fluid flow, a task that had until now been impossible because of the computational burden. Using the techniques of tensor networks, which are fundamental for quantum computing, and process matrix formalism, the research finding holds promise for simulating fluid motion, and for conquering probabilities that can result in quantum circuit decoherence.
Everything Has a Beginning and End, Right? Physicist Says No, With Profound Consequences for Measuring Quantum Interactions
Quantum technologies require measurements of quantum interactions, but is measuring accuracy possible if we can’t pinpoint the beginning and end in chains of cause and effect over time? Physicist Julian Barbour redefines time as an increasing complexity of interactions, when one arrow of time from the past splits at a “Janus point” into two arrows for the future. Could identifying the Janus point help to resolve the problem of circuit decoherence that has held back full-scale quantum computing?
Does Time Flow in Two Directions? Science Explores the Possibility—and its Stunning Implications
A new proof shows that time could move in opposite directions, both backward and forward like a pendulum, and equations of physics would work the same either way. Are there two arrows of time, not just the one that we experience moving from past to future? The mathematics of a two-arrow time flow describing both the original and end states of a quantum system could provide a solution for the problem of decoherence in fragile quantum circuits.
Featured Science News
Will We Find a Universal Memory for All Physical Scales, From the Tiny Quantum to Giant Stars, in the Geometry of Curves?
In the continuing search for a theory unifying general relativity’s gravity with quantum mechanics, evidence suggests the universe retains a record of events in the geometry of curves that preserve the gravitational consequences of interactions from the tiny quantum to massive stars. We survey 30 years of discoveries pointing to the possibility of decoding probabilities at any scale.
Latest Philosophy of Technology
Protecting The Young, and Defending Independent Thought, in the Age of GenAI
Users of ChatGPT, and other LLMs that have shaped today’s age of generative AI, report a loss of creativity and capacity for independent thought. With AI consuming ever more of our data, how can we protect the data of today’s youth? Now the most vulnerable, they are the creators of the future and humanity’s most precious asset. Can GenAI’s power be redirected, not to replace but instead to enhance our uniquely individual human power for creativity? With the future in the balance, we explore some of the possibilities for a happy median between technology’s speed and our slower but far more inventive time for reflection.
Thinking in the Age of Machines: Global IQ Decline and the Rise of AI-Assisted Thinking
Are our minds adapting—or deteriorating—in the digital age? As global IQ scores decline and artificial intelligence assumes more cognitive tasks, new questions emerge about the future of human thought. From the reversal of the Flynn effect to the rise of “brain rot” in online culture, researchers are examining how technology, media, and shifting environments are subtly reshaping our capacity to think.
Digital Sovereignty: Cutting Dependence on Dominant Tech Companies
As cloud computing becomes the backbone for everyone, from governments to businesses to schools to individuals, a handful of Big Tech companies are tightening their grip on global infrastructure. This article explores what digital sovereignty means, why it’s increasingly urgent, and how nations and individuals are fighting to reclaim control over their data and systems.
Latest Technology Over Time
After Centuries of Exploring the Mysteries of the Great Pyramid Shafts, Will Robotics Help to Uncover Their Purpose?
Over 200 years have passed since French Emperor Napoleon’s night in the Great Pyramid puzzling over its purpose, and there remains no consensus but many theories on the question. The reason for the shafts in the King’s and Queen’s Chambers is particularly mystifying, and we explore many possibilities. Will robots, which have penetrated the shafts most deeply, help to unlock the secret that’s thousands of years old?
Decoding Ancient Technology Using Modern Technology
From the discovery of a 500-year-old ocean-going canoe in the Chatham Islands to the AI-powered decoding of ancient Roman scrolls buried in volcanic ash, modern technologies—like radiocarbon dating, CT scanning, and AI—are transforming the study of ancient artefacts. Mysteries endure, however, like the undeciphered Voynich Manuscript, and continue to challenge our understanding of the past.
The Fascinating History of the Computer, from ENIAC, Vacuum Tubes and Transistors, to Microchips
We trace computing history from ENIAC, the first computer in 1947, from vacuum tubes to transistors, to the development of microchips that put far greater computing power in our our phones than the giant ENIAC had. With the world at the brink of a quantum computing revolution, what lessons can we draw from our computing history to shape the best possible future with our next technological leap ?
Latest Science News
Industry, Schools, and Recruiters Promote Rapidly Expanding Space Career Options
We explore the expanding career paths for space-related work and learning. Whether it’s supporting constellations of satellites essential for communication and navigation on Earth, exploring the cosmos as an astronomer using ground- and space-based telescopes and data analysis with computer science and machine learning, or preparing for the industrialization of space, there is an expanding number of roles promoted by schools, recruiters, and industry where students can gain hands-on experience.
What Did the JWST Really See on Exoplanet K2-18b? Was it the Strongest Clue for Extraterrestrial Life or a False Alarm?
A possible biosignature detected on exoplanet K2-18b by the James Webb Space Telescope made headlines early in 2025, with researchers suggesting that dimethyl sulphide—produced only by life on Earth—might be present in K2-18b’s atmosphere. Independent follow-up analyses have challenged that interpretation, and we trace the unfolding scientific debate: what did JWST really see, why the signal sparked both excitement and skepticism, and what it reveals about the challenges of identifying life across interstellar distances.
Cleaning the Mirror: Increasing Concerns Over Data Quality, Distortion, and Decision-Making
As AI systems become more powerful, the spotlight often focuses on models—yet the real bottleneck may lie in the data they consume. From flawed training sets to recursive feedback loops of AI-generated content, recent studies reveal that data quality is not just a technical detail—it’s a foundational concern for the future of trustworthy machine intelligence, especially in crucial functions like healthcare.