Abstract
In the book “Quantum Ecology: Why and How New Information Technologies Will Reshape Societies” (MIT Press, 2024, 288 pages, open access), Stefano Calzati and Derrick de Kerckhove approach the transformative potential of
Development of QITs
The authors claim that the emergence of QITs will allow a significant development in computational capacities while also engineering basic quantum principles (e.g., superposition, entanglement, uncertainty, complementarity, and discreteness) into these emerging technologies—among which quantum computers and quantum networks—thus qualitatively disrupting the current way of experiencing reality and providing new patterns of social interaction and communication.
“Quantum computing,” Calzati and de Kerckhove write (p. 177), “will allow moving a step further toward the technologization of the ethos of the real, as a synthesis of (individual) minds and (collective) bodies.” In fact, the ongoing digital transformation can already be regarded, according to the authors, as an intermediate stage (toward the quantum ecology), where data and algorithms have already substituted language as a central technology, together with the body, for making sense of the world. The “quantum ecology,” hence, is presented by the authors as the third stage in this evolution and represents a convergence of sociotechnical dynamics affecting global power structures, cultural values, and ethical paradigms. However, at stake, as the authors specify, “is not the disposal of one ecology over another but rather the exploration of the (un)balanced power relations among the three” (p. 2). And this is what Calzati and de Kerckhove set out to do in their book.
The book begins by exploring quantum mechanics’ historical–epistemological foundations, introducing key ideas such as Planck's constant, the double-slit experiment, wave-particle duality, and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (1977). The introduction offers insights into how these quantum “oddities,” proper to the subatomic world, could reverberate across sociotechnical landscapes as QITs will soon be enmeshed into the social fabric. Learning from Heidegger's notion of technology as “enframing,” the authors suggest that quantum-based technologies may fundamentally reshape human perception and interaction, attending to a participatory epistemological framework—what they call “a theory of open reality”—where the observer and observed are inseparable.
Quantum ecology—A technological and philosophical concept
The “quantum ecology,” therefore, is presented not just as a technological paradigm rooted in (quantum) physics but as a philosophical foundation for reframing human agency, knowledge, and existence within a dynamically evolving world. The authors make it clear that they are not attributing deterministic societal changes solely to quantum technologies. Instead, they propose that these technologies function as a “dispositif,” a concept extracted from the work of Foucault (1980) to refer to an assemblage of tangible and intangible forces shaping the sociocultural landscape. Social reality, as a result, is described as a set of coexisting ecologies (language, digital, and quantum, each defined by their own dispositif) shaped by different sociotechnical systems. The notions of trust and referentiality are cornerstones of how these ecologies shape individual and collective human experiences.
Each of the three ecologies represents a distinct paradigm that influences the creation and perception of reality, and they overlap in time, and space, as well as across cultures. The language ecology places “language” as the main meaning–building technology, an autopoietic process capable of adapting through recursive self-reference and the process of meaning construction. The digital ecology relies on data and algorithms to transform human experience within a computational framework. Through datafication and algorithmic processing, the human experience gets detached from its qualitative richness, posing (new) questions about identity, agency, and social organization pointing at the core of what the authors label today's “epistemological crisis.”
Last, the quantum ecology introduces a shift in our understanding of reality based on the principles of quantum mechanics and challenges, in turn, what we mean by self and society since each “quantum” is seen as constitutive of, and is constituted by the whole: “Physical reality” Calzati and de Kerckhove note in this regard by operationalizing the core tenet of quantum physics, “is discontinuous, discrete, and this is exactly what makes it ontologically generative. This discontinuity is infinitely reworked in kaleidoscopic ways whereby the particularities making up totality cut through this latter and actualize it” (p. 185). This paradigm, by breaking with linear causality and approaching a complex and entangled, yet uncertain, perspective, allows for new forms of interconnectivity and synthesis; this is also the very reason why the authors opted for the term “ecology”: “Being self-organizing, ecology, like quanta, has effects, but not causes, at least not causes in the ordinary sense of a direct relationship between cause and effect” (p. 110).
Book structure and content
Chapters 1 and 2 explore the distinct evolution of writing systems in the East and West. While Western alphabetic societies developed an individualistic and linear logic, Eastern logographic societies focused more on balance and relationality. The authors describe how the development of digital technologies and the advent of data are redefining these linguistic frameworks and questioning the epistemic roots and relationship between language and data as sources for creating shared meanings.
In Chapter 3, the authors define the impact of the digital transformation as a form of datacracy—the power of the “datum”—which is responsible for reshaping our (distributed) understandings of time, space, and identity, best illustrated by the development of digital twins and symbiotic autonomous systems. Digitalization contributes to reordering the temporal experience of life and reshapes both the past, collective memories, and the future imagination. Similarly, digitalization challenges traditional perceptions of space—fragmented into mere points—as well as accountability and identity. This latter especially get remolded across digital and virtual arenas, leading to the formation, following the authors` terminology, of new “collectual” (individual + collective) dynamics that demand new fractal ethics.
Chapter 4 serves as a transition to the quantum ecology by approaching the existing competition between nations and corporations to dominate the emerging quantum technological fields. The chapter describes the leading role of China in this quantum race and positions other major players—among which the United States, the European Union, as well as private tech companies—within the emerging quantum geopolitical scenario, all fighting for technological supremacy. Due to the fast-evolving nature of technological development, chapter 4 seems to be purposedly open-ended since the quantum paradigm is currently in the making.
Finally, in Chapter 5, the authors advocate for an open quantum ecology: “the quantum ecology,” they claim, “is fundamentally communitarian (…) denoting a bond among people based on necessity” (p. 187). The authors describe how the quantum ecosystem will overcome traditional notions of individuality, time, and space by proposing a new framework for the understanding of the self and society that accommodates and operationalizes the key principles of uncertainty and entanglement. These principles, when engineered, may have the capacity to dissolve current onto epistemological boundaries and alter experience by proposing new forms of felt codependent existence that bypass current positivistic framings. The book concludes with concrete examples of how this forthcoming quantum ecology might influence and be applied to various fields, including education, urbanism, and the arts.
“Quantum Ecology” is a thought-provoking book that challenges readers to rethink our contemporaneity with the power of hindsight coming from the study of the development of older technologies. Connecting the human body, traditional mass media, and today's digital technologies, the authors, whose pluridecennial work is rooted in critical media studies inspired by Marshall McLuhan, shed light onto how QITs can redefine the way reality is configured and grasped. Although well developed, the argument leaves open a whole set of questions that beg for further investigation, especially from scholars working at the intersection of technology, philosophy, and society, At the same time, the book will also appeal to those readers avid to get a critical take on the forthcoming quantum-based technological transformations and how they will reshape our lives.
