On the 12th of November, the book Quantum Ecology. Why and How New Information Technologies Will Reshape Societies, which I co-authored with prof. Derrick de Kerckhove, will be released open access by The MIT Press.

Here is the synopsis and praises from the publisher’s website: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546218/quantum-ecology/

In this book, which lays out the contours of a “theory of open reality”, we explore today’s “epistemological crisis”, due to the misalignment between language and data, and the emergence of the quantum ecology as both an epistemological framework and a technological paradigm to make sense of the impact that soon-to-come quantum information technologies (QIT) will have on societies across the globe.

The book is transdisciplinary in nature, as the teachings behind (the philosophy of) quantum physics compel (although this is not a book about quantum physics per se), along three conceptual pillars – discreteness, entanglement, uncertainty – and a synthetic operational principle.

Informed by insights spanning across biology, anthropology, sociolinguistics, and information and cognitive sciences, we inscribe our work in the tradition of critical media studies and the informal School of Toronto, of which Derrick – together with Marshall McLuhan and others – has been one of the strongest representatives for over 30 years. This has led us to historicize the advent of QIT along the axis connecting oral communication, writing, mass media and digitalization, to investigate – with the power of hindsight – the looming psychocultural effects and geopolitical (governing) challenges of the nascent quantum technological paradigm.

Overall, the book configures a philosophical and political journey – grounded in recent trends in technological innovation and empirical evidence of its sociocultural imbrications – on what it means to communicate, to be human, to know, and, ultimately, to act in the world – to be living. While we did identify some paths worth of further exploration (from education and economy to design and the arts), the journey has just started. The quantum ecology will concern us all – that’s why we need diverse ways of sensing and doing that will allow to shape it fairly and sustainably.

Below, a preview of the wonderful cover, by great Taiwanese artist and TU Delft researcher Mi (Emeline) Lin (FB: Hollandmilandia | Milandia 瀰瀾之域).