First of again, I want to thank all my friends and colleagues for their good wishes and words on my triple bypass the other week. If it was a shock to them, it was even more of a shock to my poor and wonderful wife, Cynthia, who found me collapsed in our bathroom, pounding the floor with my fists for no obviously sane reason. I would have been shocked too if it wasn’t for the fact that I was completely unconscious the whole time until I reached the hospital. As a fervent believer in the supernatural, I was hoping for some deep insight into reality. But what I got was only deep darkness and a sadness that, at 75 years old, I need urgently to sort out my priorities.
So what follows is a little (mostly professional) thinking about what I want to do in the next chapter of my life. This little missive will go out in my newsletter, “From My Desk”, to keep it ticking over for a bit. And it will also go to my “core” CIR mailing list. I did promise an early transition to a once-a-week paid “PRO” version soon, and some of you have been kind enough to already sign up. I ask for your indulgence, a little longer as my heart heals some more.
Professional Life and Travel
With the Mecklers and the wonderful team at Inside Quantum Technology, I will pump up the report output along with Brian Spiegelwax in Asia and his little dragon. Expect technology assessment/market forecast reports soon from Brian on (1) Neutral Atom Quantum Computers, (2) Photonic Quantum Computers and (3) a blockbuster on Programming Experiences with the Current Generation of QCs. From me, expect a report on the latest in PQC and entropy-on-demand. Also, hopefully, I will be doing more as a board member at the exciting new start-up, Light Rider, which I believe will go a long way to revolutionize the latest in quantum-enabled e-commerce as it emerges.
What I will be doing less of is travelling. I will be travelling to the IQT Quantum + AI event in October in New York https://iqtevent.com/quantumai/. I am still looking for speakers for this event, especially from commercial firms and large labs. Quantum machine learning and quantum robotics, especially real-world examples, are of considerable interest here. Unfortunately, I can’t fly to Sweden for this year’s IQT Nordics event (https://iqtevent.com/nordics/), but the evidence is that Sweden will be a huge success. I won’t be flying for a while, though. But please go if you can.
The Newsletter and Past is Prologue
We were recently complemented by a major Japanese government agency on the extent and breadth of our contacts in high-tech industries in North America and Europe. Our work has covered everything from comprehensive industry surveys, including extensive interviewing, to analysis of technical and news pieces, to market forecasts of new products. We are always looking for new consulting projects. With less travel, I also want to do more podcasts and talks from my home office. The topics where I think I currently think I have things to say are (1) quantum cybersecurity and entropy-on-demand as they become recognized in RSA-sphere, (2) Quantum AI robotics in the factory, hospitals and the military as they grow to be useful not just cool, (3) the rise of numerous value-added services as they open up opportunities for clever entrepreneurs and established services providers and as they recognize real customer needs not just features for features sake. I am hiring a PR agency to help me with such things, but I am very open to ideas.
I have been part of such developments for decades. And while I would be among the first to admit we are advancing into strange new times with strange new business rules, history and experience count for a lot. At one time or another, I have bought my economic analysis and forecasting skills to these markets and industries, and this, I believe, brings verisimilitude to projects and analysis. As Shakespeare’s Antonio says in “The Tempest,” “Past is Prologue” a phrase that signifies how the past informs and shapes the present, acting as a prelude to the future. It suggests that understanding history is crucial for navigating current events and making informed business decisions about the future.
You are going to see more of this in my “From My Desk” in the coming weeks. For many years I have written in depth about information networks and also about quantum technology plan to make the melding of the two – the Quantum Internet – gradually become the main focus of “From My Desk.” This coverage will start with a deeply analytical article in a week or on Cisco’s recent announcement in the Quantum Internet space recalling how Cisco helped take the digital Internet from a way of allowing two friends to communicate, to a non-secure defense network to a scholarly network in the context of a sober and well managed acquisition strategy.
Could Cisco do the same for the coming Quantum Internet? So, then the Past is Prologue once again . . . more later.
Lawrence Gasman
