Quantum Keys, Hyper-Advanced Weapons and Why Astronomy Still Matters
What I've been writing and reading this week
Quantum Keys Open a New Era of Unbreakable Security
The laser flickers to life, a narrow beam of light shooting far into the star strewn sky. Up here, high in the Chinese mountains, the night sky is clear and vibrant, a stark reminder of our place in the universe. For ten minutes the laser beam dances through the darkness, steadily moving from one side of the sky to the other.
Encoded in the stream of photons is a message, rushing towards a satellite a few hundred miles above the Earth. When they arrive, the message is carefully read; the hidden quantum information revealed and stored for later use.
The message is a quantum key, a new approach to cryptography that promises an era of true secrecy. The satellite, QUESS, forms the first step in the road towards a new quantum infrastructure that will one day encircle the world. This is not the first time a quantum key has been sent, but it is the first time one will be sent thousands of miles, from one continent to another.
The Future is More Terrifying Than We Can Imagine
Half a century into its interstellar escape from Earth, the ship Blue Space stumbles across mysterious ruins of an alien civilization. Strangely, these ruins exist in four dimensions, one more than in our familiar world. Out of curiosity the crew halt their ship, and then make a perilous voyage across higher dimensional space to investigate.
At first the ruins remain impenetrable, until a closer inspection reveals a horrifying truth. These are the tombs of a dead race; and worse, their universe itself is collapsing. The bubble of four dimensional space that Blue Space has encountered is shrinking, falling into three dimensions.
As the ruined marvels of the long dead civilization meet the edge of the bubble they are destroyed, unable to survive in a lower dimension. Before long nothing remains; a million years of history gone forever. Shaken, the crew of Blue Space resume their flight, heading deeper into a dangerous universe.
Why Astronomy Still Matters
Ancient civilizations believed the stars held power over the Earth. Priests watched them carefully for messages of divine importance. Kings and emperors trembled at signs of misfortune, or rejoiced when victory was foretold.
Those who could read the stars — the first astronomers — held elite positions in ancient societies. They had enormous sway over kings and queens. At one time astronomers could decide the fate of nations, trigger wars, or pronounce the displeasure of God on an ill-fated heir.
Compared to their predecessors, today’s astronomers are a sorry bunch. Astronomy no longer holds power over governments. Presidents rarely summon stargazers into their offices, and no modern astronomer would dream of claiming the mantle of heaven.
Best of the Rest…
In the MIT Technology Review, Karen Hao explores ways the public can fight back against the big data algorithms now employed by the tech giants. These companies earn billions from the aggregated data of their users, effectively profiting from a mass invasion of privacy. We will likely see increasing efforts over the next years to sabotage the algorithms monitoring our lives, from Facebook to facial recongition cameras.
The Atlantic ran a controversial piece arguing against Elon’s Musk approach to reaching Mars. While the article seems deliberately worded to provoke, some good points are hidden within. As I discussed in a previous newsletter, Mars is not a viable option for a long-term backup planet. Instead we should see it as a proving ground and as an opportunity to develop the technology needed to reach further into space.
A few weeks back Popular Mechanics published an interesting guide to surviving a fall from high altitude. There’s a slim chance reading it may one day save your life, but even if not, it still makes for an entertaining read.
So much reporting around health, science and space exploration is unrealistic, hyperbolic and misleading. These are complicated topics, and there are often no easy or straight forward answers. Instead what is needed is analysis, discussion and an exploration of the possible ways forward.
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