By Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer, with some interesting musings on Quantum computing and blockchain

Everything that happens is connected to everything else.

There are then, moments in time, that act as trigger points for a series of interconnected events that result in significant human progress, whether through a new technology or a period of transformative societal change. This rejects both the conventional linear and teleological views of history those focusing on the procession toward the result rather than threaded causation of historical progression and looks for sparks of connected ingenuity that further develops the thrust of human advancement.

And so begins the heralded documentary series Connections created by science historian James Burke. Throughout the series, Burke demonstrates why we cannot view the development of any portion of our contemporary world in isolation. He asserts that advances in the modern world are the result of a series of interconnected events and moments of progress, whether that be an invention of necessity or a curious progression of culture from the seemingly disjointed motivations of humans, all of whom had no concept or perhaps little intention of the final result of their activities.

Human progress flies blind until everything becomes very transparent. This interaction of these isolated events drives our history, our innovation, our progress.

Evolution feels slow until a sudden series of tremors makes it all feel far too real.

This is how we often feel in our very modern world.

We are lost in the world of the dim light of glass, until we are awoken from our slumber of scrolling by something personally transformative to our lives.

The promise of technology is that it will improve our society, or at least make our lives more efficient, freeing up our time to pursue some of lifes pleasures, whether that be leisure like reading and writing and expressing ourselves through art, or toward more time working to solve lifes more pressing problems through the output of our work.

Certain technology especially recent improvements in computing, from faster processors, cloud storage, and advanced quantum computing combine with others to create opportunities to alleviate significant challenges like climate change, water scarcity, and global poverty. Others, like blockchain (distributed ledger technology), hold the promise of reigning in the issue around defining the source of truth within certain forms of data, some of which are life defining.

The creation of trust through technology is an interesting thread to pull. From the source of goods and services traveling through our supply chain to the authenticity of our elections, new technologies hold the potential to rapidly improve the future and the advancement of humanity. Closer to our focus on financial services, quantum computing addresses market risk, credit risk, digital annealing, dynamic portfolio selection, ATM replenishment and more. Blockchain technology has focused on AML/KYC, trade finance, remittance, central bank backed digital currency, security tokens, and has the capacity for continued innovation in the financial space.

What if these two elemental forces were viewed together? What if we channeled our inner James Burke, and looked for connections between these two transformative technologies? This is exactly what our partner Arunkumar Krishnakumar did in his new book Quantum Computing and Blockchain in Business: Exploring the applications, challenges and collision of quantum computing and blockchain. Though a seemingly impenetrable title, we can more than assure you its worth a read to understand where the future is headed.

Aruns book dissects the genesis of these twin technologies and how they intersect. Similar to how James Burke rejects the threading of historical events, the first time author writes about the impacts of these technologies on healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, governance, elections, smart cities, the environment, chemistry, logistics, and much more. We are left with the question of whether there is anything that a blockchain powered by quantum computing cannot do? Fortunately the book answers that as well.

As the book discusses in the last few chapters as viewed through Aruns critical lens there are also darker sides to these technologies where they could threaten nation states, launch a new cyber arms race he details the dangers of these technologies and how they might impact every life. He also concludes with some blue sky ideas both dreams and realized aspirations derived from the power of these complementary tools of knowledge and how writing this book provided him with a sense of hope for the future of humanity, in the age of rapidly developing and highly interdependent technologies.

Perhaps it is fitting then, that Arun uses a quote from the opening of the Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities, to tell his story. The conflict between good and evil, between light and darkness, can be won. Technology is just another means to this end.

There is a lot of hype, but somewhere amid all the hype, there is still hope.

How we write the next chapter and the future of the human race is entirely up to us.

The sky is indeed blue.

We must never lose hope.

Listen in via iTunes and Spotify as Theo and Bradley of Unconventional Ventures have a conversation with our partner and co-host Arunkumar Krishnakumar, as he talks about his new book Quantum Computing and Blockchain in Business: Exploring the applications, challenges and collision of quantum computing and blockchain, and how he is finding solace in this summer of COVID-19. Listen to this, and every episode of One Vision, on your favorite player.

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Quantum computing and blockchain, is this our bold future? - Irish Tech News