Research Colloquium Series: The Death of the Cold War State and the Birth of Quantum Technologies
On 8 April 2026 the Centre for Quantum and Society organizes the next Quantum & Society Research Colloquium with Dr Susannah Glickman as our speaker, with the lecture When History is too Important to be Left to Historians: The Death of the Cold War State and the Birth of Quantum Technologies.
Abstract: This lecture uses the biography of Cold warrior and famous physicist John Wheeler to examine a series of crises of the Cold War US state and how they contributed to 1) the field of quantum technologies 2) the fields of history and philosophy of science, apart from history and philosophy proper 3) the remaking of US scientific institutions in the subsequent two decades. It will first discuss the Cold War status quo, then the crises that emerged from the mid-60s to the 1970s. The responses to these crises paved the way for our present set of techno-economic ideologies and infrastructures. They force physicists like Wheeler to imagine physics and reality ( with implications for how they imagine the past, history, and future). The crises also prompt the profession to reimagine the role of physics in politics, the economy, technology (especially computing), and history.
These crises were experienced as a profound rupture by physicists and eventually a broader swath of elites. For physicists like Wheeler, this feeling of rupture inaugurated a new interest in history and in discovering ways of stabilizing and predicting the future, e.g., laws of techno-economic development. High tech’s ascendence reinforced the sense of rupture and rearranged power and produced new elite networks into which old elites like Wheeler were injected. This all led to a reimagining of the role of certain technologies as world historical. i.e., the birth of a new progressivist-developmental ideology (e.g., Moore’s Law). Imagined quantum technologies are a solution to these crises and an articulation of the responses to them. They succeed at getting long-term funding because they fit neatly within the new ideology their proponents helped craft.
Susannah Glickman is an assistant professor of history at Stony Brook University. Glickman received her PhD in history from Columbia University in 2023. Her dissertation, titled Histories, Tech, and a New Central Planning, concerned how the politico-economic category of ‘tech’ demands the production of speculative institutions, narratives, histories and ideologies. Her research and teaching focus on the history and political economy of computation and information through the transformations of the Cold War state into the post-Cold War state. She also writes about risk and uncertainty in other fields (for example, in the history of economics). Her current book project examines the infrastructures which make ever-improving semiconductors and quantum technologies possible historically, with particular attention to how ideology and other kinds of narratives get translated into policy and granular practices, and how reciprocally those material practices get translated back into ideology. She has a background in mathematics and anthropology and work between the fields of science and technology studies and history, mixing archival and oral history methods. Since graduating, Glickman has published widely for publications such as The American Prospect, AI Now, Phenomenal World, and The New York Review of Books.
The talk will be hosted (in person, with the possibility to attend remotely) by the Law and Governance of Quantum Technologies group, Institute for Information Law in collaboration with the Asser Institute and the critical infrastructure lab, University of Amsterdam.
Time: 3:30 to 5:00 PM (Drinks will follow at CREA)
Location: Room REC A 3.15, Amsterdam Law School, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam
Interested in attending, or receiving updates about future events? Register here.
Centre for Quantum and Society
The Centre for Quantum and Society is a knowledge and co-creation center to maximize quantum technologies’ positive impact on society. We’re part of Action Line 4 of Quantum Delta NL, a unique program that aims to put societal impact first. We facilitate ground-breaking research into the ethical, legal, and societal dimensions related to quantum technologies. We develop tools to assess quantum applications’ impacts and develop governance approaches and guidelines. We support start–ups, small businesses, and corporate innovation teams in understanding the potential impact of quantum technologies on their sector, customers, and society. Last but not least, we initiate mission-driven innovation projects.
This monthly colloquium, organized by the Center for Quantum & Society of Quantum Delta NL, provides a platform for quantum & society researchers, aimed at building and broadening the community engaged in research on non-technical questions related to quantum technologies, including their development, applications, and implications. We will provide networking opportunities within the community, including with the aim to facilitate new collaborations.
