Event Date: October 5, 2016 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Location: FSS 4004, 120 University Private

Presented by the Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS), the School of Political Studies and the International Theory Network (ITN)

Project Q: International Security and the Quantum Revolution

Wednesday, October 5, 11:00am – 12:30am

Social Sciences Building, 120 University Pvt., room 4004

In 1939, Albert Einstein sent a letter to Franklin Roosevelt in which he informed the U.S. President of a new source of nuclear energy that could lead to the ‘construction of extremely powerful new bombs’. Behind the familiar tale of the creation of the atomic bomb, the rise of America as a superpower, and the tribulations of the cold war there lies an untold history with an unknown future.  It too is a story that scales up from the subatomic to the cosmic, that is shrouded in secrecy as well as complexity, and has been mostly confined to a hermetic circle of scientific experts and policy elites.  In this alternative story, however, the dropping of the bomb was neither the beginning nor the end, but only one event in a quantum revolution that rocked many of the scientific and philosophical verities of the 20th century. Today, this quantum revolution is reaching its military climax. It presents both promise as well as peril, life as well as death, as new security infrastructures are created and marked for destruction.

James Der Derian is Michael Hintze Chair of International Security at the University of Sydney, where he directs the Centre for International Security Studies. His research and teaching interests are in international security, information technology, international theory, and documentary film. He has authored multiple books and journal articles, as well as being a recognized documentary film maker. He is currently at work on a new book and documentary film, Project Q: The Question of Quantum. James received a Joint First Class Honours in Political Science and History at McGill University, and an M.Phil. and D.Phil. in international relations at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

*Please note: Photos and/or video recordings of this event may be posted on the CIPS website, newsletter and/or social media accounts. This event is free and in English.