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Short abstract:

This paper will contribute to critical ELSA scholarship by examining the question of effective QT governance. I will explore the efficacy of Australian legal responses to quantum dots through the lens of legal ontologies, and the ontological friction between quantum and legal-governance systems.

Long abstract:

While quantum technologies (QT) hold significant promise for addressing grand societal challenges, there is emerging scholarship that critically approaches these widespread ‘quantum for good’ narratives. It is recognised that QT, or ‘complex system[s] governed by the laws of quantum physics’ (Dowling and Milburn 2003), will engender normative and structural transformations in systems, processes, and institutions governed by classical physics. One such emerging area is the question of designing effective QT governance. QT challenge foundational classical assumptions around how technologies can and should work, and thus how governance systems can and should be designed in response.

Grounded in these questions of ontology, this paper offers a preliminary perspective to emerging critical ELSA scholarship around QT. I will explore QT governance through a case study of Australian legal-governance responses to quantum dots (QDs). QDs are an early form of quantum technology, and have reached relative commercial and technological maturity across a range of technical fields. In the overarching context of novelty and uncertainty that characterises QT, QDs offer a uniquely rich history through which to explore both ‘quantum for good’ narratives, and the efficacy of existing legal-governance responses. This paper will apply doctrinal research and legal philosophy to characterise and compare the ontologies that quantum technologies and legal systems inhabit. Given early analysis reveals that quantum and legal systems inhabit contrasting ontologies, I will then critically explore the tensions around QT that enact novel ontologies in the context of existing classical systems, and the implications of this for shaping quantum futures.