Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society
Gerardo Adesso, Rosario Lo Franco, Valentina Parigi

TL;DR
Quantum mechanics, once considered philosophically puzzling, has been experimentally verified and now significantly influences modern technology and society, despite ongoing foundational debates.
Contribution
This paper introduces a special issue exploring the foundational questions of quantum mechanics and their societal impact, highlighting recent experimental progress and technological applications.
Findings
Experimental verification of quantum phenomena
Quantum technologies impacting society
Ongoing debates on quantum foundations
Abstract
Nearing a century since its inception, quantum mechanics is as lively as ever. Its signature manifestations, such as superposition, wave-particle duality, uncertainty principle, entanglement and nonlocality, were long confronted as weird predictions of an incomplete theory, paradoxes only suitable for philosophical discussions, or mere mathematical artifacts with no counterpart in the physical reality. Nevertheless, decades of progress in the experimental verification and control of quantum systems have routinely proven detractors wrong. While fundamental questions still remain wide open on the foundations and interpretations of quantum mechanics, its modern technological applications have captured the fascination of the general public and are having a transformative impact on society. This brief article acts as Introduction to a Special Issue in the Philosophical Transactions of Royal…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
