Luca Possati

University of Porto

Quantum Technologies and the City: Exploring the Ethical and Social Implications of the Applications of Quantum Technologies to Urban Design

7 February 2023, 17h00 (Lisbon Time — GMT+0)

Sala Mattos Romão (Room C201.J – Department of Philosophy)

School of Arts and Humanities – University of Lisbon

Abstract

In this presentation I intend to understand the ethical and social impact of quantum technologies (QTs) applied to urban design and in particular to the problem of infrastructure maintenance. Infrastructure maintenance has a highly ethical dimension because there is a moral duty to repair and modify structures that support social life. The ethical consequences of poor maintenance not only affect the life of a society but also have a differential impact on social groups. QTs offer very important resources to improve the maintenance of urban infrastructures. Due to their nature, these technologies can have significant ethical and social impact, both in a positive and negative sense, on the evolution of urban design. For this reason, QTs require a new approach to the ethics of technology that is more sensitive to the differences and identity of the social groups that animate the urban context. In the case of QTs, the ethics of technology must go beyond the distributive paradigm and the ideal of impartiality to instead assume an approach more centered on oppression, violence, domination, and the relationship between social identities.