Ομιλία
From “Mysticism” to Measure: Quantum Literacy for a Generation Without Fear
Περίληψη
Quantum technology is transitioning from the laboratory to industry, and along with it, a secondary narrative is circulating: “quantum mysticism”, which borrows the language of physics (superposition, observer, entanglement) to promise effortlessness understanding. This talk argues that the antidote is neither intimidation nor heavy mathematical preparation upfront, but quantum literacy: a minimal yet essential set of concepts, tools, and questions that enables one to distinguish between what is fact, what is metaphor, and what is pseudoscience. Through examples (the prevalent quantum myth and its real scientific foundation) and a two-qubit circuit that any student can simulate with a few lines of code, we will demonstrate how low the actual entry barrier really is. The talk is addressed to new students across all disciplines and concludes with a proposition: the generation starting out today carries neither the prejudices nor the fears of the previous one, and can serve as the bridge between quantum science and society.
Βιογραφικό
Ilias K. Savvas is a full Professor of Algorithms and Programming at the Department of Digital Systems of the University of Thessaly. He holds a degree in Mathematics from the Department of Mathematics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and an MSc in Computer Science (University of Dundee, UK). He completed his PhD thesis at the Dept. of Computer Science, University College of Dublin, Ireland, entitled “Scheduling and Assignment of CPU-Intensive Tasks on Large Heterogeneous Distributed Systems”. He is a member of the program/scientific committee of several international conferences and journals. He also served as General Chair of the 19th IEEE WETICE conference. He has published many research papers in international journals and conferences as well as a chapter in a book. He is also the author of the book "Quantum Computation: From Theory to Practice" (in Greek). His main research interests include Parallel and Distributed Systems, Computational Clouds, and for the last four years almost exclusively Quantum Computing and especially with Post - Quantum Cryptographic Algorithms και Post-Quantum Cryptalanlysis, Quantum Machine Learning and Quantum Literacy.
Ilias Savvas is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Digital Systems at the University of Thessaly. He holds a degree in Mathematics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.) and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Dundee, UK. He completed his PhD at University College Dublin, Ireland, with a thesis titled “Scheduling and Assignment of CPU-Intensive Tasks on Large Heterogeneous Distributed Systems”. He served as Dean of the School of Technology at the University of Thessaly. He is a member of the program and scientific committees of many international conferences and scientific journals, and he served as General Chair of the 19th IEEE WETICE conference. He has published numerous papers in international journals and conferences, as well as two book chapters. He is the author of the book Κβαντική Υπολογιστική [Quantum Computing] (Tziolas Publications, 2022). His main research interests include Theoretical and Applied Quantum Computing, Quantum Algorithms, Quantum Machine Learning, Quantum Literacy, High-Performance Computing, and Cloud Computing. Over the past five years, his research has focused almost exclusively on Quantum Computing. He is the conference chair of KBANTA 2027, the 1st Panhellenic Student Conference on Quantum Technologies and Applications.
His full CV, publications, and citations are available at: Scopus, Google Scholar, ORCID, and Book (Eudoxus).