Quantum phenomena have become affordable to achieve
Science fans won’t require much convincing to see how cool quantum experiments are, but few will be able to afford it if a single optics grade mirror costs more than their headphones. Fortunately, the technology and manufacturing have matured now, such that many key components of quantum physics experiments have become very cheap when mass produced.
We’ve got quotes from several independent suppliers for components of the prototype cavity, and they are mostly just the material cost of the aluminum and glass. As for lasers, we were able to build ones for our lab for only ~$500 each, which is overkill for most experiments.
We need more scientists and engineers
We know more of the fundamental workings of the universe more than ever before, but the more we know, the more we know what we don’t know.
Our productivity is, more than ever, determined by the finest engineering and technology ever produced, which will soon run into a quantum wall.
For humanity to become a truly starfaring civilization, we still need a giant quantum leap. We still need more scientists and engineers.
Making research more affordable and accessible
A big chunk of time working in lab is used to digging around to find the right components. While flexibility is certainly important, accessibility and ease-of-use are important, even for experts. Based on our experience, designs and integrations can be significantly improved to save researchers time and headaches, without sacrificing much flexibility.
A lot of the flexibilities are for the purpose of saving money. Many components can be reused in different ways, though requiring many assembling and disassembling, aka grad student hours. If we can lower the price by an order of magnitude, such flexibility will no longer be needed. It is something achievable through mass production.
Inspire and enable more meaningful hobby in the AI age
It is clear that AI will significantly increase the productivities of technical and knowledge based workers.
While it’s still unclear how institutions and governments around the world will react to the changes brought by the coming AI revolution in the next decade. My optimistic view is that policies like the 4-day work week will likely become the mainstream.
Leaving highly educated people with more leisure time than ever before. Many of them will like to have a more meaningful hobby, or even, contribute more towards the human progress than their main job.
Citizen scientists, once dismissed as mostly crack pot, are likely to improve with the help of AI, and with some organization, can help to generate the big data needed for better AI that will help humanity reach deeper truth of the universe. I have personally tried using AI for research.
I believe that right now is the perfect time to start a company, so that in the coming decade, we can inspire and enable the flourishing of hobby experimentalists.
Video by @candlesan
Cutting edge scientific instruments as luxury
Mechanical watches are no longer the peak of humanity’s engineering. The most fortunate among us should push humanity forward instead of indulging in the nostalgia of the past glory
Many rich people today come from a background of science and technology. If given the opportunity, many of them would rather having a cutting edge science instrument than owning some old piece of art.
The cavity we are patenting have the potential to enable the miniaturization of many of the cutting edge instruments.
Trapped ion quantum computer at MIT