We have no shortage of minds pondering how to leverage quantum computing for public good; the risk is that we sequester this work in academic journals and underfunded grassroots organizations while engineers and scientists continue “business as usual.”

Quantum energy advantage is a piece of the story, but ultimately it’s collective human behavior – not the energy cost of specific algorithms – that determines how much total energy is consumed on computing (or any other application).

Certainly, employees of all identities carry unique gifts and perspectives that can benefit a workplace or industry. However, reducing employees to ‘talent’ can be a neoliberal double-edged sword.

We have every right to be angry… What I am advocating is that all of us in these environments do a personal self-check on our own well-being from time to time and not let resentments fester unaddressed.

Core to the physicist’s fragile self-image is the unconscious (and sometimes conscious) denial of aspects of himself that he fears the most. Above all is denial of his own subjectivity … but what happens when denial alone is insufficient?

We need to quit acting like quantum is going to “change the world.” Or rather, we need to think carefully about what “changing the world” actually means.

Capitalism says I will one day be happy if only I play by the rules. But real life doesn’t work that way: the moment I ceased striving for joy, I realized I had it in abundance all along.

If we want more physicists, let’s start by making physics a space where people want to be.

In equity and inclusion work (and, arguably, activism writ large) personal character growth is 90% of the battle.

Language carries power, and we must be careful in how we use that power. Let’s start by making sure that when we use terms like ‘decolonizing physics,’ we truly mean them — and mean them humbly.

If diversity initiatives are stagnating despite intense effort, for instance, the problem might very well be that they were (unintentionally) structured as an anti-pattern.

Equal representation by itself isn’t justice if it merely means more people have to bear the brunt of the racism and sexism of today’s physics culture.

I have started to envision the idea of an oppositional politics of illegibility rooted in queer theory – wherein I can make myself visible, not because of but in spite of the elements of my CV.

Today, I am doing something that only in America people consider radical: not working on a (for me, paid) federal holiday!

Attempting to tailor content toward everyone only results in superficial-level discussions that benefit no one.

The key is to collect sufficient (and sufficiently high-quality) data to build an informed perspective on the issues, while remembering that data in the absence of interpretation does not establish truth.

Women in physics groups are not inherently revolutionary, but given their structural advantages within physics departments are often the locus of departmental change.

Rather, workaholism has become so normalized within physics culture that it is glorified, and even physicists who don’t trend toward workaholism must deal with its effects.

The goal is to prevent problems before they happen by fostering an inclusive culture and climate, not to bounce incident-to-incident and attempt to repair damage.

This post is intended for fellow non-Black physicists who think this is not our problem.