Deadline: December 31, 2026

Dear all,

We have extended to the 31st of December the deadline for the Topical Collection (TC) Untangling the Quantum Ecology: Charting the Impact of Quantum Theory and Quantum Technologies on Technoscience and the Digital Transformation, guest-edited by myself and Prof. Robert Braun (Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna) in the journal Digital Society.

Here the full call: https://link.springer.com/collections/hafcjjejbd

This TC aims to shape a novel dialogue at the intersection of Critical Data Studies CDS), Science and Technology Studies (STS), and social quantum theory (Bohm 1980; Barad 2007; Wendt 2015).

Our point of departure is that analyses of the social are tacitly grounded in a Newtonian-Cartesian interpretation of the physical (Braun 2024). Challenging onto-epistemic frameworks, including those of science, data and datafication practices, need to investigate alternative imaginaries and practices in order to better understand the co-constitution of scientific, technical, human, and biotic relations.

Hence, we experiment with the notion of quantum ecology (Calzati & de Kerckhove 2024) intended as both an onto-epistemological framework – drawing on principles and phenomena of quantum physics such as uncertainty, nonlocality, entanglement, complementarity, superposition – and a disruptive technological paradigm shaped by quantum technologies , whose impact has profound implications for the digital transformation, including Artificial Intelligence.

We welcome research articles (8000 words) or commentaries (3000 words), which can be sent anytime until the 31st of December via Editorial Manager of the journal, by selecting "TC-Quantum Ecology". Submissions will be sent to peer-review as soon as they are received and, if accepted, published as soon as they are ready.

All best,

Dr Stefano Calzati, Prof Robert Braun

Indicative references

Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Braun, R. (2024). Radical reflexivity, experimental ontology and RRI. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 11(1). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2024.2331651

Busemeyer, J., & Bruza, P. (2012). Quantum models of cognition and decision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Calzati, S., & de Kerckhove, D. (2024). Quantum ecology: Why and how new information technologies will reshape societies. MIT Press. https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5872/Quantum-EcologyWhy-and-How-New-Information

Fierke, K. M, and N. Mackay. (2020). To ‘see’ is to break an entanglement: Quantum measurement, trauma and security. Security Dialogue, 51(5): 450–466. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010620901909

Oksala, J. (2010). Foucault’s politicization of ontology. Continental Philosophy Review, 43(4): 445-466.

Smith, D. E. (2001). Texts and the ontology of organizations and institutions. Studies in Cultures, Organizations and Societies, 7(2): 159-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/10245280108523557

Voelkner, N. & Zanotti, L. (2022). Ethics in a quantum world. Global Studies Quarterly, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksac044

Wallace, D. (2010). Decoherence and Ontology (or: How I learned to stop worrying and love FAPP). In Many Worlds? Everett, Quantum Theory, and Reality, edited by Simon Saunders and et al. Oxford: Oxford Academic.

Wendt, A. (2015). Quantum mind and social science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press