Esben Rohan Christensen: Quantum Narratives: From Rome’s Physics Heritage to Quantum Futures
Quantum technologies are increasingly framed as transformative innovations, promising breakthroughs in computing, communication, and sensing. At the same time, they are embedded in broader narratives about technological competition, economic opportunity, and national security. Such narratives do not merely describe technological developments; they shape how quantum science is understood, funded, and governed.
This presentation examines how expectations and narratives surrounding quantum technologies are constructed and circulated across different domains, including science, policy, and industry. Rather than treating visions of the future as neutral projections, the talk approaches them as communicative constructions through which uncertainty, responsibility, and technological possibilities are negotiated.
The discussion situates these contemporary quantum imaginaries within a longer historical perspective by reflecting on Rome’s role in the early development of modern physics through figures such as Enrico Fermi and Franco Rasetti and the work of the Via Panisperna group in the 1930s. By combining perspectives from physics, history of science, and science and technology studies, the presentation explores how narratives about quantum science contribute to shaping technological futures and invites reflection on how such futures are imagined and governed today.
Alberte Bové Rud: Personality-driven Politics and Depersonalised Responses
Modern Italian politics offers a revealing case for examining the role of individual leadership. As political parties, media environments, and voter alignments have evolved, so too have prevailing norms and ideals of political leadership.
This presentation analyses Italian politics over the past century through four distinct shifts in conceptions of leadership, beginning with the personality cult surrounding the Duce and concluding with the consciously anonymous figure of the Eurocrat. It argues that a pendulum oscillating between intense personalisation and deliberate depersonalisation has characterized modern Italian politics and continues to shape its contemporary landscape.
Finally, the presentation reflects on the democratic implications of these developments, considering both the risks of concentrated personal authority and the democratic distance created by technocratic governance, while also acknowledging the mobilising potential of charismatic leadership and the stabilising role of technocratic expertise.