Blog Lars Jaeger
Canaries in the Mines of Democracy – On the status of science in Russia, Turkey, Hungary and Poland
Canaries used to play an important role in mining. When the dangerous but odorless gas carbon monoxide got released in the underground, canaries were affected fastest. Already at a concentration of 0.3% and after a time of about two and a half minutes the birds fell of their pole dead. The miners were thus warned […]
Dressage of the democratic will - When computer algorithms determine the outcome of elections
The mechanisms of popular attention and outrage are not always easy to comprehend. Hardly incomprehensible is, however, that the business practice of the firm Cambridge Analytica provoke strong public reactions. The commentaries in print and online media are rarely as unanimous as in this case: Basic rules of democracy have been violated. Less understandable is […]
Stephen Hawking – On the death of a scientific pop star
The physicist community mourns the death of Stephen Hawking, one of its greatest minds. A life that began in the midst of the deepest crisis of the 20th century and is unlikely to be surpassed in intellectual heights and at the same time physical suffering has come to an end. Stephen Hawking was the pop […]
Science politics as a playground for party politics - On the new leadership of the German Ministry of Research
The grand coalition will come to reality in Germany. We will see the (re-)instatement of a government that has a good chance of being more successful than its reputation suggests. Thus the usual fighting for political offices, which always precedes the formation of a new government, finds its end. Ministerial positions are all too often […]
Fear of the future - How science and new technologies are threatening our collective psyche
A remarkable paradox shapes our time: The technological progress enables us to live in unprecedented safety, enjoy the highest ever levels of health, and experience a quality of life no past generation has ever known. At the same time many people project a future in which everything we know is destroyed or even humanity as […]
The Quantum Computer – The Holy Grail of the Quantum Revolution 2.0
Every year, the amount of data we humans produce doubles. That means, in 2018 alone as many giga-, tera-, peta- and exabytes will come together worldwide as in the whole of human history until 2017. The background of this growth is that data, its collection and transfer are no longer bound to static computers. Smart […]
Entanglement – From a bizarre and long misunderstood quantum phenomenon to a key technology of the 21st century
In 1981 the famous theoretical physicist Richard Feynman gave a widely praised speech in which he developed a thought that has kept physicists and engineers up on their feet until today. He designed the vision of an entirely new kind of computer that would make today’s high-powered computers look like a Commodore 64 from the […]
From Big Data to Big Brother – Do we finally loose the control of our data?
In 1983 a single topic triggered the most intense discussion across the West German society: the scheduled population census. Every household in the country was supposed to fill out a questionnaire with 36 questions on the housing situation, the people living in the household, and their personal income. Hundreds of citizens’ initiatives throughout the country […]
Beyond the bitcoin crash - What will be the lasting impact of crypto currencies and the blockchain technology?
A spectre is haunting the financial world. It is not as 170 years ago the spectre of communism that threatens the establishment in Europe. The ghost today is called “bitcoin”, and it threatens the entire power structures in the global financial industry. The similarities with the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are […]