Shawn E. S. Skelton
About Me
This website is a collection of my writing and some resources related to my work. Professionally, I am a PhD student in the quantum information group at the university of Leibniz in Hannover. I am also working on a MA in philosophy of science and I have a couple of personal projects related to science communication. Personally, I am a Canadian living in Germany and an inveterate literature nerd. I speak English and I read English and German.
My website is a work in progress, but frankly so is my life.
Quantum Computing Ethics
With Anna Knörr, I maintain a list of articles and resources related to ethics in quantum computing, you can find the latest version here . I have written about classical vs quantum utility comparisons and some associated ethical challenges, you can find that as a blogpost for the quantum ethics project
Professional Life (Physics)
I work in quantum information theory (QIT), a sprawling discipline which weaves between ‘fundamental research’ and ‘practical research’. At its simplest, the field is about how to understand, store, and extract information in quantum systems. QIT is about understanding how microscopic systems evolve under the laws of quantum mechanics, by studying the spread of ‘information’ defined by the properties of particles within the system. But QIT can also be about how to solve systems of linear equations on quantum computers, if we ever manage to get quantum computers to large system sizes and small error rates. So QIT includes everything from both the foundations of quantum mechanics and algorithms for quantum computers. My own research currently involves the feasibility and resource requirements of quantum algorithms, especially quantum algorithms developed using an algorithm template called quantum signal processing. You can find my CV here . In a past degree, I have also studied tensor networks, applied to both many bodied physics and holographic gravity toy models. My publications and preprints include:
- Mostly Harmless Methods for QSP-Processing with Laurent Polynomials
- Realistic Runtime Analysis for Quantum Simplex Computation
I also host and update a github repository for QSP-preprocessing, including some simple QSP simulations, which you can find here.
Professional Life (Philosophy)
In my philosophy studies, I am interested in how discipline specific social norms can influence the direction of research, and especially of emerging technologies. Relatedly, I think about how funding structures in science influence the direction of research. These all converge in this talk for the First Feminist Philosophy of Science workshop in June 2024. I am also interested in science communication and public trust in science. I am very influenced by feminist philosophies of science and postmodern theories of knowledge.
Random Writing
I am a proudly queer failure of evangelical christian homeschooling with an anabaptist flavour, which has subtle but strong influences on my philosphy. Being homeschooled brought very early exposure to pseudoscience and its harms and it has made me deeply curious about what drives us towards particular beliefs, systems of knowledge, and rationalities.
However, growing up within Christianity also gave me access to ancient, rich, and surprisingly rebellious ethical and literary traditions. When I philosophize ethically, it is still Isaiah that grounds me and Matthew which constrains me. Consequently when I do play with stories, Genesis is closest in reach. The writings in this section are correspondingly more personal, mainly a collection of projects from undergraduate coursework.
- Deconstructing the Deep State: QAnon, Metanarrative Conspiracy Theories, and Foucauldian Discourse
- This essay used to be an undergraduate postmodernism philosophy final project. It was written at the height of covid-19 vaccine roll-out and the associated conspiracizing. Today I would (perhaps I will someday) write a very different paper, but I still stand by the core ideas.
- What to do about epistemically disadvanatged conservatives?
- Like everyone else, I had some strong reactions to process after the latest American election. I wrote this reflection out of frustration with how many Evangelical Trump voters are intellectually dismissed or morally maligned. Through my own experiances with evangelical educational systems, I hoped to sketch out a dual thesis that evangelical conservative doctrines are deeply cynical in their origin and sincerely and (relative to some doctrinal committments) rationally held by their supporters.
