{"id":2086,"date":"2024-10-09T10:34:52","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T10:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quantum.closelycoded.site\/?page_id=2086"},"modified":"2024-12-17T08:56:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T08:56:12","slug":"backstory-observer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/backstory-observer\/","title":{"rendered":"Backstory: The Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2086\" class=\"elementor elementor-2086\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5922dc1c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5922dc1c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6683d3c4 elementor-absolute elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-mobile elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"6683d3c4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_position&quot;:&quot;absolute&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"92\" height=\"143\" src=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/pattern_top.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-591\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-66666dcf elementor-absolute elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-mobile elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"66666dcf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_position&quot;:&quot;absolute&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"160\" height=\"177\" src=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/pattern_bottom.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-592\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d31c074 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d31c074\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-35255a5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"35255a5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Backstory: The Observer<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-698dafe elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"698dafe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p align=\"center\">A Q&amp;A with\u00a0<strong>Dan Goodman<\/strong>, Quantum Shorts finalist<\/p><p align=\"center\">Read the story:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cqt.sg\/shorts\/entry\/observer-1\">The Observer<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2bc8bc4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2bc8bc4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Can you give a short introduction of yourself?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>I&#8217;ve always had a hard time defining myself. I&#8217;m a father of two and happily married to a wonderful woman, and after many years of dreaming about it, have finally decided to start calling myself an aspiring writer.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>There are different levels of observation in your story. How did you come up with the idea?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>The first line of the story just kind of came to me, and once it did, it suggested to me the idea of a fallible creator, even prone to carelessness, tinkering with our world. I thought even if there is a creator or being doing the observing, maybe there could be something left for the people observed too. It became an interesting nesting of things, sort of like the Russian stacking dolls and the idea that it is turtles all the way down.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What was your quantum inspiration?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>There are so many ideas about quantum physics that have been floating around in my head for years, many of them no doubt way off base. More recently, Henrich Pas\u2019 book,\u00a0<em>The One<\/em>, introduced me to new ways of thinking about quantum reality and nuances related to the mysterious role of observation in quantum phenomena.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What got you interested in quantum?<\/strong><\/p><p>It probably started with Star Trek when I was a kid. I was always interested in science, science fiction and how the world works. For quantum physics, I really wanted to understand conceptually what is going on. The more I read, the more I felt this was an elegant approach to science.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What was your writing process like?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>After staring at my laptop screen for an hour or so, I decided to start working with whatever popped into my head, and then most of the story unfolded in that first sitting. I then spent several weeks revising language and working on internal consistency. At least one entire paragraph changed shortly before I submitted.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What is your favourite science-inspired book?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p><em>Seveneves\u00a0<\/em>by Neal Stephenson. I love how Stephenson combines hard science and world building, and the long sequences depicting humanity dwindling down to the final seven were mesmerising.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What does being a Quantum Shorts finalist mean to you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>I&#8217;m thrilled to have been able to combine two of my aspirational passions, thinking that I understand some sliver of something about quantum physics, and thinking I might have the talent to be a writer. Being a Quantum Shorts finalist gives me a jolt of confidence to keep trying.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Do you have any other projects you are working on?<\/strong><\/p><p>I started one last week about a dystopian future where AI runs the world. Without giving too much away, it deals with the interplay between humans and AI, and what it means to survive. It is a challenge to avoid doing what\u2019s already been done.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Is there anything else you would like to tell us about you or your story?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>I am more optimistic about humanity&#8217;s ability to solve problems and the power we have over our own fate than the last line of my story suggests.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Backstory: The Observer A Q&amp;A with\u00a0Dan Goodman, Quantum Shorts finalist Read the story:\u00a0The Observer Can you give a short introduction of yourself?\u00a0 I&#8217;ve always had a hard time defining myself. I&#8217;m a father of two and happily married to a wonderful woman, and after many years of dreaming about it, have finally decided to start [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2086","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Backstory: The Observer - Quantum Shorts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/backstory-observer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backstory: The Observer - Quantum Shorts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Backstory: The Observer A Q&amp;A with\u00a0Dan Goodman, Quantum Shorts finalist Read the story:\u00a0The Observer Can you give a short introduction of yourself?\u00a0 I&#8217;ve always had a hard time defining myself. 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