Solving the Irish Border Question with Quantum Computing and a cat
The application of Quantum Computing and its core concept may hold some clues how to solve the latest Brexit aporia. And just like the AI story, it’s got to do with cats.
Recently watching some fun videos explaining the emergent technology of Quantum Computing, I came across an engaging and not-very-techy lesson on the ideas behind this new wave: the thinking of Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who lived from 1887–1961 and is most famous for his thought experiment on a cat trapped inside a sealed box — nowadays famous as “Schrödinger’s Cat”.
If you’re pressed for time, simply skip the following link and read on. Should you have some minutes to spare, take the time to watch the video. It’s definitely worth it.
The two concepts central to Schrödinger’s teachings are Superposition and Entanglement — they are now at the core of Quantum Computing, allowing the bits in the Quantum universe more freedom than in today’s digital world. Instead of just the binary choice between 0 and 1, on or off, current or no current, the so-called Qbits can have far more states. This is thanks to the two characteristic principles: If you can put one Qbit on top of the other, as in Superposition, or entangle Qbits around each other, as you do in Entanglement or like you would in any ordinary cotton yarn, the resulting data points allow to take on many more shapes and process incoming information much faster than traditional binary-bit-machines ever can.
Consequently, while our cat trapped in a box can have two states at once and all the while remain absolutely the same, the next generation of Quantum Computers will be able to think about more than the purely binary choice of 0 or 1, on or off — they can invent new and different dimensions.
New dimensions needed for Brexit & N Ireland
That’s exactly what we need to end the impasse around the Northern Ireland question in Brexit negotiations.
Like in the feline example mentioned above, we have what seems like binary choices mutually excluding the alternative solution: a) No hard border between the North and the Republic including EEA-membership and b) No compromise on the Union between the North and the UK.
Tough choices
Get out completely and there will have to be border and customs checks. Get out completely on your own terms and the Irish may veto your Brexit deal. Do whatever the Republic asks you to agree and your Westminster support machine may switch off instantaneously. Being between a rock and hard place compares as a rather cozy affair against this backdrop.
If we can learn anything from Prof. Schrödinger’s ideas for the Brexit mêlée, it would be the adoption of the idea that a state is not necessarily binary while at the same time remaining one and the same. Or, if you ever had to deal with the theoretical models for Christian Trinity teaching, being at once one and the same while still able to appear as separate entities.
Coming back to earth, how does it help?
What we need is a system to satisfy not only the prerequisite In demanded by the Dublin government but all the same — and at the same time — the Out signalling that PM May can deliver on her Brexit pledge.
How that would look like is a question experienced civil servants and negotiators are well versed to pin down and do thought experiments with. Just a bit like Prof. Schrödinger did a few decades ago with his imaginary pet.
Tricky negotiations rarely end with total defeat or utter victory by either side. Striking a balance accommodating views from a multitude of antagonistic strands is the art of Diplomacy. And the British pulled it off before, for example by arranging Hong Kong to be a Special Administrative Zone or even hammering out the Good Friday Agreement.
Have your fudge at the sweet shop, eat it for Brexit
Doing a special deal for the North wouldn’t necessarily mean fudging the whole matter, as some Irish commentators feared.
Northern Ireland, while being a firm part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and (sic) Northern Ireland already has a special status and administrative idiosyncracies. Finding a special way now that the UK as a whole leaves the EU would just be a continuation of this special treatment.
And no, it wouldn’t be just fudge. Instead, it would be a clear demonstration that policy makers in London, Dublin and Brussels alike are aware of the special situation facing the North-eastern part and indeed the whole island.
Her Majesty’s most loyal subjects and the staunchest republicans just a few miles apart across a border largely inexistent in daily business should warrant something more than just a simple off-the-peg-Brexit M Barnier was musing about.
As for the inconciliatory tones coming from the DUP in the past few days, the PM might come to think about other means to gain her majority in Parliament for the final deal’s ratification.
At least she would be in good company if she loses her current address:
Her predecessor (far-removed) Sir Robert Peel suffered a similar fate in 1846 while trying to abolish the contentious Corn Laws. Finally, they went — but with them Sir Robert knowing how unpopular his endeavour would be.
An example of a politician led by conviction, rarely seen now as then.
Sir Robert Peel Picture Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.
