Here is last night’s dreaming. The first part came from a sleep which lasted through to ~6 AM. Given the current state of my body this length is nigh on unheard of!

The dream starts with me pulling up by car at some huge generic modern science park with start-ups and conference facilities. There is much new building work evident. I park outside the conference centre and go in. The front desk directs me to the workshop on “Quantum Modalities”. It is in a suite of purpose built smaller conference rooms.

I arrive at the reception where there is a man and two female administrators. They are handing out badges on lanyards and marking attendance. The man is mid-thirties, the women slightly younger. They are professional and slick. The man takes me by the arm and leads me to a session. He explains that it is by way of think tank for kicking around ideas and concepts. No limits. He says that there are several teams, focus groups. He leads me to one team sat around a table arranged in a square, with a gap in the middle, like a square polo mint. The people are mostly men and all forty or younger. They are smart, well paid, vocal and energetic. My age and demeanour is in very marked contrast. The man introduces me to the group lead who is an Italian with excellent English. He is from the European grouping. He looks at my lanyard and welcomes me. He asks my background and I say that it is lasers and diverse types of optical spectroscopy. The others largely ignore me. I am not one of the “gang”.

A discussion starts about which modalities can be ruled out for optical quantum computing. These include infrared and solid state absorption due to decoherence. I say that my best bet is on background free ion detected stimulated Raman. They nod and slightly ignore my suggestion. I am after all the dinosaur. It is clear to me that they are fixated on the traditional notion of computing based around a microprocessor core and conventional binary type computation. Their thinking is generic and almost clone like in its similarity. They can only envision a static computer. I can see a visual image of a shiny microprocessor lit from above. It holds their minds. They go on largely talking among themselves. I get up and leave. Nobody notices.

In the main auditorium there is a talk on the future of AI. On stage is a smart young woman late thirties in a skirt suit with blue shirt. She is CEO grade. She has a headset with earphones and a microphone on, TED like. She has an accent from the USA bay area conurbation. She is speaking jargon buzzword tosh and not actually saying anything other than buzzword mantra. I know that the reason AI is popular is because the end of Silicon miniaturisation is nigh. They are reaching the atomic limits of processing. The industry is bricking it because they do not know what comes after Silicon. I find the talk yawn-some so I get up and leave.

I go to the bathroom and am very surprised that the large numbers on our “nanna” clock say 6 AM.

Back in bed I have to make a deliberate effort not to think about quantum modalities because I want to go back to sleep. I keep coming back to the idea that the “processor” cannot be a static thing. And that a totally genuinely radical re-think is needed to implement and optimise how to use quantum efficacy. They are currently at a conceptual dead end, blocked.

I manage to drift off.

The next segment has me arriving at another meeting this time held at a British governmental lab facility. It smacks of the tea and cake, white bread sandwiches canteen. It is an adjoint facility to a secure defence establishment like AWE. It is outside the fence. Nevertheless there are security {military police?} there. I go into reception. I am very early for the afternoon meeting I have been invited to. I am not on the lists that the reception has yet. I say that I am there for the afternoon meeting. He ushers me to a table where I can set up my laptop. I do this and get bored.

I go outside onto a grassy space with a slight slope. Lying on the upsloping ground I boot up the lap top. I am joined by the three cats, Bibi, Gandalf and Felix. Felix {now presumed dead} looks young and clean. The cats sit around the lap top and we are serene enjoying the outdoors in the autumn sun.

A young man and woman are nearby and they say hi. They are going back to London. I offer to give them a lift. I cannot be bothered to wait for the afternoon session. We head back towards the car. Bibi darts across the road stopping traffic. She is unhurt. Gandalf has climbed on my shoulders and Felix lies in the gutter playfully. The so-called wild cat offers me his belly to tickle which I do. I then pick him up and place him on my right shoulder so that I have a cat on each shoulder. Together with the couple we cross the road on a zebra crossing. We are joined by Bibi on foot. We make a slightly odd sight

We are nearing the site canteen and it is very busy. People are chatting on their way to lunch. Bellies are rumbling. There is a hub-bub. I try to remain inconspicuous looking to avoid anyone I might know. There is nobody. We make it to the car park and we all get into the car, three cats, me and the young couple.

The dreaming ends.