Narratives and Past Experience

I read with interest the narrative of the recent ASEAN Quantum Summit. Once again, I say bravo to the organizer team that made this happen.

Here, I merely want to make comparison of my own experience of organizing events, which I consider as a different experience. When I was with the institute, I believe we have done many events (associated with quantum science or not). At one time, I do notice that our events almost did not get the exposure in more formal media. I did mention this to the committee then and had the committee work harder with respect to the publicity. Once I thought it was just probably that our events were 'mathematics-based' and appeared less sensational to cover as it seems that there are no 'physical' showcases for people to see. Next, I recall hearing a remark that these are merely events of this nobody 'Dr. Hisham'. A prevalent narrative among 'office politicians' then was events are done for 'glorification' (of individuals/institutions) and less on the importance of the materials they carry. After awhile, I tried to fade myself in the background though this is more difficult than I thought (given my administrative post). The next level of realization is perhaps one was considered not to be favoured by some, particularly for highlighting events. I certainly remember the two instances that my pic was cropped out from the picture that appeared in the more official media. Of course, these were among other more subtle things. Thus, finally I took a rest from holding positions. 

Why am I recalling all these stories? The very human reason is it is seared deep in my mind but a better reason would be to help others learn. In any case, I am happy to be given the opportunity to do things that I believe in like EQuaLS. I was told that the series had some form of impact. I was asked to write about EQuaLS in the AAPPS Bulletin: see the article here. The biggest EQuaLS event that I did was the 6th Asia-Pacific Conference & Workshop in Quantum Information Science (EQuaLS 6). When I was first asked about hosting this conference, I wrote to a few individuals about the idea given my worry that it would not get the support it needed. At the time, I had already some experience in chairing very specialized conferences and the difficulty to get people to participate (what more if the requirement is to generate income; in most cases we would be simply satisfied if we could just break even). In the end, we proceeded with all the risks in mind. Here is the group pic.

This is me with Bob Coecke (left) and Robert Spekkens (right) during the conference dinner (note: both are Birkhoff-Von Neumann Prize recipients).

Being old, I wish that Allah remove the desire of fame and glory from my mind and what is best for me is the record of good deeds. I take those things I have mentioned above are simply fate and in the end all I want is husnul khatimah (may Allah grant me this). If it is granted that what we do has the bonus of people's good narrative then Alhamdulillah, otherwise it is also Alhamdulillah (good for the heart).

Note added: Yesterday, again I had to babysit all the cats at home as my other half went to a conference at Movenpick Hotel, KLIA (my son Izhar drove her there). The conference is necessary for the doctors to collect points for their annual practicing certificate. Here are some photos.

Me and the cats: