Obviously, the title is a (somewhat clumsy) riff on:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1988 American romantic drama film, an adaptation of the 1984 novel by Milan Kundera. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
Following a leisurely and luxurious family holiday in Prague (yes, stayed at Four Seasons), we arrived in Cambridge (the real one), for the Workshop to celebrate my 60th Birthday (which is, in actuality, in August, see When I was Young), as I had previously mentioned The Man Who Loves Zeroes, timed to precede the Annual MSOM Conference, held this year in London (at LBS).
It was a marvelous event – thanks again to Feryal, and to Tinglong, Jay, Roman, Tammi, John, Vince and Kyra, to all colleagues and friends who attended and presented and participated (Holly, Chander, Ram, David, John, Harshita, Ari, Saif, Wedad, Senthil, Aydin, Aris, Mohan, Rachna, Anita, Esme, Zeynep, Fikiri, and many more) and the OIT group at Judge (including Niyazi, Stefan, Stelios, Houyuan) for being such wonderful hosts, and to those who could not attend but sent in their wishes. In addition to a book launch (recall ACE Venture) and receiving a signed copy from Ram, It was also wonderful to see the Tayur Academic Family represented visually created through new software (that can be used by others, thanks to Tinglong):
Milan Kundera wrote:
The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?
Of course, he fell into same Either/Or trap as many unimaginative others ☺️(including Soren Kierkegaard), which is maximally inverse to my Both/And approach to life! You know from my articles – The Audacity of BOPE for instance – that I span the Frivolous-Gravitas Spectrum:
Speaking of frivolousness, yes, I did watch (at Everyman Cinema, on a comfortable sofa and with a refreshing cocktail, and I was the only one in the theater, confirming that I am indeed A Man of Considerable Leisure!):
F1 is a 2025 American sports drama film starring Brad Pitt as a race-car driver who returns to Formula One after a thirty-year absence to save his old teammate’s underdog squad from collapse. It was directed by Joseph Kosinski with a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger, from a story by the two. The film was made with the collaboration of the FIA, Formula One’s governing body, and features many real-life F1 drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, who was a producer on the film. The film also stars Javier Bardem. The film is based on the 2023 Formula One season and was filmed during both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
The following Formula One drivers also appear in the film:
Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri. Lando Norris. George Russell. Carlos Sainz.
How was it? Gerard Cachon was one the folks who asked me the movie at MSOM lunch. As I told him, essentially in agreement with:
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times who deemed F1 to be “an enjoyably arranged collection of all the visual attractions and narrative clichés that money can buy”.
Milan Kundera continues:
When we want to give expression to a dramatic situation in our lives, we tend to use metaphors of heaviness. We say that something has become a great burden to us. We either bear the burden or fail and go down with it, we struggle with it, win or lose. And Sabina – what had come over her? Nothing. She had left a man because she felt like leaving him. Had he persecuted her? Had he tried to take revenge on her? No. Her drama was a drama not of heaviness but of lightness. What fell to her lot was not the burden, but the unbearable lightness of being.
Here is my take:
Sabina’s choice—to leave without trauma, without anchor—was not weightless, but untethered from Gravitas. What she did not recognize (nor appreciate) was the unbelievable luckiness of being where one can be both frivolous (and lighthearted) and possess gravitas.
What’s coming up with respect to workshops and conferences? You already know from The Importance of Being Caring about my presentation at a July workshop celebrating Wally Hopp. Here is a preview of INFORMS in Atlanta (in October) where I have a Keynote (on Quantum), a Tutorial (also on Quantum, see June 17th updated version on arXiv that will also appear in print shortly, Five Starter Problems: Solving QUBOs on Quantum Computers) and I am on a Panel (yes, on Quantum, invited by Tamas Terlaky). Quantum! Quantum! Quantum!
This is the title and abstract of my Keynote:
How can INFORMS contribute to The Second Quantum Revolution?
The Second Quantum Revolution – comprising of Quantum Computing, Quantum Communications and Quantum Sensing – provides unprecedented abilities to improve the human condition, security and sustainability, hence mass prosperity, across the world, in a variety of ways, ranging from improving health (through better diagnosis as well new drug development, via exciting applications of Quantum Machine Learning and Quantum Sensing) as well by improving security (in financial transactions as well as better combat cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure, through Quantum Money and Quantum Communication protocols). It also promises to do so using less energy than purely digital methods, thus providing a sustainable approach to sustainable development in a hybrid quantum-classical future.
Integer Programming. Queueing. Markov Decision Processes. Semi-definite Programs. These are some of fundamental methodologies in Operations Research (OR) and Management Science (MS) that are used to tackle practical applications from Business (Supply Chain, Finance), Engineering (Communication Networks) and Medicine (Cancer Genomics, Image Recognition). At Tepper Quantum Group, we are exploring the twin questions: (a) what can quantum do for OR/MS and (b) what can OR/MS do for quantum.
In this keynote, after a brief introduction to the relevant topics in quantum mechanics, I will present an overview of our progress in (a) Graver Augmented Multi-seed Algorithm (GAMA), a novel hybrid quantum-classical algorithm, for non-linear integer programs, with application to hedge funds, cancer genomics and supply chains; (b) Ising Hardware (Photonics); (c) Queuing analyses for quantum communications (buffering, entanglement switch) and (d) tackling fundamental problems in Quantum Information Science (QIS), such as entanglement detection, via SDP. I will also highlight two TutORials that we have created to help INFORMS community rapidly become familiar with quantum computing and information science. It is my hope that this plenary will create collaboration opportunities in identifying new applications, building novel hardware or conceiving innovative algorithms utilizing, and enhancing, quantum information science and technologies, facilitating INFORMS to contribute to The Second Quantum Revolution.
