> We expect that Meltdown and Spectre open a new field of research to investigate in what extent performance optimizations change the microarchitectural state,

> We expect that Meltdown and Spectre open a new field of research to investigate in what extent performance optimizations change the microarchitectural state, how this state can be translated into an architectural state, and how such attacks can be prevented. Not to be cynical or downplay the research, but that's the kind of thing you (have to?) put into papers to make getting research funding easier in future. Hardly a new field, just very difficult to do research on.