[Zarath]

The justification can be found on the Reddit:

"Because we needed an efficient hash function for IoT and the future of ternary computing (memristors, spintronics, optical computing and the trend in Artificial Neural Networks)

This has been known since before we even began the project. I spoke with the Keccak team about this all the way back in early 2015 before a code of IOTA was written"

Source: https://gyazo.com/03cacbaf9de433c544eaffb8fd1c92ef

[nickodell]

Because of fidget spinners and the cloud, got it.

[subcosmos]

Easily the most buzzword-laden BS I have ever laid my eyes on. I'm surprised the word "quantum" isn't in there too.

[Taek]

Iota talks about quantum quite a bit, including with regards to their choice of ternary