Turning Nano Green: The Hybrid Imagination in Action Andrew Jamison.
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Transcript of Turning Nano Green: The Hybrid Imagination in Action Andrew Jamison.
Turning Nano Green: Turning Nano Green: The Hybrid Imagination in ActionThe Hybrid Imagination in Action
Andrew Jamison
An Underlying Contradiction:Hubris...
hubris: ”impious disregard of the limits governing
human action in an orderly universe. It is the sin
to which the great and gifted are most
susceptible, and in Greek tragedy it is usually
the hero's tragic flaw.” (Encyclopedia Britannica online)
...versus Hybrids
hybrids: ”offspring of parents that differ in genetically
determined traits”
or, more colorfully:
”By the late twentieth century, our time, a mythic time, we
are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of
machine and organism...” (Donna Haraway, ”A manifesto
for cyborgs” 1986)
A Brief History of Technology
mechanization
capitalism imperialism technoscience
romanticismcooperation
socialismpopulism
anticolonialism fascism
environmentalismfeminism
1800 1850 1950 20001900
Cultural and Social Movements (or where hybrids come from)
Long Waves of Technological Change (or where hubris comes from)
The First WaveThe First Wave
”the industrial revolution” (ca 1780-1830)
Iron, textile machines, and steam engines
Technologies of mechanization
The factory as an organizational innovation
Social and cultural movements:• ”machine-storming” and cooperation • romantic art and literature, e.g. Frankenstein
The Industrial Revolution
The hybrid imagination: Samuel Morse and the telegraph
The Second WaveThe Second Wave
”the age of capital” (ca 1830-1880)
Railroads, telegraph, and steel
Technologies of socialization
The rise of the corporation (Carnegie, Krupp)
Social and cultural movements:• populism, communism and social-democracy • science fiction and arts and crafts
The Industrial Society
The hybrid imagination:William Morris and industrial design
”nothing can be a work of art
that is not useful”
The Lesser Arts, 1878
The Third WaveThe Third Wave
”the age of empire” (ca 1880-1930)
Electricity, automobiles, chemicals and airplanes
Technologies of modernization
Research becomes a business (Edison, DuPont)
Social and cultural movements:
• anticolonialism and fascism
• modernism and human ecology
The Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk
Henry Ford with his 10 millionth car
The hybrid Imagination:Lewis Mumford and human technology
”The whole industrial world – and instrumentalism is only its highest conscious expression - has taken values for granted...”
The Fourth WaveThe Fourth Wave
”the new industrial state” (ca 1930-1980)
Atomic energy, genetics, and computers
Technologies of scientification
The rise of transnational corporations (IBM, Sony)
Social and cultural movements:
• civil rights and ”ban the bomb”
• environmentalism, feminism and postmodernism
The Age of Technoscience
The hybrid imagination: Rachel Carson and environmental technology
”The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway om which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster.”
A New Wave?A New Wave?
”the age of information” (från ca 1980)
Converging technologies (info-, bio-, cogno-, nano)
Technologies of the virtual
Global corporate empires (Microsoft, Nokia)
Social and cultural movements:
• identity politics and ”open source”
• ecological design and global justice
The Age of Information
The hybrid imagination:Vandana Shiva and global ecology
Changing Regimes of Changing Regimes of Knowledge and PowerKnowledge and Power
Industrial Military Commercial “Little Science” “Big Science” “Technoscience” Before WWII 1940s-1970s 1980s-
Type of Knowledge disciplinary multidisciplinary transdisciplinary
Organiza- individuals or R&D departments ad hoc projects andtional form research groups and institutes networks
Dominantvalues academic bureaucratic entrepreneurial
From Little Science to Big Science
change in size and scale
mission orientation
external sponsorship
new norm, or value system
new role for the state (”science policy”)
From Big Science to Technoscience
change in range and scope
market orientation, global reach
university-industry collaboration
”epistemic drift” (Elzinga)
the state as strategist: “picking the winners”
Transdisciplinarity, or ”Mode 2”Transdisciplinarity, or ”Mode 2”
”Knowledge which emerges from a particular context of
application with its own distinct theoretical structures,
research methods and modes of practice but which
may not be locatable on the prevailing disciplinary
map.”
Michael Gibbons et al, The New Production of Knowledge (1994)
Contextual DifferencesContextual Differences
”Mode 1” ”Mode 2”
forms of structural programmaticfunding (sub)national (trans)national
main university transdisciplinarywork sites departments centers
framing disciplinary matrix specific contextmechanism or paradigm of application
The Cultural Appropriation of The Cultural Appropriation of NanotechnologyNanotechnology
The dominant , or hegemonic strategy (mode 2):
commercialization, entrepreneurship, transdisciplinarity
The residual, or traditionalist strategy (mode 1):
academicization, enlightenment, (multi)disciplinarity
An emerging, or sustainable strategy (mode 3):
hybridization, empowerment, interdisciplinarity
The Tendency to Hubris
transcending human limitations ”converging technologies” (info, bio, cogno, nano)
disregarding consequences and risks the rush to commercialize, and the lack of precaution
drift of epistemic criteria problems with quality control and ”peer review”
The Forces of Habit(us)
Nanotechnology primarily seen as providing new opportunities for scientists and engineers
Organized and taught by reorganizing established scientific fields: a kind of multidisciplinary model
Politics and the rest of society left largely outside of research and education: ”outsourcing” of nanoethics
A continuing belief in separating science and politics
Fostering the Fostering the Hybrid ImaginationHybrid Imagination
At the discursive, or macro level: sustainable nano connecting technological solutions to social and
environmental problems
At the institutional, or meso level: responsible nano creating contexts of communication across faculties
and social domains
At the personal, or micro level: nanocitizenship integrating contextual knowlege and public outreach
into nanoscience and engineering education
Turning Nano GreenTurning Nano Green As discourse:
connecting the rhetoric of ”converging technologies” to the
quest for sustainable development
As organization: building bridges between nanoscientists/engineers and
environmentalists
As practice: conducting research and educational projects relating
nanotechnology to social and environmental problems
For example: For example:
genetically modified, nanoengineered, genetically modified, nanoengineered,
ecologically designed,ecologically designed, raspberry cactus-raspberry cactus-
powered, solar-driven, CO2 emission-free, powered, solar-driven, CO2 emission-free,
resource-efficient, high-speed trains resource-efficient, high-speed trains
that could also be a way to create that could also be a way to create
some sustainable jobs and some sustainable jobs and
”partnerships” between universities, ”partnerships” between universities,
companies, governmental agencies, companies, governmental agencies,
and local communities - and just and local communities - and just
maybe get people to stop driving their maybe get people to stop driving their
cars so much!cars so much!