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!