Quantum Engagements – Social Reflections of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies

Torben B. Zülsdorf, Christopher Coenen, Arianna Ferrari, Ulrich Fiedeler, Colin Milburn and Matthias Wienroth (Eds.)

2011. Hardcover. ISBN 978-3-89838-641-8. Berlin: Aka Verlag. ISBN 978-1-60750-953-0. Amsterdam: IOS Press.

Today, nanoscience and emerging technologies weave ever more tightly into the social fabric. Scientific and technological innovations at the infinitesimal depths of matter now entail cultural, political, and philosophical ramifications of extraordinary scope, extending from the molecular scale to the global scale, from the physical entanglements of subatomic particles to the fiscal entanglements of transnational markets. The need to engage these technical developments and their social aspects with fine-grained precision becomes increasingly evident.

This volume addresses the question of engagement by working from the bottom up: grappling with the particular, discrete operations of nanoscience and related fields in order to assess how these operations shape, and are shaped by, practices of participatory culture and civil society. It opens outward from minimal and local interactions with the molecular sciences – attending to the necessity of quantum engagements – and expands across the dimensions of history, public discourse, ecology, and political economy. Refracting the social complexities of our high-tech world, the essays in this collection participate in the project of articulating new modes of technoscientific governance.

Bringing together contributions and perspectives from experts in the social sciences, the humanities, and the natural sciences, Quantum Engagements showcases ongoing research activities of the vibrant, multidisciplinary community of S.NET, the Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies.

Second Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies

Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany – September 29 – October 2, 2010

The program committee invites all discussions of anthropological, cultural, economic, ethical, historical, philosophical, political, and sociological aspects of nanosciences and emerging technologies. This can take the form of individual abstracts, proposals for sessions with three to five presentations, and other formats.

In the spirit of an emerging society that looks at emerging technologies as an emerging field of inquiry, we welcome all innovative suggestions about themes and session-formats to foreground critical issues. These can be submitted informally at any time to the program committee. Where needed, we will try to secure travel stipends for speakers. – This year’s plenary speakers are Armin Grunwald, Richard Jones, Andrew Light, Bernard Stiegler, and Jan Youtie.

Programm Committee

  • Diana Bowman (Public Health and Law, University of Melbourne, Australia)
  • Julia Guivant (Sociology and Political Science, Santa Catarina, Brazil)
  • David Guston (Political Science/Center for Nanotechnology in Society, Arizona State University, USA)
  • Barbara Herr Harthorn (Feminist Studies, Anthropology, Sociology/Center for Nanotechnology in Society, University of California Santa Barbara, USA)
  • Brice Laurent (Sociology, Mines ParisTech, France)
  • Colin Milburn (English, University of California Davis, USA)
  • Cyrus Mody (History, Rice University, United USA)
  • Alfred Nordmann (Philosophy, nanoOffice and NanoCenter, Darmstadt Technical University and University of South Carolina – chair)
  • Ingrid Ott (Economics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany – co-chair)
  • Arie Rip (Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Netherlands)
  • Ursula Weisenfeld (Business Administration, Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany)