Marina Maestrutti, Imaginaires des nanotechnologies. Mythes et fictions de l’infiniment petit, Vuibert, 2012
10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17063
application/pdf
2038-3460
17063
2
en
Brice Laurent
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Marina Maestrutti, Nanotechnology Imaginaries. Myths and Fictions of the Infinitely Small, Vuibert, 2012
Text.Serial.Journal
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/
3
Book Reviews
2013-01-06
2023-05-28
2013-01-06
2023-07-14
183-186
TS
Brice Laurent
2012
10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17063
183
CSI, Mines ParisTech
2038-3460
2
en
186
Marina Maestrutti, Nanotechnology Imaginaries. Myths and Fictions of the Infinitely Small, Vuibert, 2012
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/article/download/17063/15951
3
                                                            TECNOSCIENZA – 2 (2)        183




  technological systems: new directions in   Marina Maestrutti bases her analysis
  the sociology and history of technology,   on the description of nanotechnology
  Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.                  as a field where the future is regularly
MacKenzie, D. A. and Wajcman, J. (1999)
  The social shaping of technology (2nd
                                             referred to. An overlying discourse
  ed.), Buckingham Eng., Philadelphia,       made of “industrial revolutions” is
  Open University Press.                     part and parcel of the development
Marvin, C. (1988) When old technologies      of the field, associated with elements
  were new: thinking about electric          coming directly from science–fiction.
  communication in the late nineteenth       The book analyzes in details what
  century, New York, Oxford University       many nanotechnology scholars have
  Press.
                                             been concerned with in the past few
                                             years, namely the futuristic accounts
                                             that accompany the development of
                   ***
                                             nanotechnology. Marina Maestrutti
                                             describes some of these accounts,
                                             including those grounded on self-
           Marina Maestrutti
                                             replicating nano-machines, and the
Imaginaires des nanotechnologies.            perspectives     of    radical    social
 Mythes et fictions de l’infiniment          transformations based on human
                petit                        enhancement. She discusses them
                                             along      three    lines,    examined
 (Nanotechnology Imaginaries. Myths and      successively in the three parts of the
     Fictions of the Infinitely Small)       book: the major narratives that were
                                             produced with the development of
        2012, Vuibert, 272 pp.               nanotechnology, the visions of the
                                             future of nanotechnology, and the
                                             imaginaries of body transformations.
              Brice Laurent                  Throughout the book, the underlying
          (CSI, Mines ParisTech)             philosophical themes of the control
                                             over nature, the making of utopia
An English translation of the title of       and      counter-utopia,    and      the
Marina Maetrutti’s book might be             transformation of the human body
“Nanotechnology Imaginaries”. The            are studied in details. The discourses
term “imaginary” (imaginaire in the          related to nanotechnology then
original French) is central to               appear as re-activations of long-term
understand the analysis of the “myths        issues in philosophical thinking.
and fictions of the infinite small” (the     While analyzing these long-term
subtitle of the book) that Maestrutti        issues, Marina Maestrutti elegantly
proposes. It allows her to identify          describes the roots of argumentation
pervasive tensions in technological          regarding nanotechnology’s applica-
discourses, and it suggests a path for       tions, by pointing to a series of
the political analysis of scientific         dichotomies that pertain to the
development. I will discuss these two        constructing      of     meaning      of
points successively.
184   BOOK REVIEWS




      (nano)technological development.          technological development and the
      Thus, tensions appear between the         transformation of the human specie
      reference to the wonders of science,      as transhumanist thinkers call for,
      and the space it opens for public         wouldn’t we rather be, to paraphrase
      controversies about its potential         Donna Haraway, rather cyborgs than
      negative consequences; between the        god(esse)s? The alternative to
      call for the “new industrial              transhumanism that the book
      revolution” and the fear of the           presents is Leon Kass’ perspective of
      transformation of society (or even        human dignity, based on pre-given
      mankind itself), as it is made explicit   values and a taken for granted
      in the writing of some of the main        “human dignity”, irrespective of any
      nanotechnology proponents, such as        situated context. Marina Maestrutti
      Erik Drexler. Through the analysis of     made this tension explicit as she
      the two joint sides of progress and       explains that the “debate is
      apocalypse, of utopia and counter-        articulated around the opposition
      utopia,        Marina        Maestrutti   between bioluddites (or bioconserva-
      convincingly links the discourses of      tors), who refuse the technological
      technological development with            enhancement of humans, and
      philosophical       and/or     mythical   bioprogessists      (among        whom
      traditions, such as the myth of           transhumanists), who argue for the
      Prometheus, or Descartes’s vision of      right to become ‘more than human’”
      animated machines.                        (p.212, my translation).
      For all its analytical interest, the      In this quote, it seems that the
      description of these dichotomies          opposition cannot be overcome.
      might leave the reader in a bit of a      Marina Maestrutti offers a path
      quandary.       Marina       Maestrutti   forward though, and I would like to
      contends that these pervasive             argue that the very notion of
      dichotomies “structure our imagina-       imaginaries, provided it is developed
      ries and our symbolic representations     as a systematic analytical lens, might
      of present and future” (p.144). Yet       allow the analyst to escape the
      ultimately, these tensions in the         dichotomies, and ultimately point to
      visions of nanotechnology future          the political stakes of technological
      development also raise a political        development.
      issue: do “we”, as observers or           Facing a two-side debate, it could be
      citizens, need to pick one or the         tempting to start the analysis (or, for
      other options? Are we condemned to        that matter, the political discussion)
      choose between progress and               by the examination of what
      apocalypse?                               nanotechnology “really is”. Why
      Answering these questions might be        trying to decipher the “good” from
      complicated, particularly in the case     the “bad” if we do not know the
      of the transhumanists discussed in        technical, practical, material reality of
      the third part of the book. While one     nanotechnology? This is a position
      feels instinctively skeptical about the   often adopted by many commenta-
                                                         TECNOSCIENZA – 2 (2)       185




tors of nanotechnology (or scientists      reality they describe.
wanting to tell “the truth” about          Nanotechnology images intervene at
nanotechnology). But this would be         multiple levels. They are scientific,
throwing out the baby with the bath        but also commercial, as they appear
water. For, as Maestrutti convin-          on the cover of scientific magazines
cingly argues, the futuristic visions of   and on the front page of science
nanotechnology are part and parcel         policy report. Marina Maestrutti
of the development of nanotech-            discusses these images as devices
nology, as a science policy programs       enacting the visions she is interested
expected to re-organize scientific         in. This opens an interesting
research for the development of new        analytical path: the performance that
projects. Calling for the examination      these images do is also part and
of what nanotechnology “really” is         parcel of the making of nanotechnol-
would risk loosing this crucial            ogy as a political program. They
component of the making of                 connect the “visions”, the discourses
nanotechnology.                            of “hype”, with the concrete making
The book, while not systematically         of nanotechnology programs, in
exploring the ways in which the            science policy offices and in the
above-mentioned dichotomies practi-        construction of research projects.
cally structure the making of nano-        They      enact    the    making    of
technology objects and programs            nanotechnology as a new entity
themselves, does suggest a path            comprising laboratory practices and
forward through the very concept of        technological       objects,    future
“imaginary” – as used in its title. The    developments and articulations bet-
term “imaginary” comes from                ween research and industry, the
“image”, and there are many                description of materials and the
connections indeed between Maes-           intervention in their very making.
trutti’s imaginaries and scientific        Following this perspective, one can
(and non scientific) images, in a way      contend that imaginaries are not
that shifts a problem of represent-        about the description of a world
tation to a question of presentation,      already there, but as assemblages of
related to the actual making of the        instruments performing new realities.
world being described. The book            Understood as such, imaginaries
rightly discusses Lorraine Daston          connect the making of future visions
and Peter Galison’s use of the notion      with that of the actual construction
of (re)presentation as a way of            of nanotechnology. They enact
constructing an objectivity connec-        visions of progress or risks. They
ting the description of nature with        organize social identities (e.g.
the making of technical objects            concerned publics, involved citizens,
(p.58). The images of nanotech-            or transhumanists active in science
nology are the products of such            policy arenas) and define forms of
processes, by which scientific             political legitimacy about acceptable
instruments perform the material           technological developments (who
186   BOOK REVIEWS




      should decide, where and about             Herman Galperin and Judith Mariscal
      what?). “Imaginaries”, in this                          (eds.)
      extended meaning echoing current
      works in the field of Science and           Pobreza Digital – Perspectivas
      Technology Studies (Jasanoff and            de America Latina y el Caribe
      Kim, 2010), then appear as powerful
      analytical tools for the description of             2009, CIDE, 213 pp.
      technological programs, while also
      helping us locate the sites where the
      political issues of nanotechnology are               Gianluca Miscione
      made explicit. In this perspective,               (University College Dublin)
      imaginaries are less pervasive
      “structures” defining our perceptions      I would like to start this review by
      of the past and the future than            situating my viewpoint. Likely, I was
      instrumented assemblages, which            asked to read this book because of
      practically construct technical objects    my long lasting interest to conduct
      and social practices. Understanding        research ‘beyond’ the digital divide.
      imaginaries as such relocates the          A decade ago, when I started my
      political issues of nanotechnology at      PhD research on a telemedicine
      the heart of the making of objects         system in the Peruvian upper
      and visions. It might offer a path for     amazon, it sounded ‘exotic’ -to say
      the practical elaboration of the           the least- to my colleagues and
      “partnership” between the artificial       supervisors. Indeed, the digital divide
      and the natural with which Marina          problem proved to be “out there” as
      Maestrutti concludes her book.             much as in the tacit empirical
                                                 assumption that the amazon is not a
                                                 relevant setting to study telemedicine
      Reference                                  from an organizational perspective.
                                                 Subsequent success of that research
      Jasanoff, S. and Kim, S.-H. (2009)         proved that ‘digital divide’ is a ‘real’
          Containing the atom. Sociotechnical    problem (still in search for solutions)
          imaginaries and nuclear power in the   as much as a reflexive problem for
          United States and South Korea, in
                                                 research practice, often too slow in
          “Minerva”, 47, pp. 119-146.
                                                 revising own assumptions.
                                                 This book addresses the former issue
                                                 but overlooks the latter, which could
                                                 be quite relevant for Tecnoscienza
                        ***
                                                 readership.
                                                 Overall,       “Pobreza        Digital.
                                                 Perspectivas de America Latina y el
                                                 Caribe” [Digital Poverty. Perspec-
                                                 tives from Latin America and the
                                                 Caribbean] focuses on an important
                                                 issue, both for research and practice.
