Contemplative, interventionist, constructionist and creationist idea(l)s in (techno)science

Within the realm of nano-, bio-, infoand cogno(or NBIC) technosciences, the ‘power to change the world’ is often invoked. One could dismiss such formulations as ‘purely rhetorical’, interpret them as rhetorical and self-fulfilling or view them as an adequate depiction of one of the fundamental characteristics of technoscience. In the latter case, a very specific nexus between science and technology, or, the epistemic and the constructionist realm is envisioned. The following paper focuses on this nexus drawing on theoretical conceptions as well as empirical material. It presents an overview of different technoscientific ways to ‘change the world’—via contemplation and representation, intervention and control, engineering, construction and creation. It further argues that the hybrid character of technoscience makes it difficult (if not impossible) to separate knowledge production from real world interventions and challenges current science and technology policy approaches in fundamental ways. Résumé Dans le monde des nano-, bio-, infoet cogno(ou NBIC) technosciences, le «pouvoir de changer le monde» est souvent invoqué. Ces formulations pourraient être mises de côté comme «purement rhétoriques», ou bien interprétées comme étant rhétoriques et auto-réalisatrices, ou bien vues comme une description adéquate d’une des caractéristiques fondamentales de la technoscience. Dans le dernier cas, une connexion bien spécifique est imaginée entre la science et la technologie, ou bien le monde épistémique et obstructionniste. Cet article se K. Kastenhofer (&) Institute of Technology Assessment, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Strohgasse 45/5, 1030 Wien, Austria e-mail: [email protected] J. C. Schmidt Unit of Social, Culture and Technology Studies, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Haardtring 100, 64295 Darmstadt, Germany e-mail: [email protected] 123 Poiesis Prax (2011) 8:125–149 DOI 10.1007/s10202-011-0101-2