Nanoculture: implications of the new technoscience

N.Katherine Hayles, N. Katherine Hayles9781841501130, 1841501131

“Nano” denotes a billionth; a nanometer is a billionth of a meter. New instrumentation and techniques have for the first time made possible materials research and engineering at this level, the scale of individual molecules and atoms.
Extraordinary visions of material abundance, unprecedented materials, and powerful engineering capabilities have marked the arrival of nanotechnology, as well as dystopian scenarios of self-replicating devices running amok and causing global catastrophe. Largely a future possibility rather than present actuality, nanotechnology has become a potent cultural signifier.
NanoCulture explores the ways in which nanotechnology interacts with, and itself becomes, a cultural construction. Topics include the co-construction of nanoscience and science fiction; the influence of risk assessment and nanotechnology on the shapes of narratives; intersections between nanoscience as a writing practice and experimental literature at the limits of fabrication; the Alice-in-Wonderland metaphor for nanotechnology; and the effects of mediation on nanotechnology and electronic literature.
NanoCulture is produced in collaboration with the nano art exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (December 2003-September 2004), created by an interdisciplinary team led by media artist Victoria Vesna and nanoscientist James Gimzewski. NanoCulture is richly illustrated with images from the nano exhibit, which also provides the basis for an ethnographic analysis of collaborative process and an exploration of changing concepts of museum space.
The dynamic uniting these diverse perspectives is boundary crossing: between art, science, and literature; cultural imaginaries, scientific facts, and technological possibilities; actual. virtual, and hybrid spaces; the science of fictions and the fictions of science; and utopian dreams, material constraints, and dystopian nightmares.
The first book-length study focus on cultural implications of nanotechnology, NanoCulture breaks new ground in showing the importance of the new technoscience to contemporary culture and of culture to the development, interpretation, and future of this technoscience.

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Table of contents :
EEn……Page 1
Nanoculture – Implications of the New Technoscience……Page 2
Back Cover……Page 3
Copyright Info……Page 6
TOC……Page 7
Acknowledgements……Page 8
Preface……Page 9
Connecting the Quantum Dots: Nanotechscience and Culture……Page 10
Art & Science……Page 24
The Invisible Imaginary: Museum Spaces, Hybrid Reality and Nanotechnology……Page 26
nano Exhibition……Page 48
Working Boundaries on the nano Exhibition……Page 79
Science & Fiction……Page 103
Nanotechnology in the Age of Posthuman Engineering: Science Fiction as Science……Page 104
Less is More: Much Less is Much More: The Insisten Allure of Nanotechnology Narratives in Science Fiction Literature……Page 125
Future Present: Nanotechnology and the scene of risk……Page 141
Dust, Lust and Other Messages from the Quantum Wonderland……Page 154
Science & Literature……Page 164
Needle on the Real: Technoscience and Poetry at The Limits of Fabrication……Page 165
What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s a-happening: Wonder, nanotechnology, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland……Page 192
Endnotes……Page 202
Bibliography……Page 229
Contributors……Page 244