Latour1

Bruno Latour.  Science in Action.

Latour's dense writing yields many insights. This selection speaks to the community of science and the loneliness of dissent.

Reading questions:

Dissenters and Loneliness, pp 40-44

1 Dissension is lonely, and the question we can consider is, if robotics behaves like a strong steam locomotive with strong work and strong articles charging forth an agenda that does not incorporate consideration of ethics into the practice of robotics, can the ethical roboticist be literally crowded out of the equation because his or her ideas are too lonely to gain any traction at all?  Is there a structural or personal way we could avoid this rut?

Diesel and credit assignment, pp 104-108

2 This example reinforces the [somewhat trite] point that science is done not by a single person but by a whole history of community acting over time. Does this diminish or amplify the importance of a single person’s ethical decision-making regarding the robotics work that they do? Explain your answer.