Papers by Michael Reinsborough
Water History, 2021
Begun in the summer of 1923, the Silent Valley Reservoir was the first large scale civil engineer... more Begun in the summer of 1923, the Silent Valley Reservoir was the first large scale civil engineering project after the division between the North and the South of Ireland. It was the continuation of a previous project. In the late Nineteenth Century a portion of the Kilkeel and Annalong Rivers in the Mourne Mountains had been diverted 35 miles to provide water for the growing industrial city of Belfast in the North of Ireland. A reservoir in the mountains was also planned at a later date but this was delayed by the Great War and then by Irish political instability and the high cost of construction in immediate post war period. Before being completed the project had to overcome several obstacles. Firstly, the Mourne Mountains were claimed by the South of Ireland and thus subject to the Boundary Commission of the Anglo-Irish peace treaty. The Water Commissioners had brought important British political leaders to tour the Silent Valley construction site in an attempt to demonstrate how implausible a situation (in their opinion) that the South should control the major water supply to the capital city of the North. Secondly, shortly after the Boundary Commission was shelved, the combination of fluid subsoil and the failure to locate bedrock at expected depth brought construction to a halt while an engineering, political, and legal solution was sought for the expensive and now publicly controversial project. This article traces the contingent relationship between state (sovereignty) and technology (water reservoir) using a socio legal and socio material description of the crucial arbitration process enabling further time and resources for resolution of the difficulty. Ultimately an air-shaft device for excavating under increased atmospheric pressure had to be designed taking in mind both technical and political difficulties. Today the 3000-million-gallon reservoir, first imagined in the late Nineteenth Century, continues to be a major water source for the city of Belfast.
NanoEthics, 2020
Here I examine the potential for art-science collaborations to be the basis for deliberative disc... more Here I examine the potential for art-science collaborations to be the basis for deliberative discussions on research agendas and direction. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has become a science policy goal in synthetic biology and several other high-profile areas of scientific research. While art-science collaborations offer the potential to engage both publics and scientists and thus possess the potential to facilitate the desired “mutual responsiveness” (René von Schomberg) between researchers, institutional actors, publics and various stakeholders, there are potential challenges in effectively implementing collaborations as well as dangers in potentially instrumentalizing artistic work for science policy or innovation agendas when power differentials in collaborations remain unacknowledged. Art-science collaborations can be thought of as processes of exchange which require acknowledgement of and attention to artistic agendas (how can science be a conceptual and material ...
In: Krešimir Purgar (ed)., Iconology of Abstraction: Non-figurative Images and the Modern World New York & London: Routledge Press, 2021
The concept of affective memory from psychoanalyst Andre Green's schema of unconscious representa... more The concept of affective memory from psychoanalyst Andre Green's schema of unconscious representation, translated into the semiotic terms of Charles Sanders Pierce is used to generate an interpretation of Pierce's theory of reference in terms of affect. Affective memory may be important for understanding cognition, vision, recognition of objects and visual abstraction. Contemporary neuroscience seeks to model brain structure, function and activity using computational systems. This in turn creates innovation in computer science which benefits from the attempt to emulate brain activity. Examples include affective computing (the recognition of human emotion) and modelling of brain visual circuits on a computer. By contextualizing how the brain might see an object in relation to a situated, embodied affect we can begin to write a theory of reference for objects and compare this to future computational strategies in the neurosciences.
Science and Public Policy, 2019
Increased funding of nanotechnology research in the USA at the turn of the millennium was paired ... more Increased funding of nanotechnology research in the USA at the turn of the millennium was paired with a legislative commitment to and a novel societal research policy for the responsible development of nanotechnology. Innovative policy discourses at the time suggested that such work could engage a variety of publics, stakeholders, and researchers to enhance the capacity of research systems to adapt and be responsive to societal values and concerns. This article reviews one of two federally funded social science research centers-the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University(CNS-ASU)-to assess the merits of this form of engaged social science research in which social science contributes not only to traditional knowledge production but also to the capacity of natural science and engineering researchers and research communities for greater reflexivity and responsiveness, ultimately producing more socially robust research systems.
In: R von Schomberg (ed.), Handbook - Responsible Innovation: A Global Resource. Edward Elgar , 2019
Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a key concept in current discourses concerning resea... more Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a key concept in current discourses concerning research governance and policy. The practice of Ethics Management in the European Union (EU) Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagship Human Brain Project (HBP) utilises a concept of 'meta-responsibility' in order to further RRI. This chapter will explain the theory and practice of meta-responsibility to demonstrate RRI in practice in the HBP.
Science and Public Policy , Volume 46, Issue 1, February 2019 pp126–135, 2019
This article looks at the creation of a network of researchers of social issues in nanotechnology... more This article looks at the creation of a network of researchers of social issues in nanotechnology and the role of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU) in the creation of this network. The extent to which CNS-ASU is associated with the development of a research network around the study of social issues in nanotechnology is examined through geographic mapping of co-authors and citations of center publications, network analysis of co-authors of papers on social issues in nanotechnology, and a disciplinary analysis of these papers. The results indicate that there is an extensive network of co-authorships among researchers studying social issues in nanotechnology with CNS-ASU at the center of this network. In addition, papers written by center members and affiliates integrate a diverse range of disciplines. Qualitative data are used to interpret some of the ways that citation occurs.
Report for Responsible Research component of the BrisSynBio EPSRC funded synthetic biology research centre; Eukaryotic, 2018
The meeting brought together members of food sector, farmers, civil society, research policy, and... more The meeting brought together members of food sector, farmers, civil society, research policy, and scientists studying wheat to discuss the role of scientific research and new technology in wheat breeding and agriculture. Marker assisted breeding and gene editing are both examples of agricultural research, one existing with practical applications and being used commercially by breeders now to improve
the quality of wheat, and the other experimental (used mainly in the laboratory) without direct applications at present but in principle it may be very useful in the future. The response of stakeholders to scientific research in agriculture and the recommendations of this report
are also summarized.
Journal of Science Communication 16(04), 2017
The imagination of possible scientific futures has a colourful history of interaction with scient... more The imagination of possible scientific futures has a colourful history of interaction with scientific research agendas and public expectations. The 2017 annual UK Science in Public conference included a panel discussing this. Emphasizing fiction as a method for engaging with and mapping the influence of possible futures, this panel discussed the role of science fiction historically, the role of science fiction in public attitudes to artificial intelligence, and its potential as a method for engagement between scientific researchers and publics. Science communication for creating mutually responsive dialogue between research communities and publics about setting scientific research agendas should consider the role of fictions in understanding how futures are imagined by all parties.
Journal of Responsible Innovation , 2018
The EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) aimed to deliver advances in brain science, cognitive neu... more The EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) aimed to deliver advances in brain science, cognitive neuroscience and brain-inspired computing which would have broad-ranging implications and benefit European citizens. Achieving such outcomes is dependent, in part, upon the ability of large scale research projects to anticipate potential needs and concerns of user communities as well as other stakeholders and society in general and integrate these into their research programme. While the responsibility to anticipate such needs and to address them belongs to all those directing the research programme, the HBP has a specific Subproject dedicated to researching society and ethics issues. This seeks to enable research across the HBP to better incorporate societal concerns and ethical awareness into their research design and trajectory. This article describes the structure of the Ethics & Society Subproject, reflects on our experience three years in, and considers some of the challenges in formulating and implementing such a programme for responsible research and innovation.
This report summarises the outputs of a workshop that took place at the University of Bristol, UK... more This report summarises the outputs of a workshop that took place at the University of Bristol, UK, in conjunction with the Social Science Research Group at the University of West England, Bristol and the BrisSynBio1 Synthetic Biology Research Centre on the 8th June 2017. It was written by Molly Bond, Michael Reinsborough, and Lewis Coyne.
The workshop brought together a number of social scientists, philosophers, computational biologists, genetic engineers, and artists working on synthetic biology to stimulate multidisciplinary deliberation and insights into the political challenges and philosophical ideas emerging at the cutting edge of innovation in synthetic biology.
The event was coordinated by Darian Meacham (Director for Responsible Research and Innovation at BrisSynBio) and Miguel Prado Casanova in conjunction with BrisSynBio. BrisSynBio is a multi-disciplinary research centre that focuses on the biomolecular design and engineering aspects of synthetic biology, and has been established as one of six Synthetic Biology Research Centres in the UK. BrisSynBio is funded predominantly by the BBSRC and EPSRC, and has a number of other academic, industrial and public-facing partners. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a cross-cutting theme in the centre. Its offices are at the University of Bristol Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, UK BS8 1TQ. As a BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre, BrisSynBio is one of the leading research centres in the UK on synthetic biology. The event was organised as an activity of the NAPSTER Project (New Anthropology in Philosophy, Science, Technology and Engineering Research), funded by the University of the West of England, Bristol. This report has been adapted to inform the deliberations taking place on synthetic biology at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
European Journal of Law and Technology, 2011
This article considers factors that limit or exclude civil society involvement in the regulatory ... more This article considers factors that limit or exclude civil society involvement in the regulatory process for nanotechnologies by critically examining an attempt to mount a public-interest legal challenge against the UK Health and Safety Executive for failing to properly enforce the European Biocidal Products Directive in relation to nanosilver consumer products. The temporal gap between innovation research, knowledge of implications, and regulatory action can often be decades (Owen 2011). Often key stakeholders within civil society are positioned to identify certain relevant problems earlier than governance, regulatory, and investment actors. They might thus limit a dilemma of control(Collinridge, 1984)-where technology at an early stage of development provides opportunities for control but insufficient evidence of impacts to justify or direct control, whereas greater maturity in the development process provides sufficient evidence of impacts but the technology has become 'locked in' after widespread application. One form of intervention in the regulatory process by civil society is litigation. This article critically reflects on the limitations encountered in pursuing a judicial review challenge in the UK between 2008 and 2010. This account highlights some of the structural conditions underlying the contemporary regulatory balance of forces which limit civil society participation (access to legal expertise, resources, scientific knowledge, public awareness, and the regulatory process itself). We also suggest that individuals and civil society organisations thus limited (without meaningful access) may legitimately turn to more explicitly political forms of engagement with nanotechnology. Direct action (as opposed to mediated) is a plausible alternative to regulatory participation and litigation.
The convergence of various technological platforms (nanotechnology, biotechnology, ICT, among oth... more The convergence of various technological platforms (nanotechnology, biotechnology, ICT, among others) is discussed in relation to discourse within civil society. Drawing on ethnographic work amongst UK activist networks, we show how a broad critique of " the politics of technology " emerged as a counter episte-mology, or " Master Frame " (Snow and Benford 1992), amongst certain predis-posed UK civil society groups in the early/mid 2000's. We discuss how this " master frame " was assembled by movement activists and provide an overview of some of its key characteristics. We show that specific risks accruing to Nano-tech/Converging Technologies are framed by activists in the context of a broader critique of the impacts and implications of " market-led science. " We conclude by considering the relative lack of uptake of this " master frame, " suggesting some reasons why it has yet to become a catalyst for broader public mobilization.
Public involvement in the regulatory process for emerging technologies provides a greater diversi... more Public involvement in the regulatory process for emerging technologies provides a greater diversity of perspectives and may thus improve the success of early regulatory discrimination. The case study presented here demonstrates some of the challenges that limit public involvement by critically examining an attempt to mount a public-interest legal challenge against the UK Health and Safety Executive for failure to properly enforce the European Biocidal Products Directive in relation to nanosilver consumer products. While the early stage of developing technologies provides opportunities for regulation there is often insufficient evidence to direct or justify regulatory choices. However, by the time sufficient experience from use of a new technology can direct regulatory measures it may be more difficult or costly to do so because of the now wider integration of the technology into existing infrastructure. This is known as the dilemma of control (Collingridge, 1984). Key stakeholders within civil society are frequently positioned to identify some relevant problems earlier than established governmental, regulatory, and investment actors, thus potentially limiting costs associated with late regulatory intervention. This paper looks at the challenges encountered by civil society publics in pursuing a judicial review challenge in the UK between 2008 and 2010. The examination of correspondence between the regulatory authorities and commercial interests encourages us to consider whether or not pre-existing balancing parameters within regulatory regimes might potentially exacerbate the dilemma of control during periods of rapid innovation.
This paper translates Andre Green's schema of unconscious representation into the semiotic terms ... more This paper translates Andre Green's schema of unconscious representation into the semiotic terms of Charles Sanders Pierce to generate an interpretation of Pierce's theory of reference in terms of affect. Green's recently published subject line/object line continuum approach (or theory of complimentary series opens the way for a major contemporary renewal of theory by describing the key ideas of psychoanalysis in terms assimilatable to both object relations theory (Klein, Bion) and the more traditional subject oriented approach (Freud, Strachey). Unlike Lacan, Green does not believe the unconscious is structured like a language. From the unconscious, according to Green's schema, the psychical representative of the drive splits into both an ideational representative and a quantum of affect. More than just discharge of excitation, affective discharge can itself be remembered (leaving memory traces) and thus when the 'thing presentation' (previously the ideational representative) is associated with the word presentation in the consciousness, affect, as a representation, is also available for association. Affective memory is an important aspect for successful intuitive associations. For the linguist, Pierce's theory of reference can be thought of as two triads: word presentation/thing presentation link back to the ideational representative of the drive (thing presentation is the representamen); and via affect they also link to the original psychical representative of the drive. Thus affect is a more direct link to the drive. Both triads can be considered independently as representations (neither as reference) but comparatively, affect 'refers' the word presentation (an interpretant determined by the sign) to the original drive 'referent' to which the sign (thing presentation or ideational representative) itself refers. Thus reference is affective, uncanny.
Nanobiotechnology as a ‘converged’ technological platform (CT= Converging Technologies) is discus... more Nanobiotechnology as a ‘converged’ technological platform (CT= Converging Technologies) is discussed in relation to discourse within civil society. The conflicts and ethical debates surrounding nanobiotechnology can be intuited from these larger discursive frames of reference. Complimenting Glimell and Fogelberg’s (2003) research documenting an emergent ‘epistemic culture’ amongst scientists researching and working on nanotechnologies, and more recent research on the multiple meanings of ‘nanotechnology’ in the political economy (Wullweber, 2007), this paper traces an emergent ethnography of engaged actors within civil society as they develop discursive and mobilization repertoires. Whilst on occasion ambivalent about the combination of specific promises and risks in relation to nanobiotechnology, in general a broad critique of ‘the politics of technology’ is emerging as a counter epistemology or “Master Frame” (Snow and Benford 1992) amongst certain predisposed UK civil society groups. Converging Technologies provide the issue around which this broad critique is solidifying. Thus whilst many of the specific risks raised by nanobiotechnology (and other CT) are definitively ‘new’, many of the, potential risks and grievances, have been raised before in relation to other issues of scientific and environmental controversy, often by the same actor groups. Thus convergence is a useful metaphor for appreciating that broader frames of reference from within which the emerging conlicts and ethical debates about nanobiotechnology are being situated.
This paper looks briefly at the semiotic triad of Charles Sanders Peirce and compares it to the s... more This paper looks briefly at the semiotic triad of Charles Sanders Peirce and compares it to the signifying binary of Ferdinand de Saussure. A critique of Umberto Eco's 1970s concept of the "referential fallacy" sets us on the path of looking for a theory of reference. One strategy we can use is to borrow from other contemporary intellectual challenges. Science and technology studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field studying the relationship between "social" and "technical" things or actions. While traditional scientific thinking from Cartesian philosophy separates the world into subjects and objects, STS looks at social and technical relationships that cannot be categorized as one or the other.
Book Reviews by Michael Reinsborough
Science and Public Policy 42 (2015) pp. 139–141 doi:10.1093/scipol/scu044
Institutional economic... more Science and Public Policy 42 (2015) pp. 139–141 doi:10.1093/scipol/scu044
Institutional economics for a discipline at sea
Capitalism and Democracy: A Fragile Alliance by Theo van de
Klundert
Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2013, 240 pages, £75.00, ISBN
9781781956151
One could be forgiven for seeing economics as a sinking ship discipline. Van der Klundert, has written a very different response to the crisis of economics. Instead he has asked very calmly how have the dynamics of democracy have been used to rein in the excesses of innovation capitalism preserving the stability of the overall social and economic system, and if they will necessarily be required in the future for capitalist growth to continue to be viable. The basic dynamics of innovation are at the core of van de Klundert’s engine economics of growth, making the book particularly useful for science and technology policy analysts or innovation scholars.
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Papers by Michael Reinsborough
the quality of wheat, and the other experimental (used mainly in the laboratory) without direct applications at present but in principle it may be very useful in the future. The response of stakeholders to scientific research in agriculture and the recommendations of this report
are also summarized.
The workshop brought together a number of social scientists, philosophers, computational biologists, genetic engineers, and artists working on synthetic biology to stimulate multidisciplinary deliberation and insights into the political challenges and philosophical ideas emerging at the cutting edge of innovation in synthetic biology.
The event was coordinated by Darian Meacham (Director for Responsible Research and Innovation at BrisSynBio) and Miguel Prado Casanova in conjunction with BrisSynBio. BrisSynBio is a multi-disciplinary research centre that focuses on the biomolecular design and engineering aspects of synthetic biology, and has been established as one of six Synthetic Biology Research Centres in the UK. BrisSynBio is funded predominantly by the BBSRC and EPSRC, and has a number of other academic, industrial and public-facing partners. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a cross-cutting theme in the centre. Its offices are at the University of Bristol Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, UK BS8 1TQ. As a BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre, BrisSynBio is one of the leading research centres in the UK on synthetic biology. The event was organised as an activity of the NAPSTER Project (New Anthropology in Philosophy, Science, Technology and Engineering Research), funded by the University of the West of England, Bristol. This report has been adapted to inform the deliberations taking place on synthetic biology at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Book Reviews by Michael Reinsborough
Institutional economics for a discipline at sea
Capitalism and Democracy: A Fragile Alliance by Theo van de
Klundert
Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2013, 240 pages, £75.00, ISBN
9781781956151
One could be forgiven for seeing economics as a sinking ship discipline. Van der Klundert, has written a very different response to the crisis of economics. Instead he has asked very calmly how have the dynamics of democracy have been used to rein in the excesses of innovation capitalism preserving the stability of the overall social and economic system, and if they will necessarily be required in the future for capitalist growth to continue to be viable. The basic dynamics of innovation are at the core of van de Klundert’s engine economics of growth, making the book particularly useful for science and technology policy analysts or innovation scholars.
the quality of wheat, and the other experimental (used mainly in the laboratory) without direct applications at present but in principle it may be very useful in the future. The response of stakeholders to scientific research in agriculture and the recommendations of this report
are also summarized.
The workshop brought together a number of social scientists, philosophers, computational biologists, genetic engineers, and artists working on synthetic biology to stimulate multidisciplinary deliberation and insights into the political challenges and philosophical ideas emerging at the cutting edge of innovation in synthetic biology.
The event was coordinated by Darian Meacham (Director for Responsible Research and Innovation at BrisSynBio) and Miguel Prado Casanova in conjunction with BrisSynBio. BrisSynBio is a multi-disciplinary research centre that focuses on the biomolecular design and engineering aspects of synthetic biology, and has been established as one of six Synthetic Biology Research Centres in the UK. BrisSynBio is funded predominantly by the BBSRC and EPSRC, and has a number of other academic, industrial and public-facing partners. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a cross-cutting theme in the centre. Its offices are at the University of Bristol Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, UK BS8 1TQ. As a BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre, BrisSynBio is one of the leading research centres in the UK on synthetic biology. The event was organised as an activity of the NAPSTER Project (New Anthropology in Philosophy, Science, Technology and Engineering Research), funded by the University of the West of England, Bristol. This report has been adapted to inform the deliberations taking place on synthetic biology at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Institutional economics for a discipline at sea
Capitalism and Democracy: A Fragile Alliance by Theo van de
Klundert
Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2013, 240 pages, £75.00, ISBN
9781781956151
One could be forgiven for seeing economics as a sinking ship discipline. Van der Klundert, has written a very different response to the crisis of economics. Instead he has asked very calmly how have the dynamics of democracy have been used to rein in the excesses of innovation capitalism preserving the stability of the overall social and economic system, and if they will necessarily be required in the future for capitalist growth to continue to be viable. The basic dynamics of innovation are at the core of van de Klundert’s engine economics of growth, making the book particularly useful for science and technology policy analysts or innovation scholars.
The forces that constitute an item of technology can perhaps best be understood in the changes of design that occur as the item is made to apply to its object or intended purpose. The negotiation which must occur in order for the item to be declared successful often reveals the various forces which participate in the negotiation. Thus particular attention is paid to changes and adjustments in the design of the air-shafts. The relations between quiet changes in the design and political moments outside the Silent Valley are carefully traced. Also in this chapter an examination is made of the effects of the technology upon that mixture of personal practices, material conditions, and cultural history that combine to make people who they are. How does a technology shape our sense of self, our relation to science, to nature, and to each other?