Bruno Latour, Aramis, or the Love of Technology, PDF - Dss-edit.com

More documents

Recommendations

Info

did his field work in the Amazon rain forests, not in the jungle of theParis metro. What he says about tinkerers fits engineers to a T, hisethnologist's bias notwithstanding.""But there really are experts in the field," I replied, letting myexasperation show, "engineers who don't tinker, who don't compromise,who don't translate, whose instrumental universe is not closed,who""Of course there are, my friend," Norbert replied calmly, "wheneverything is running like clockwork, when the project is over, wheneverything is going along swimmingly; of course, then it's as if therewere 'experts' quite unlike tinkerers and negotiators. But at the end,only at the end. And since Aramis wasn't lucky enough to have such anend . . . No, believe me, you don't have those who tinker on one side,and those who calculate on the other."[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M. Girard, who has since left the RAT?, but who was responsible For Aramis'Fate when he was chief executive officer:UAramis always suffered from being badly integrated into the RATP cultureWhen I was in the Rail Division of the RATP, I wasn't the least bit motivated byAramis, whereas I did all I could for AIMT-the wholesale automation ofsubway trains . . .uAramis was interesting because of its rendezvous and its dense network,with multiple origins. I had suggested to the Bus Division that they should takeover the project. It's lightweight; it's automobile technology, in terms of itsconstruction; it's on tires. We had pulled out a few engineers, but there againthe RATP culture was hostile.By simplifying it, we denatured it; when we abandoned the point-to-pointprinciple, we killed the project right there, and those who simpl ified it didn 'trealize the consequences their decisions would have." [no. 18, p. 4]"Here's the first trail, my dear Watson, the first serious trail. 'Wekilled the project by denaturing it, by simplifying it.' They shouldn'thave abandoned point-to-point, the dense network."SHILLY SHA:IYING IN THE SEVENTIES
"But everybody else says just the opposite: 'The thing was doomedbecause it wasn't simplified enough, it wasn't fleshed out enough, itwasn't changed enough, there was no local force driving it.""That's it: we're getting hot, we're closing in on the majorargument about what is negotiable in a project and what isn't. Onegroup says that the initial idea had to be abandoned right away becauseit wasn't feasible, and the other guy claims that giving up the initialidea is what did the project in.""Guess what I just found in the Larousse Encyclopedia! An articleon Aramis! A long paragraph-listen to how it ends: 'Adoption qf thesystem was considered on the basis if studies undertaken by several French cities,Paris in particular. '""Well, well! If your name appears in the l.arousse Encyclopedia, youexist a little bit after all."[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M Etienne, head of Matra.·"Some good engineers convinced us-and they were right-that you hadto proceed in stages, starting with subsystems."Michel Frybourg, head of INRETS at the time, had convinced everybody,myself included. It was a reaction against the Bertin style of invention: Bertininvented a whole system around a single component, the linear motor, and itwas a dud."So we said, 'Okay, let's do it in stages.' We knew, for example, that atOrly we didn't have the right motor; that's when the ideo of the variable-reluctancemotor came up, with the jamet brothers."We did the bulk of Phase 1 on the motor. We said to ourselves, 'We'renot going to try to implement the system until we have the components and thesubsystems.' Everybody was encouraging us to work in terms of subsystems.They were telling us, 'We won't come on board if you move too fast ' Everybodyagreed, and it wasn't stupid; I was as convinced os anyone, and I stillam."Maybe we manufacturers are in more of a hurry than everyone else. Butwe were moving slowly. Everybody was encouraging us to proceed slowly.'Watch out! Watch out!'"SHILLY-SHALLYINGN THE SEVENTIES
Page 2 and 3:
ARAMISTHE LOVE OF ECHNOLOGY
Page 4 and 5:
Copyright © 1996 by the President
Page 6 and 7:
TO SIMON SCHAFFER 7/
Page 8 and 9:
By publishing this hook, I would li
Page 10 and 11:
exemplary meditation on the difficu
Page 13 and 14:
PROLOGUE: WHO KILLED ARAMIS?The fir
Page 15 and 16:
PROLOGUE•cember 1987. A promising
Page 17 and 18:
[DOCUMENT: EXCERPTS FROM AN ARTICLE
Page 19 and 20:
"You see," he went on during one of
Page 21 and 22:
"But during that period I found out
Page 23 and 24:
-"There's one small problem," I sai
Page 25 and 26:
1973: Test site at Orly; three-vehi
Page 27 and 28:
1985: Scale model of two-car Aramis
Page 29 and 30:
in a mass transit network, with no
Page 31 and 32:
come true. Since every study has to
Page 33 and 34:
load fa ctor, Professor? Your isola
Page 35 and 36:
if by magic. An electronic calculat
Page 37 and 38:
to be invented, if we are to track
Page 39 and 40:
---) TransporterTime IS . ; To Char
Page 41 and 42:
assembly line? You said "transfer"?
Page 43 and 44:
primly, without acknowledging my cl
Page 45 and 46:
defensive about playing "amusing me
Page 47 and 48:
curves: DATAR, the RATP, Paris, bef
Page 49 and 50:
fellow. It's like the Galileo affai
Page 51 and 52:
Time To-1 2 3 4 5CJIII __ _ Time T1
Page 53 and 54:
fic off the roads , it improve s tr
Page 55 and 56:
ter-who speaks in the name of the g
Page 57 and 58:
are solemnly and eternally committe
Page 59 and 60:
me, Aramis isn't a PRT Iype of tran
Page 61 and 62:
Aeroport de Paris said. IF you map
Page 63 and 64:
IS ARAMIS FEASIBLE?"Now we can go o
Page 65 and 66:
workshop, a control post, a recepti
Page 67 and 68:
the optical sensor so it will maint
Page 69 and 70:
evolutionary system of transportati
Page 71 and 72: "For my part, " the motor declares,
Page 73 and 74: -otherwise, it instructs the car to
Page 75 and 76: not only determined the laws accord
Page 77 and 78: [INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M. Lamoureux, r
Page 79 and 80: they have to change the motor, mult
Page 81 and 82: there would be a lot of new functio
Page 83 and 84: "The idea was that it was seductive
Page 85 and 86: know who, among the engineers, exec
Page 87 and 88: of admiring the architecture, the s
Page 89 and 90: control room, by Ferbeck (who is al
Page 91 and 92: has the massive dimensions it takes
Page 93 and 94: come back to print. The whole passa
Page 95 and 96: "Do you comprehend the crime, the u
Page 97 and 98: [INTERVIEW EXCERPTS)At Matra headqu
Page 99: [INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M, Parlat, proi
Page 102 and 103: Stationl00o
Page 104 and 105: destinations: that's the idea that
Page 106 and 107: the network, all the problems of au
Page 108 and 109: [INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M. Etienne, hea
Page 110 and 111: ody can commit himself; it's imposs
Page 112 and 113: configuration on the board. Besides
Page 114 and 115: to the real transportation system,
Page 116 and 117: As a young engineer, I refused to c
Page 118 and 119: [INTERVIEW EXCERPTS)In M. Hector's
Page 120 and 121: [INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M. Parlat is sp
Page 124 and 125: What counts, in a technological pro
Page 126 and 127: "That's an interesting theory all r
Page 128 and 129: "With VAL, we moved gradually from
Page 130 and 131: hard; you'd need to build it into t
Page 132 and 133: also VAL; Ficheur, the contracting
Page 134 and 135: completely ignores economic conditi
Page 136 and 137: INTERPHASE :THRE E YEARS OF GRAC E"
Page 138 and 139: construction of the Center for Tech
Page 140 and 141: [INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]At the Ministry
Page 142 and 143: every year?* You could pay for Aram
Page 144 and 145: A "trashable explanation" ! The exa
Page 146 and 147: II est passe par iciII repassera pa
Page 148 and 149: uilding reliable, predictable, conv
Page 150 and 151: public funds vampire-fashion and th
Page 152 and 153: "Number 7 is incompatible with numb
Page 154 and 155: "Yes, we 've made a lot of progress
Page 156 and 157: Orly-Val], and then Montpellier. We
Page 158 and 159: Norbert's sociology, he respected m
Page 160 and 161: "In fact, I should have spent a cou
Page 162 and 163: The rationality of technologies wri
Page 164 and 165: Why not go see Ronald Reagan, or th
Page 166 and 167: "I called several meetings to verif
Page 168 and 169: the World's Fair; then they said it
Page 170 and 171: attaching to me dozens of poor devi
Page 172 and 173:
3. In 1973, in a beet field near th
Page 174 and 175:
7 The control room for VAL in Lille
Page 176 and 177:
1 I. Aramis really does exist now;
Page 178 and 179:
] 5. [n March 1987, seven months be
Page 180 and 181:
19. Since no engineer could prove m
Page 182 and 183:
we are often the first to see, in a
Page 184 and 185:
"The RATP said to itself, 'I'm behi
Page 186 and 187:
agree. "They're aiming at VA L in s
Page 188 and 189:
"He agrees with me," I remarked mod
Page 190 and 191:
viewpoints, goals, and desires, so
Page 192 and 193:
If the actors in a project define n
Page 194 and 195:
With a technological project, inter
Page 196 and 197:
gers impatient to show up at Bercy
Page 198 and 199:
allies. Thus, not only is the actor
Page 200 and 201:
from one extreme to another. If you
Page 202 and 203:
isn't the only one who doesn't know
Page 204 and 205:
"Aramis has a lot of advantages bec
Page 206 and 207:
hour. The human being in these scen
Page 208 and 209:
the subway, by virtue of its access
Page 210 and 211:
even includes direct quotes! A prot
Page 212 and 213:
Regie Autonome des TransportsParisi
Page 214 and 215:
etween us had evaporated with Norbe
Page 216 and 217:
ITY OF THE INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIE
Page 218 and 219:
opinion of the capitalists had "per
Page 220 and 221:
An accusation that's so watered dow
Page 222 and 223:
epistemological; it talks and talks
Page 224 and 225:
conception, which exists in fact on
Page 226 and 227:
put it. If Aramis existed, you woul
Page 228 and 229:
"So we had to increase the absolute
Page 230 and 231:
[SUMMARY OF A GROUP INTERVIEW]The s
Page 232 and 233:
engineering, all the ingenuity, all
Page 234 and 235:
"We've found the hidden staircase,"
Page 236 and 237:
dominated by, people. But there is
Page 238 and 239:
-Vehicle110,000f-PCC spervisio Stat
Page 240 and 241:
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]-M. Freque, pro
Page 242 and 243:
problem. This task, for the project
Page 244 and 245:
"What I think is that the Matra eng
Page 246 and 247:
"As for the automation, I agree wit
Page 248 and 249:
inappropriate, as if it were clear
Page 250 and 251:
PIaorm 1X" StationI / Plaorm 2Subst
Page 252 and 253:
"Level III: the fixed equipment, ea
Page 254 and 255:
But since you're not human, I'd be
Page 256 and 257:
--wheels, supply information about
Page 258 and 259:
little I was becoming the Aramis mo
Page 260 and 261:
the cars located in the sector, as
Page 262 and 263:
So it givesa recalibration that'sre
Page 264 and 265:
OrdinateViewpoint of mobile unit/I-
Page 266 and 267:
Phonic wheelCoded equidistant cross
Page 268 and 269:
"Here deceleration has to be factor
Page 270 and 271:
[DOCUMENT]code 5800 .2ORI 10 0 0 00
Page 272 and 273:
Norbert woke up terrified.The next
Page 274 and 275:
This is the case for the Matra comp
Page 276 and 277:
This figure, in the context of the
Page 278 and 279:
short-term vision. 'As long as ther
Page 280 and 281:
1. What M. Brun needs; what hechoos
Page 282 and 283:
ecause if someone says, 'After fift
Page 284 and 285:
Well then, that's reassuring. I sta
Page 286 and 287:
thing, give or take a nuance or two
Page 288 and 289:
that's too bad Obviously, to go fro
Page 290 and 291:
They sound awfully sure of themselv
Page 292 and 293:
"Either they didn't put enough ener
Page 294 and 295:
Phase 1: Concept development5phose
Page 296 and 297:
VAL. You'll see, we're going to fin
Page 298 and 299:
on on ongoing basis how things are
Page 300 and 301:
7. Aramis has been perfected as a m
Page 302 and 303:
of a network, to the extent that th
Page 304 and 305:
"Are they interested in elected off
Page 306 and 307:
"But then why not say it was resear
Page 308 and 309:
when we talked about it. The electe
Page 310 and 311:
"No, no, not enough love! Love and
Page 312 and 313:
ahout each other in strict confiden
Page 314 and 315:
"Yet in spite of its fragility, its
Page 316 and 317:
to be a line. What more could I ask
Page 318 and 319:
things. That's not what brought my
Page 320 and 321:
"Obligation to use all appropriate
Page 322 and 323:
" Prometheus. ""Prometheus! The 'sm
Page 324 and 325:
GLOSSARYA-320 An airplane built by
Page 326 and 327:
BertinBienvenueBus DivisionCabinent
Page 328 and 329:
tems to be controlled in the car (d
Page 330 and 331:
E:'2the ministry's technical dossie
Page 332 and 333:
Porno 2000PrometheusPRTQuinRofoleRa
Page 334 and 335:
sniffer planeSOFRESSOFRETUSouth lin
Page 336:
BIUND /ATOUI , 01"""of SOOoIogy, £
show all

Bruno Latour, Aramis, or the Love of Technology, PDF - Dss-edit.com

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?