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

II est passe par iciII repassera par 10II court, il court Ie furetLe furet d' I'economie.He came th is way;He'll go back that way.The weasel is running,The economic weasel.This is what children sing as their moist hands polish the ring that ispassed around on a string.To get rid of one's own responsibility, the big explanations are useful;but as soon as one stops trying to blame someone else, these big explanationshave to be replaced by little networks. Who decides that Aramis mustbe influenced by the change of administration in 1981? Four or five people,all identifiable and interviewable. Who decides that aeronautic projectsdon't have to be subject to the vagaries of changes in administration? Tenpeople, some of whom, it is said, are camping out in the Budget Office as"submarines" or "Trojan horses." Who decides about Aramis' economicprofitability? Eight people, all identifiable and interviewable. Who decidesthat the economic calculations that prove Aramis' profitability are purefictions? Again, four or five people, the same ones or others, equallyidentifiable and interviewable. Who passes judgment on Aramis' technologicalfeasibility? Three people, maybe four. Who passes judgment onAramis' technological infeasibility? Fifteen people or so; they're harder topinpoint, but their tongues loosen after a few hours of conversation. It'sclear: Aramis is not in an overall context that has to be taken into account.To study Aramis after 1981, we have to odd to the filaments of its networka small number of people representing other interests and other goals:elected officials, Budget Office authorities, economists, evaluators, certainmembers of the Conseil Superieur des Pants.The few elected officials recruited by the project certainly don't countas Politics; the economists who calculate profit margins don't constituteEconomics; the handful of engineers who evaluate Aramis' technologicalrefinement certainly don't equate with Technology. The impression of acontext that surrounds the project comes from the fact that one forgets tocount the handful of mediators who speak in the name of money, OfficialBodies, chips, or voters. Once we add the spokespersons back in, everythingclears up: the network is extended, but its nature doesn't change.We've gone from a network to a network and a half.INHRPI,ASl. - . ._-- ---- -- --- --- -- --