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

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Norbert's sociology, he respected my abilities, and each new interviewbrought us crucial information ahout this astonishing interphase.[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]The RATP's M. Gueguen reminisces:"In 1983 we mode a presentation to the board . 'If this is how you'reshOWing it to me,' declared the board president [M , Girard], 'I can onlyconclude that we mustn't do it. Show me some other way. '"It wasn't really that there were problems, but there were a number oftechnological risks, and putting them all together made the project reallymarginal,"You have to understand that the project was absolutely state-of-the-art in allrespects,"We all sat down around a table, Somebody said, 'Aramis is new allaround; it's the wrong sort of step, just what mustn't be done.' At the nextdevelopment committee meeting, things were sorted out differently 'It's fine, noproblems,' The risks just had to be turned into certainties, The risks had to bewiped out; then they said, 'Let's go.' The red light changec to a blinking signal,"Girard was convinced, but obViously he wanted the thing to be wellpresented, The technologists couldn't stand up to the politicians, The currentline is that 'technologically, it's a success'-but that's not how we put it. Youcan have a look at it, but don't copy it." [no, 2, p, 13][Fumbling through his documents, he gets the original handwritten minutes,][DOCUMENT], January 27, 1983: M. Girard is struck by t:'e large numberof obstacles mentioned during this presentation . It seemsto him that everything has been done to make it impo ssible topursue the Arami s project . However, this system strikes himas having considerable potential value , and it would be toobad if unavoidable delays forced him to give up the project. . . Consequent ly, he asks the head of technologicalservices to prepare an attractive dossier for February 1,1983, one that would justify a positive decision .' __lrTERprI AS E ______ _______________________________
"Hey, this is really heating up," 1 said, smacking my lips."I already told you, innovation studies are like detective stories .""And now, " he went on, "let's go see whether M. Girard 's splendidanalysis turns out to be confirmed on the other side, at Matra."[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]At Matra, M. Etienne displays the some frankness, the some precision, thesome knowledgeability.'"There came Fiterman and Quin, and Girard along with them, all new guys."Among their ambitions, one thing had struck Quin: the lack of a majorresearch project at the RATP. He wouldn't have minded being able to tell hisminister, 'We've mode a big effort in urban transportation.' That couldn't leavethe Communists cold. It's good for the workers, urban transportation."It wasn't stupid. Fiterman put up a good fight. It's too bad they didn't bockthe right horse. Also, Fiterman the Communist was all excited about workingwith Lagardere [the capitalist]."There were conflicts with the RATP right away; not with the politicians, butwith Girard . He didn't believe in it at all, at first, but he couldn't be againsteverything; and besides, since he really likes to be in charge of things, he tookthis one over, mode it his baby."In addition, he knew perfectly well that the job of metro driver is a hardone, that the way drivers feel is a delicate issue. You couldn't say that peoplewere thrilled about losing a job that was sometimes passed on from father toson."We proposed an Araval to Girard. He told us, 'You do the nominal Aramisor we aren't interested .' Girard went to bat for it. I was convinced that the PetiteCeinture was viable; I wanted to take the qUickest way, and I didn't wont tosee my company lose money. Araval was less complex, and it fit very well,with its small size; it was less cumbersome than the tramway. Girard wouldhave none of it; he wanted the nominal Aramis."It's true-at that pOint I perhaps lost my nerve. I didn 't have the guts to soy,'No, Araval is better than Aramis.'""But again, why did the RATP plunge into the most complicated project?""Girard didn't trust me. He didn't want me to fOist off a simplified system onhim. I never should have called it Araval. The name was a kiss of death. Ishould have called it Athos or Porthos!INTFRPHA Sf:
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ARAMISTHE LOVE OF ECHNOLOGY
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Copyright © 1996 by the President
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TO SIMON SCHAFFER 7/
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By publishing this hook, I would li
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exemplary meditation on the difficu
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PROLOGUE: WHO KILLED ARAMIS?The fir
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PROLOGUE•cember 1987. A promising
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[DOCUMENT: EXCERPTS FROM AN ARTICLE
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"You see," he went on during one of
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"But during that period I found out
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-"There's one small problem," I sai
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1973: Test site at Orly; three-vehi
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1985: Scale model of two-car Aramis
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in a mass transit network, with no
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come true. Since every study has to
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load fa ctor, Professor? Your isola
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if by magic. An electronic calculat
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to be invented, if we are to track
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---) TransporterTime IS . ; To Char
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assembly line? You said "transfer"?
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primly, without acknowledging my cl
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defensive about playing "amusing me
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curves: DATAR, the RATP, Paris, bef
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fellow. It's like the Galileo affai
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Time To-1 2 3 4 5CJIII __ _ Time T1
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fic off the roads , it improve s tr
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ter-who speaks in the name of the g
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are solemnly and eternally committe
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me, Aramis isn't a PRT Iype of tran
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Aeroport de Paris said. IF you map
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IS ARAMIS FEASIBLE?"Now we can go o
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workshop, a control post, a recepti
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the optical sensor so it will maint
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evolutionary system of transportati
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"For my part, " the motor declares,
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-otherwise, it instructs the car to
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not only determined the laws accord
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[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M. Lamoureux, r
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they have to change the motor, mult
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there would be a lot of new functio
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"The idea was that it was seductive
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know who, among the engineers, exec
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of admiring the architecture, the s
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control room, by Ferbeck (who is al
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has the massive dimensions it takes
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come back to print. The whole passa
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"Do you comprehend the crime, the u
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[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS)At Matra headqu
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[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]M, Parlat, proi
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Stationl00o
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destinations: that's the idea that
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the network, all the problems of au
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Page 110 and 111: ody can commit himself; it's imposs
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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 122 and 123: did his field work in the Amazon ra
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 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
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Page 202 and 203: isn't the only one who doesn't know
Page 204 and 205: "Aramis has a lot of advantages bec
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the subway, by virtue of its access
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even includes direct quotes! A prot
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Regie Autonome des TransportsParisi
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etween us had evaporated with Norbe
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ITY OF THE INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIE
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opinion of the capitalists had "per
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An accusation that's so watered dow
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epistemological; it talks and talks
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conception, which exists in fact on
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put it. If Aramis existed, you woul
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"So we had to increase the absolute
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[SUMMARY OF A GROUP INTERVIEW]The s
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engineering, all the ingenuity, all
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"We've found the hidden staircase,"
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dominated by, people. But there is
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-Vehicle110,000f-PCC spervisio Stat
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[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]-M. Freque, pro
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problem. This task, for the project
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"What I think is that the Matra eng
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"As for the automation, I agree wit
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inappropriate, as if it were clear
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PIaorm 1X" StationI / Plaorm 2Subst
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"Level III: the fixed equipment, ea
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But since you're not human, I'd be
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--wheels, supply information about
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little I was becoming the Aramis mo
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the cars located in the sector, as
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So it givesa recalibration that'sre
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OrdinateViewpoint of mobile unit/I-
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Phonic wheelCoded equidistant cross
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"Here deceleration has to be factor
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[DOCUMENT]code 5800 .2ORI 10 0 0 00
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Norbert woke up terrified.The next
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This is the case for the Matra comp
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This figure, in the context of the
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short-term vision. 'As long as ther
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1. What M. Brun needs; what hechoos
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ecause if someone says, 'After fift
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Well then, that's reassuring. I sta
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thing, give or take a nuance or two
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that's too bad Obviously, to go fro
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They sound awfully sure of themselv
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"Either they didn't put enough ener
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Phase 1: Concept development5phose
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VAL. You'll see, we're going to fin
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on on ongoing basis how things are
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7. Aramis has been perfected as a m
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of a network, to the extent that th
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"Are they interested in elected off
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"But then why not say it was resear
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when we talked about it. The electe
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"No, no, not enough love! Love and
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ahout each other in strict confiden
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"Yet in spite of its fragility, its
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to be a line. What more could I ask
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things. That's not what brought my
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"Obligation to use all appropriate
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" Prometheus. ""Prometheus! The 'sm
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GLOSSARYA-320 An airplane built by
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BertinBienvenueBus DivisionCabinent
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tems to be controlled in the car (d
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E:'2the ministry's technical dossie
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Porno 2000PrometheusPRTQuinRofoleRa
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sniffer planeSOFRESSOFRETUSouth lin
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BIUND /ATOUI , 01"""of SOOoIogy, £
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