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

fic off the roads , it improve s traffic conditions . . .Aramis' users constitute a clientele that appreciates theadvantages of the automobile, while rejecting its disadvantages. For Aramis is like the automobile: it offers comfort ,availability, * the absence of interruptions . But in addi -t ion, it offers speed (5 a km/h) , safety, punctuality. Anelectric-powered system on pneumatic wheels, Aramis alsoprotect s the environment (no atmospheric pollution, nonoise) [p . 13] . . . To choose Aramis today is to win the wageralready, the one our children will make tomorrow in orderto live in cities that have a human face ."The style is better than Bardet's.""Yes, and you11 also notice that they cast a wider net. A lot morepeople are interested, or might become interested. It's no longer justthe State that is presumed to be interested in Aramis for the purposeof improving the infrastructure or serving the public. Now it's driversthemselves, 'prisoners' freed from their chains, who are achieving theirgoals-by way of Aramis. Not bad! Notice that for the first time themarket is making its appearance in the form (a somewhat curious form,I admit) of the consumers' desire to buy cars but to use Aramis as well,so as to cut down on automobile traffic. You sec, it was a good idea tomove from the public to the private sphere. It's always crucial to gethold of the original documents."The "market forces" of the private sector are actors like the others.The analysis of technological projects often runs aground becausethe observers are intimidated by the economic forces that, like the technologicaldeterminism we saw earlier, are assumed to go up and down the*In the industrial world, availabilitv is not a moral virtue comparable to charitv;it is a practical virtue which indicates th : t the machine or the means of transportati nin guestion has not broken down, that it is available. It is usuallv calculated as a ratiothat should be above 0.96, at least for a metro line.AN eXCITING INNOVA TION