entire book - Chris Hables Gray

The Uses of Science [ 81 ]
Science has changed in many ways since Francis Bacon's day. Now
scientists do experiment on and with occult (hidden) forces that were once
considered by most scientists to be impossible. But science still remains a
form of limited rationality constrained by the material limits of intervention
and representation. If science claimed no more, that would be one thing, but
instead it often wears the guise of sweet reason itself.
Some critics and scientists have called for integrating science with the
rest of society, for scientists discarding the cloak of impartial rationality and
accepting some social responsibility. Sandra Harding goes further and elaborates
a postmodern feminist revaluing of science to make "moral, political,
and historical self-consciousness ... of primary importance in assessing the
adequacy of research practices" (1986, p. 250). 3
How is this intervention described and evaluated? It depends on the
rules. Many of the rules seem to be physical laws; many clearly are not. Which
rules are applied depends on the metarules, the rules about the rules. What
counts as evidence? Who is allowed to speak? To publish? To make jokes?
Who is made into a joke? To approach these questions the figure of postmodernism
should be sketched more fully because, above all, postmodernism
seems to mark a growing concern with these metarules or at least a growing
difficulty in hiding them. And the game of discourse that is being ruled and
metaruled must be discussed in more detail as well, with specific attention
to the conversations of the AI community.
Postmodernism
Since the mid-1930s there has been talk of postmodernism. Some postmodernists
are defined only through their critique of modernism. Deconstruction
and sometimes poststructuralism are often put in this category. By no means
is there a consensus among philosophers about the meaning or value of
postmodernism (let alone deconstruction or poststructuralism or anything,
actually). However, beyond philosophy there is more clarity. In certain fields
"modern" has taken on very specific historical and/or symbolic meanings.
Architecture and art are the best examples. In other areas, such as the history
of war, modem war is defined both chronologically and qualitatively.
Postmodernism also has varying qualities in different domains, but there
do seem to be certain themes that appear with regularity as they do with
science:
• Information is the organizing principle. Science, war, politics, and
business all situate information at the center of their particular
discourses. At the same time there is a disillusionment with the grand
master narratives of modernism: art, progress, science, technology,