According to climate models, the Pacific Ocean, the body of water that encompasses one-third of the earth's surface, impacts global climate to a large extent. Geographically, the Pacific borders on three continents-Australia, Asia, and the Americas-and it has been up until today the center stage of geopolitical interests and conflicts, cold and hot wars. Because of its dimensions and location, the Pacific is not simply an object of scientific research but also occupies a central place in global history, world literature, and postcolonial theory. Since it never was conceived as a political or a cultural unit such as the Mediterranean, "a landlocked sea," a sea surrounded by mountains (Braudel [1972(Braudel [ ] 1995, it defies age-old concepts of European historiography. Whoever tries to address "the" Pacific has to reckon with a multitude of local and heterogeneous living environments and historiographies, all of which contribute to a scientific "new ocean world picture." As such, the study of the Pacific opens up (and ties together) peculiar perspectives on a whole range of forms of knowledge. Operating on the scale of global interactions, this study explores scientific as well as governmental modes and techniques of Sebastian Vehlken is a media theorist and cultural historian at Leuphana University Lüneburg (Germany) and Senior Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation (MECS). His areas of interest include the theory and history of computer simulation and digital media, media cultures of futurology, and oceans as media environments. His current research project Hypotheticality -Computer Simulation and Nuclear Energy 1960-80 explores the intersections of futurology and Fast Breeder Reactor programs. He is the author of Zootechnologies -A Media History of Swarm Research (Amsterdam University Press 2019), and co-editor of Neighborhood Technologies -Media and Mathematics of Dynamic Networks (Diaphanes/Chicago University Press 2015).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.