Converging technologies: Visions, increased contingencies of the conditio humana, and search for orientation

Grunwald, Armin

doi:10.1016/j.futures.2006.08.001

Cited by 78 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…75 As a result of this awareness of the social character of technology, the plurality of potential directions of 'progress' and the profound implications for society and democracy of the choosing of particular development paths over others, there has been a turn to greater transparency and relexivity in processes of TA as evidenced by the development of approaches such as 'real time TA', 70 'constructive TA', 76 and 'participatory TA'. 77 An important component of these approaches is the need for assessment to be engaged at an 'upstream' moment 69,75 rather than simply considering downstream 'impacts', and to examine the different kinds of visions of the future embedded in particular ideas about emerging technologies, an endeavor sometimes referred to as vision or expectation assessment, 78,79 or the 'forensics of wishing'. 69 …”

Section: Technological Assessment: Generic Methodological Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate geoengineering: issues of path‐dependence and socio‐technical lock‐in

Cairns

2014

WIREs Climate Change

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As academic and policy interest in climate geoengineering grows, the potential irreversibility of technological developments in this domain has been raised as a pressing concern. The literature on socio‐technical lock‐in and path dependence is illuminating in helping to situate current concerns about climate geoengineering and irreversibility in the context of academic understandings of historical socio‐technical development and persistence. This literature provides a wealth of material illustrating the pervasiveness of positive feedbacks of various types (from the discursive to the material) leading to complex socio‐technical entanglements which may resist change and become inflexible even in the light of evidence of negative impacts. With regard to climate geoengineering, there are concerns that geoengineering technologies might contribute so‐called ‘carbon lock‐in’, or become irreversibly ‘locked‐in’ themselves. In particular, the scale of infrastructures that geoengineering interventions would require, and the issue of the so‐called ‘termination effect’ have been discussed in these terms. Despite the emergent and somewhat ill‐defined nature of the field, some authors also suggest that the extant framings of geoengineering in academic and policy literatures may already demonstrate features recognizable as forms of cognitive lock‐in, likely to have profound implications for future developments in this area. While the concepts of path‐dependence and lock‐in are the subject of ongoing academic critique, by drawing analytical attention to these pervasive processes of positive feedback and entanglement, this literature is highly relevant to current debates around geoengineering. WIREs Clim Change 2014, 5:649–661. doi: 10.1002/wcc.296 This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Climate Science and Decision Making

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Section: Technological Assessment: Generic Methodological Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate geoengineering: issues of path‐dependence and socio‐technical lock‐in

Cairns

2014

WIREs Climate Change

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“…System innovations demand the involvement of a wide range of actors from different institutional backgrounds (Elzen et al 2004); moreover, these actors have to engage in patterns of higher order learning, i.e. the creation of a shared understanding by those actors of the problems at stake (Verbong et al 2008;Garmendia and Stagl 2010;Huisingh et al 2013;Quist and Tukker 2013); and the development of collectively held normative future visions (Dierkes et al 1996;Grin 2000;Quist and Vergragt 2006;Grunwald 2007;Dignum 2013). Clearly, all of these demands relate to overcoming the barriers that are thrown up by the boundaries between different domains.…”

Section: The Constraints Of Institutional Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable development and institutional boundaries

Pesch

2014

Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences

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“…Gerade im gesellschaftlich sensiblen Bereich der konvergierenden Technologien wird somit auch von Seiten der FördergeberInnen die Begleitforschung als Notwendigkeit betrachtet. Die Anforderung, sich mit den gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen nä-her zu beschäftigen, wird auch von ForscherInnen aus dem Bereich von STS und der Technikfolgen-Abschätzung unterstützt (Grunwald, 2007 …”

Section: Abbildung 23-3: Gesamte Und Geförderte Projektkosten Im 6 unclassified

Converging Technologies in �sterreich (Pilotstudie) - Endbericht

2012

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Converging technologies: Visions, increased contingencies of the conditio humana, and search for orientation

Cited by 78 publications

References 8 publications

Climate geoengineering: issues of path‐dependence and socio‐technical lock‐in

Climate geoengineering: issues of path‐dependence and socio‐technical lock‐in

Sustainable development and institutional boundaries

Converging Technologies in �sterreich (Pilotstudie) - Endbericht

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