Winter 2004

This information effective for Winter 2004. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Humanities

[HUMN-206]

206. What is “Knowledge Society”? Concepts, Problems, Issues

Instructor: Alain-Marc Rieu
Tues 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., Stevenson 230
Class begins Tuesday, January 6, 2003

Course web site: http://fortytwo.ucsc.edu:16080/~arieu/

Associated web site: http://knowledgesociety.ucsc.edu

The context

This is the first seminar organized by the Knowledge Society Center at UCSC. This Research and Learning Center has been created in 2003 in the Humanities Division to develop research and teaching. Its general goal is to study the mutation of the conception, organization, and status of science and technology since the 1980s, its impact on cultures, societies, and economies as well as on international relations.

The issue

A "knowledge society" is a type of society where activities related to science and technology reach such a level that they induce deep economic, social, cultural, and political transformations. The whole social structure enters unpredictable mutations. A different course of evolution becomes possible. New attitudes and behaviors, new needs and desires emerge. This new opening plays a major role in the "globalization" process.
This is the reason why the Humanities, Human, and Social Sciences become as important and relevant as science and technology themselves in order to understand and manage this evolution of our societies.

This is what the Knowledge Society Center is about. It reaches further than the so-called "new economy," "information society," "economics of knowledge," "human capital," etc. This does not mean that a full "knowledge society" already exists. It is a "virtual society," a recent phenomenon, still in the making and emerging. Even in their present crisis, Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, in general, are the most advanced cases in the world. But they are not the only ones, and they need to be compared with other cases in the world.

A knowledge-based society is the next step in the evolution of modern societies. A key element is the following: the way we are able to understand this evolution, science and technology in all their contexts, is shaping this new type of society. This concerns criticisms of modern and post-modern ideologies, ethics, philosophy, democracy, social needs, and economic interests, etc.

The stakes and the obstacles are enormous. Three problems need to be mentioned because they are in the background of the present seminar.

• This mutation is always "glocal," i.e., "local" with a "global" impact (for instance Internet, the role of regional networks, etc). It develops beyond the Nation-State and beyond a world order based on Nation-States.
  
• These mutations touch Humanity and the conception of the Human, individual subjects, women and men in our social, economic, cultural and spiritual lives: our beliefs and values, the way we work and learn, communicate, raise our children, etc.
  
• Major forms of resistance, opposition, and rejection already exist, also in advanced industrial Nations. They will grow further.

The seminar

It is wrong to reduce a knowledge-driven society to science and technology only, to their industrial application, to scientific institutions and their relations with the business community. At the dawn of the 21st century, "new" technologies, information and communication technology, biotechnology, and their "convergence" need to be understood from the perspective of their social interactions, their cultural reception, and the emergence of new attitudes, behaviors, and desires.

This change of perspective proves that it has become not only necessary, but also urgent to elucidate how to study this type of society, how to analyze and interpret these interactions—these collective attitudes and shared desires.

1. Objectives

This seminar has two main objectives:

• to build a conceptual framework in order to formulate the problems and debate the main issues; and
  
• to evaluate existing answers, discourses, and theories.
  

This seminar covers various topics, problems, and issues that will become, in the coming years, objects of special courses and field research.

The initial problem is to understand how an innovation makes sense in a given cultural, epistemological, and economic context; how a new technology is embedded in a given society and a given culture; and how it becomes the source of new products answering our needs and generating new ones. Furthermore, these emerging desires and practices create the possibility of further innovations and new products. This perspective is beyond the realm of engineering and economics, where knowledge lives and grows in a society.

2. Course progression

The introduction explains what is "knowledge" today and what is a "knowledge driven society." In the next two seminars, different theories and methods dealing with knowledge production, distribution, and reception are presented and evaluated. These two seminars are a critical introduction to science and technology studies, with a strong European influence. Cases will be taken from the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan. The fourth seminar will study various discourses on and against technology—their sources as well as their impact on a knowledge-driven society. The fifth seminar extracts from the present state of these disciplines and discourses a common framework, key concepts, and problems.

From the sixth seminar on, the seminar concentrates on the present conjuncture. The first one, "What's new?" puts the present technological mutation in historical perspective. The seventh will analyze "digital thinking." The eighth and ninth seminars study the main explanations of the Silicon Valley phenomenon as an advanced example of a "knowledge society." The last one reviews the work done. It also introduces to the study the impact of science and technology on international relations.

Many readings are taken from Economics. The goal and challenge of the seminar are to reinterpret these analyses in the wider context of Human and Social Sciences.

Requirements, Evaluation, Readings

1. Requirements

• Enrollment restriction: Graduate.
• This seminar requires strong involvement and creativity. Full attendance is required. Students from all disciplines, from sciences and technologies as well as from Humanities and Social Sciences, even the Arts, are concerned and welcome. This diversity contributes to the success of such a seminar. Activities in relation to the seminar are being organized.

2. Evaluation

• A presentation
  Students will be asked to prepare a presentation (se, for instance, week 6) selected from or based on the reading list and other material available at the web site. To work on the Silicon Valley phenomenon would be a good idea.
  With the student's agreement and after eventual changes, this oral presentation might become a paper. The presentation and the resulting paper will be graded. This resulting paper can eventually become the final.
  
  
• Final
  In case no paper has been given, the final exam will be an interview.

3. Readings and information.

Most readings were published before the burst of the (tech) bubble in 2000. Most of them date from the early 1990s—from the rise of knowledge-driven economies. Our goal is to present, as well as criticize, these documents in order to understand the present crisis and transition.

All books are available either at the UCSC McHenry Library or the Science and Engineering Library. They are on reserve.

Students will need to check the course web site: information and documents will be added on a regular basis.

The Program

1. Introduction: how to anthropologize science and technology? What is knowledge? What is "knowledge society"?

Knowledge versus information, cognition, science, technology, etc. "Knowledge" is type of practice developed by "subjects," individuals, and groups, situated in an historical, social, political, economic context. This context is also a "place" with its own identity.
This practice answers various criteria, which need to be defined.

Two cases taken from the anthropology of ancient Greece will explain what is knowledge and will be discussed. These two studies also show what kind of methodology is required to analyze knowledge production.

Reading:

• Jean Pierre Vernant, "The new image of the world," in The origins of Greek thought; Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press, 1982, p 119-129.

Further readings:

• Compare the ancient Greece situation with the present: Knowledge Cities (2000, 2nd version 2002), a CD-ROM produced by Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley (http://www.ci-sv.org/) under the direction of John Kreidler. Please do some simulations on the CD-ROM are present in class your conclusions.
• Various types of intelligence: the fox, the octopus, the scientist, the engineer, etc.
  Marcel Détienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant, Cunning intelligence in Greek culture and society; chapter 1. Antilochus'race (metis as "cunning intelligence") and/or chapter 2. The fox and the octopus. Translated by Janet Lloyd. Atlantic Highlands, N. J., Humanities Press, 1978.
  
• The idea of "tacit knowledge" has been very influential in the last two decades. It is referred to by Michael Polanyi, Personal knowledge, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1955. Part 2: the tacit component, chapter 6 in particular. See also p 373-380. This topic will be discussed in class.
  
• Compare with the situation of knowledge today. See Clark Kerr web site on Google. He was UC president in the 1960s. He decided to create a new UC campus and selected Santa Cruz. He died on December 1, 2003.
  
• Michael Gibbons (and others), The new production of knowledge: the dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies, London, Sage, 1994. Or Michael Gibbons' text on week 10.

2. Understanding knowledge production and distribution: From Epistemology to Science and Technology Studies.

The goal is still to learn how to anthropologize science and technology. This means to study their cultural environment. What needs to be explained? Example: French and German biology since the 19th century.

Readings:

• François Delaporte (ed.), "Cell theory," in A vital rationalist: selected writings from Georges Canguilhem, New York, Zone Books, 1994, p 161-177. See also in the same book "The various models," p 41-47. These "various models" are methods to understand science. Contrast this with the following comprehensive and up-to-date study:
  
• Sabine Maasen & Matthias Winterhager (ed.), "Science studies: Probing the dynamics of scientific knowledge," Science Studies, Bielefeld, Transcript, 2001, p 9-54. (available at UCSC libraries, of course).

Further readings:

• Bruno Latour, We have never been modern; translated by Catherine Porter; New York: Harvester Press, c1993. Chapter 5: "Redistribution." Please check in the book what concerns the "symmetry principle."
  
• Essays from Andrew Pickering (ed.), Science as practice and culture; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
  
• Michael Friedman, "On the sociology of scientific knowledge and its philosophical agenda," Studies in history and philosophy of science, SOO39-3681, 1997. p 239-271.

3. Understanding knowledge production and distribution. Historical Economics and Economics of Knowledge.

Reading:

• P. Dasgupta and P.A. David, 1994, "Toward a new Economics of science," North-Holland, Research policy, no 23, p 487-521. This is a comprehensive and remarkable study.

Further readings:

• Michel Callon, 1994, "Is science a public good?" Science, Technology & Human Values, vol. 19 no 4, p 395-424.
  
• Ikujiro Nonaka, "The knowledge-creating company," Harvard Business Review, November-December 1991, p 96-104. Recent papers by Nonaka will be made available.
  

  These two articles show what is at stake today. They are rather easy to read.

The following texts have also been quite influential.

• Martin Fransman, chapter 9. Conclusions and theoretical implications, The market and beyond: Cooperation and competition in information technology development in the Japanese System, London, Cambridge University Press, 1990. This book is a history of the electronics industry in Japan. The conclusion studies the formation, goals, and relevance of science and technology policies.
  
• Keith Pavitt, "The social shaping of the national science base," Research Policy no 27 (1998), p 793-805.
  
• Moses Abramovitz, "Resource and output trends in the United States since 1870," The American Economic Review, vol. 46, May 1956, no 2.
  
• Paul Romer, "Why indeed in America? Theory, history, and the origins of modern economic growth," The American Academic Review, vol. 86, no 2, May 1996, p 202-206.
  
• Extracts from Robert Boyer; La croissance, début de siècle: de l'octet au gène (Growth for a new century: from octets to genes); Paris, Albin Michel, 2002. English translation to be published in December 2003.
  
• Check the English School (M. Fransman, Ch. Freeman, K. Pavitt, etc), in particular, the Science Policy Research Unity (SPRU) at the University of Sussex (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/). This school of thought has influenced the work of R. Boyer, P. David, M. Callon, and many others around the world.

4. Thinking technology: from Martin Heidegger to Bill Joy.

Reading:

• Heidegger, Martin, "The question concerning technology," in The question concerning technology and other essays; translated by William Lovitt. New York: Garland Pub, 1977.

Further readings:

• Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, New York, Routledge, 1991), pp.149-181 (available at Donna Haraway's web site).
  
• Bill Joy, "Why the future doesn't need us. Our most powerful 21st-century technologies—robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech—are threatening to make humans an endangered species"; Wired, no 8.04, April 2000.

5. Constructing concepts: science, technology, technological system, R&D, etc.

A lecture and a general discussion. Some case studies will be presented.

6. What's new? Comparing modern scientific and technological mutations.

The readings and analyses will concentrate on various modern revolutions and mutations seen through their interpretation in the 20th century. The participants are expected to present short presentations on the following topics.

• Interpretations of the Copernican Revolution in the 20th century (Husserl, Heidegger, T.S. Kuhn, etc.) and criticism of some 19th-century ideologies (Auguste Comte's Positivism).
  
• Extracts from Robert Bruce, The launching of Modern American Science, 1846-1876; Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1987. See also a short, but quite revealing study from 1963: A. Hunter Dupree (ed.), Science and the emergence of modern America, 1965-1916, Chicago, Rand McNally (Berkeley series in American History), 1963, 59 pages.
  
• Vannemar Bush, Science: the endless frontier, July 1945. Reprint: National Science Foundation, 1960. Easily available, is also from Vannemar Bush, Endless horizons, Washington D.C., Public Affairs Press, 1946. In particular, chapters 3, 8, 6, but the whole (small) book is very important in order to understand the present.
  
• L. Leydesdorff & H. Etzkowitz, 1996, "Emergence of a triple helix of university-industry-government relations," Science and public policy, vol. 23, no 5, p 279-286.
  
• See also: Robert Boyer; La croissance, début de siècle: de l'octet au gène (Growth for a new century: from octets to genes); Paris, Albin Michel, 2002. English translation to be published in December 2003.

7. Digital thinking. Thinking digital.

The issue is to understand how scientific and/or technological change transforms the way we think, describe and explain, map the world and ourselves, etc.

Readings:

• René Descartes, A discourse on method (1637), translated by Donald A. Cress, Indianapolis, Hackett Pub, 1993, chapters 1 and 2.
  
• Georges Canguilhem, "The development of the concept of biological regulation in the 19th and 20th centuries," Ideology and rationality in the history of the life sciences, translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1988, p 81-102.
  
• Nicholas Negroponte, Being digital, New York, Knopf, 1995, p 11-20. Of course, you can read further.
  
• Extract from: A.-M. Rieu, "The epistemological and philosophical situation of Mind Techno-Science"; Stanford Humanities Review, Vol. 4, no 2, 1995 ; special issue: Constructions of the mind: Artificial Intelligence and the Humanities; p 267-284. Reprint: M.I.T. Press 2004.
  
• What is missing in this reading list is the enormous historical influence of Darwinian and today's neo-Darwinian models. A text (probably for H. Maturana or F. Varela) will be added in the coming weeks, or I will make a presentation in class.

8. Understanding Silicon Valley: Analyses and discourses.

This seminar will select studies from the two following books. They complement each other. Understanding Silicon Valley is shorter!

Readings:

• The Silicon Valley edge: a habitat for innovation and entrepreneurship, edited by Chong-Moon Lee (and others); Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000.
  
• Understanding Silicon Valley, edited by Martin Kenney, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000.

Further readings:

• R. Barbrook & A. Cameron, "The Californian ideology," Mute, no 3, 1995.
  
• For data, analyses, and links on Silicon Valley, see
  
  • Collaborative Economics: http://www.coecon.com/,
    
  • Joint Venture-Silicon Valley: http://www.jointventure.org/.
    
• Silicon Valley mythology:
  
  • Analyze and evaluate the evolution of Wired magazine since its creation.
    
  • Michael Lewis, The new new thing: a Silicon Valley story, New York, Penguin Books, 2000.

9. Understanding Silicon Valley: studies and debates on its present and future.

Readings:

• The notion of an "overclass" will be presented and reworked. It can be found in Michael Lind, The next American Nation: the new nationalism and the fourth American revolution; New York, The Free Press, 1995.
  
• The debate about the role and meaning of "culture" in a knowledge society. See Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley (http://www.ci-sv.org/).
  
• The debate about Moore's Law (references will added to the website).
  
• Nicholas Carr, "IT doesn't matter," Harvard Business Review, May 2003, p 41-49. This is an old debate: compare with Jeff Madrick, "Computers: waiting for the revolution," New York Review of Books, March 26, 1998.
  
• The "convergence" project (see Collaborative Economics web site).

10. "Glocalization": knowledge regions and international relations.

The problems raised in conclusion concentrate on the impact of R&D issues on international relations. They are often ignored by globalization theory and controversies. The main concepts and problems are "competitive advantage," "brain drain," "digital divide," international cooperation, etc.

Reading:

• Eugene Skolnikoff, chapter 1. The setting, The elusive transformation: science, technology and the evolution of International Politics, Princeton University Press, 1993, p 3-43.

Further readings:

a. An American perspective

• Michael Porter, chapter 3. Determinants of national competitive advantage, The comparative advantage of Nations, New York : Free Press, 1990.
  
• Check the web site of the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/), of the Council on Competitiveness (http://www.compete.org/), etc.
  

  To understand the U.S. perspective, please refer also to the above readings, to weeks 3 and 6 in particular.

b. The Japanese conception

• Sakaya Taichi, 1991, The knowledge value revolution, Tokyo, Kodansha International.
  
• Martin Hemmert & Christian Oberländer (ed.), Technology and innovation in Japan: policy and management for the 21st century, London, Routledge, 1998. See in particular chapter 3 by Watanabe Chihiro and Martin Hemmert.
  
• Check the web site of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): http://www.jsps.go.jp/e-home.htm.
  
• Other documents will be added in class.

c. The European perspective

• R. Barré, M. Gibbons, Sir J. Maddox, B. Martin, P. Papon (ed.), Science in tomorrow's Europe, Paris, Economica International, 1997. Read in particular Christopher Freeman, "The diversity of national research systems" (p 5-31), for a comparative study of the different research systems competing today. Read also Michael Gibbons, "The translation of societal needs into research agenda" (p 69-78).
  
• European Union Research Program, "Citizens and governance in a Knowledge based Society," FP6, December 2002 (http://www.cordis.lu/fp6/). Check other E.U. sites on R&D policies.

d. Remember the Soviet Union?

• The Soviet Union was a scientific and technological power. Ideology, research, and education were closely intertwined and controlled. See P.N. Fedoseyev, "Topical problems of our time and the integration of knowledge," USSR Academy of sciences, Science, technology and the future, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1980, p 3-20.
  

  Russia is catching up very fast. China, India, Singapore, Turkey, etc, should also be mentioned.