Table Of ContentWorlds of sciencecraft
This book is dedicated to
Sharon Anderson-Gold
Iain Banks
David Heath
Susan Leigh-Star
Anne Stingl
Helen Weiner
Worlds of sciencecraft
new Horizons in sociology,
Philosophy, and science studies
sal restivo
University of Ghent, Belgium
sabrina M. Weiss
Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
alexander i. stingl
Drexel University, USA and University of Kassel, Germany
© sal restivo, sabrina M. Weiss and alexander i. stingl 2014
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
sal restivo, sabrina M. Weiss and alexander i. stingl have asserted their right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
restivo, sal P.
Worlds of sciencecraft : new horizons in sociology, philosophy, and science studies / by
sal restivo, sabrina M. Weiss and alexander i. stingl.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-4527-2 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-4528-9 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-
1-4724-0382-7 (epub) 1. Sociology--Research. 2. Philosophy--Research. 3. Science--
research. i. Weiss, sabrina M. ii. stingl, alexander i. iii. title.
HM571.r47 2014
301.072--dc23
2013046906
ISBN 9781409445272 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409445289 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781472403827 (ebk – ePUB)
V
Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry ling limited,
at the dorset Press, dorchester, dt1 1Hd
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Prologue ix
1 Mathematics, Society, and Social Change 1
2 The Social Ecology of Brain and Mind 37
3 Veiling the Modest Cyborg: More Than a New Witness 71
4 Sibling Saviors:
A Hohfeldian Critique of Sibling Donor Conception 89
5 Local Biopolities of Solidarity,
Epistemic Cultures of Empathy, and the Civil Sphere 101
Conclusion: Harder Better Faster Stronger: An Epilogue in the Mask of
Four Human Problems 141
Bibliography 193
Index 225
This page has been left blank intentionally
Acknowledgements
Sabrina Weiss would like to thank the following people: Ron Eglash, Deborah
Blizzard, Langdon Winner, Steve Breyman, Ellen Esrock, Kelly Joyce, Ned
Woodhouse, Nancy Campbell, Eben Kirksey. CSD, Michael Fitzgerald, Alex
Sapadin, Liam and Kellen Potocsnak, Brandy Spani, Catherine Helle, Carly
Johnson, Nika, Todd, and Sarah Spiker-Rainey, Lisa, Danny, and Zoe Fontaine-
Rainen, Teresa Griffin, Anqi Fu. Snohomish and Kamiak High School Debate
Teams, Steve Helman, Bill Nicolay, and Marissa Elliot. Chris Das Neves, Tyler
Neal, Sean Galbraith, Zannechaos—fellow modest cyborgs. Owakeri, Lindiwe,
Mimeteh, Astenya, Jolilae, Arzu, Bullzilla, and the rest of the great people at
WRA. Lorn Reynolds, John Daziens, Pecos, and everyone else from ESX. Linda
MacDonald-Glenn, Fred Childs, Brit Yamamoto, Allison Mead, Bill Costello,
Steve Koepp, Shan Oglesby, Mrs. Spencer, Mrs. Tawlks, Carol Rindle, Mrs.
Yakovich, Sister Dolores-Crosby, Cliff. My family, including my grandparents,
aunts, uncles, and cousins around the world; Dan, my brother, for being the best
big little brother a person could have, and Alexander I. Stingl for being my partner
and equal. And most of all, to my parents for both challenging and supporting me
through the many adventures of my life.
Alexander I. Stingl has profited from audiences and co-presenters of talks
between 2007 and 2013. He would also like to thank his students and TAs
(Tutoren) at Leuphana University Lüneburg who engaged and discussed literatures
and knowledges with him and happily challenged his conventional views and his
provocations alike over the past few years. A particular thanks to Hans Bakker
for reminding him of the importance of semiotics and Max Weber, and also
for serving as the “image of a woman” at SSSI in NYC in 2013. He wants to
thank Kelly Joyce, Ali Kenner, Linnda Caporael, Ron Eglash, Gareth Edel, Jon
Gluck, Matt Hoffman, Liz McGoey, Deborah Blizzard, Sebastian Deterling, Ellen
Langer, Michael Dellwing, Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, Andreas Jürgens, Wendel
Burkhardt, Don Levine, Fritz Breithaupt, Volker Wegener, Gayle Goldstick, Joana
Mangiuca, Albero Asencio, Ferdie Wagner, David Lindner, Kathrin Schwalbe, Pete
Loranger, Laura Mauldin, Jonah Friedman, Justin Grosslight, Armin Monsorno,
Bernhard Tilg, Donald Levine, Lazarino Antini, Birgit Dörle, and David Heath for
discussions, comments, and/or advice that were relevant to this book. He wants to
emphasize he is, as always, indebted to the deterritorializing and detemporalizing
dialogue with Sabrina M. Weiss. And, finally: Für Sepp und Mu, danke für alles.
Ich drück euch.
viii Worlds of ScienceCraft
Sal Restivo thanks Randall Collins, Leslie Brothers, Linnda Caporael, and Julia
Loughlin for provocations that have helped him to better grasp the social nature of
mathematics, brain, and mind.
Prologue
Sal Restivo and Sabrina M. Weiss1
There are always dangers when we hook our wagon to a star, to an icon of our field
or an iconic idea. Notably dangerous icons include Einstein in physics, Foucault
in history, Durkheim in sociology, Plato in ancient philosophy, Hegel and Kant
in modern philosophy, and Marx in political economy. Dangers also accrue to
iconic ideas such as relativity, entropy, complementarity, uncertainty (Heisenberg
or Gödel), structuralism, social constructionism, and historical materialism. The
dangers are multiple: we must confront the challenges of translation in some
cases, the internal contradictions that inevitably crop up in a lifetime of writing,
and more often the conflicting interpretations among authors themselves and
their readers (T.S. Kuhn being a notable exemplar); and we must be alert to the
threat of anachronisms and Whig histories. Finally, we must be cautious about
falling prey to hero worship. This danger exists wherever we encounter idolatry,
whether in the case of iconic figures, core concepts, ideas and themata, or through
disciplinary perspectives.
Sal Restivo, Ghent, Belgium, 2012
Inspirations
The inspiration for the title of this work, “Worlds of ScienceCraft,” came from
the popular massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG), World
of Warcraft. This connection arose out of a series of discussions between Restivo
and Weiss and only later was crafted as an homage to this title.
The game raised the question about the nature and quality of social interaction.
Are online social interactions functionally equivalent to offline face-to-face
interactions? This question raised deeply intersectional juxtapositions between
disciplines (sociology vs. philosophy), generations (old vs. young), cultures
(western and eastern), and gender (masculine, feminine, and queer). For the
sociologist, humans are always, already, and everywhere social and the face-to-
face aspect of our species defines our humanity. But for a bioethicist philosopher,
there is undeniable value in recognizing the reality of interactions, regardless
of medium or participant, because all have emotional and conceptual content
and impact.
The discussions between Restivo and Weiss eventually led to a recognition
that just as, to paraphrase William Blake, individuals could be multiples so could
1 The “Inspirations” section was written by Weiss; the rest of this prologue represents
an introduction in Restivo’s voice.
