Technologies that are shaping our imagined future
Emerging label related to the idea that while the particular class of technologies is still being developed, still being researched for their potential social and environmental impacts etc, there exists extensive social commentary on, and political investment in, the promise of its imagined future
From a
comment from
Fern Wickson:
"I think it is also important to first think about what we mean by ‘technology’ and then what might be different about a class of these labelled as ‘emerging’…
For me though, the ‘emerging’ label is somehow related to the idea that while the particular class of technologies is still being developed, still being researched for their potential social and environmental impacts etc, there exists extensive social commentary on, and political investment in, the promise of its imagined future – The idea that the technology’s imagined future has a powerful public presence that is driving its development (facilitating its emergence), while the technology itself is yet to fulfill its claimed potential. In this sense, ‘new’ technologies may be a term for those that have not yet fulfilled all their promises, but which do have a commercial presence/reality in the world that has gone someway towards delivering at least a part of their imagined potential – perhaps biotechnology may be an example here. Of course the transition between these phases remains rather fluid…
Like most people, I use my term of choice (‘new and emerging (life) technosciences’) typically without a clear articulation of its specific meaning and finer points of distinction, so I very much welcome this discussion and the reflection it encourages!"