Unreal Objects - Digital Materialities, Technoscientific Projects and Political Realities (Hardcover)

Science and technology are playing increasingly important roles in our lives. New projects in development today will fundamentally shape the world around us, and manipulate our lived experience. But how and why are such important scientific and technological projects chosen, and what are the consequences of this process? In this book, Kate O'Riordan answers these crucial question. She discovers that many objects, such as genomes and genomic projects, smart grids, de-extinction projects and biosensors cannot be granted scientific legitimacy and developed without extraordinary amounts of media, public relations, celebrity endorsements and private investment. As a result of these filters, only certain projects take centre stage when it comes to funding and political attention. O'Riordan calls these 'unreal objects' - scientific projects and technologies where utopian visions for the future are combined with investment and materialisation in the here and now. This attention to these unreal objects hides many current social issues, especially injustices and inequalities. At the same time they conjure utopian visions for how life might be improved.

General

Imprint:	Pluto Press
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Digital Barricades
Release date:	July 2017
Authors:	Kate O'Riordan
Dimensions:	215 x 135mm (L x W)
Format:	Hardcover - Library binding
Pages:	192
ISBN-13:	978-0-7453-3678-7
Categories:	Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General
LSN:	0-7453-3678-7
Barcode:	9780745336787

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