The Contributory Revolution

Description

This book sheds light on a crucial debate on the possible role of the technosciences in meeting the challenges of the future. It shows that the current contributory revolution is global and profound, and that it concerns the whole epistemological field - from the sciences to social organizations. By delving into the epistemological dimension of the lightning transition we are currently experiencing, The Contributory Revolution identifies the levers of the salutary acceleration of collective learning, now essential, but not before the debate on a possible future has been settled via the headlong rush of the technoscientist. However, after this call to move from exo-distributive technoscience, carried by deterministic and Newtonian models, to more biological and endocontributory models - or even from the arrogance of mastery to the humility of influence and alliance - it will be necessary to set its limits to avoid entering into an eco-philosophical radicalism. Only extreme humility, carried by strong spirituality, can protect us from it. Cover Half-Title Page Dedication Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Introduction I.1. Tricky words relating to the transformation of the living world I.2. Wear, aging, disappearance: the inescapable fate of matter? I.3. Is a positive future accessible? I.4. Is the search for a new alliance with nature driven by the crisis of meaning? I.5. An unavoidable gamble? I.6. A technoscience to be reinvented? I.7. General argument of the work I.8. Style and general structure of the work 1 The Major Dualities in How Things are Perceived 1.1. Examples to illustrate the ongoing transition 1.1.1. Intelligent textiles 1.1.2. From the solar system to the infinitely small 1.1.3. The collective intelligence of working groups 1.1.4. Medicine as a playing field for this duality 1.2. Our relationship to power is in question 1.3. Our relationship to language is in question 1.4. The epistemological mutation of the sciences 2 Science and Sense, Places and Links 2.1. The salutary crisis of meaning 2.2. The duality of places and links 2.2.1. The duality of place and link in our relationship to all things 2.2.2. The place/link duality and the noosphere (global network of consciousness) 2.2.3. The place/link duality and the biosphere 2.3. The metamorphosis of science as a cultural object 2.4. The crisis of joy 3 Contributory Metamorphosis in the Conception of Systems and the Sciences 3.1. Introduction 3.1.1. When Einstein, Wiener and Turing make us dance on a volcano 3.2. The hypothesis of a science claiming to explain everything about visible reality 3.3. From the digital revolution to the quantum revolution 3.3.1. Poetic prose of the wave and the corpuscle 3.3.2. The digital revolution 3.3.3. The quantum mystery 3.3.4. Wave or corpuscle? 3.3.4. Wave or corpuscle? 3.4. The convergence of physics, cybernetics and digital sciences 3.4.1. Could the wave overcome the corpuscle? 3.4.2. The underlying fantasies implied by a new technoscientific era 3.5. Subjectivity, incompleteness, unpredictability and indeterminacy in science 3.5.1. Uncertainty and intersubjectivity in science 3.5.2. Incompleteness in science 3.5.3. Unpredictability in science 3.6. The case of economic sciences 3.6.1. Unforeseeability in economics/finance 3.7. Critical notes on the hypothesis of a unified science of visible reality 3.7.1. Phenomenological metaphor 3.7.2. Humans harness electromagnetic waves 3.7.3. Is a “unified scientific theory of the knowable” still on its way? 3.7.4. Is the “unified scientific theory of the knowable” developing as a belief? 3.8. Understanding what it means to understand 3.9. Science pushed to the limits, the limits of science 3.10. Conclusion 4 The Contributory Metamorphosis of Technical Progress 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Confession: the suicidal race to technical intensity 4.3. A short history, from geosphere to technical civilization 4.3.1. The revolution of the living world 4.3.2. The revolution of consciousness 4.4. The five stimulants of the “technological bluff” 4.4.1. “Pseudo-humanist reductionism” is spreading and becoming dominant 4.4.2. Distancing from collateral damage to nature 4.4.3. The separation of use, design and the production of goods 4.4.4. Technology becomes an object of enjoyment in itself, and develops its own narrative, a true technomythology 4.4.5. Value confused with price, in ideas of the market 4.5. The case of robotics and artificial intelligence 4.5.1. Metaphor of pattern recognition to understand different artificial intelligence machines 4.5.2. Critique of the contemporary narrative of modernity relating to robotics derived from artificial intelligence 5 The Salutary Crisis of Joy 5.1. The demolition of places 5.2. The living world, an example to follow 5.3. A saving antidote to the general crisis of meaning 5.4. The path of complexity – ethics of organized complexity 5.5. Third places, co-elaborative spaces that integrate meaning 5.6. Is an endo-contributive economy possible? (Human capital and full human development)1 5.6.1. Rivalry or exclusion? Club property and common property 5.6.2. From collectivity to community 5.6.3. Fair or effective communities? 5.6.4. The emergence of a contributory economy 5.6.5. Human capital at the heart of the contributory economy 5.7. Is endo-contributive energy possible?2 5.7.1. Towards the decentralization of electricity networks 5.7.2. Smart grids? 5.7.3. Consum-actors for an endo-contributory management of networks? 5.7.4. Blockchain: information and communication systems for peer-to-peer exchanges. A step towards an endo-contributive approach to energy? 5.8. Is endo-contributive agriculture possible?3 5.9. Is endo-contributory technoscience possible? Conclusion: The Limits of the Thesis Postface Appendix: Scientific and Philosophical Comments A.1. The articulation between the concepts of entropy and (dis)order A.2. Negative entropy does not exactly reflect biological organizations A.3. Plato’s dualism: sensible things – and Ideas A.4. For Industrial Revolution, a new basis for legitimacy, security, justice, peace, etc. A.5. Uncertainty and chaos – illustration A.6. About the wave–corpuscle duality References Index Other titles from iSTE in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management