The Power of Analogies for Imagining and Governing Emerging Technologies
The Power of Analogies for Imagining and Governing Emerging Technologies
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类比对于想象和管理新兴技术的力量
作者：
Claudia Schwarz
新技术的出现经常涉及到与以前的创新进行比较。例如，与石棉和转基因生物的类比在早期关于纳米技术的社会辩论中发挥了关键作用。这篇文章探讨了类比在这种辩论中的力量，以及它们如何有效和负责任地用于想象和管理一般的新兴技术，特别是纳米技术。首先，发展了类比想象的概念，以捕捉类比的探索性和预期性潜力。然而，类比不仅仅是激发想象力，它们还通过以特定方式框定新兴技术来限制想象力。因此，第二，文章认为，追踪类比论点的修辞和说服力，对于理解类比是如何构建以使评估、资金政策和治理方法合法化至关重要。第三，文章阐述了在有关新兴技术的辩论中，类比具有说服力的因素。文章最后反思了类比想象力和对框架和说服效果的类比敏感度如何能够培养负责任的研究和创新(RRI)。
The emergence of new technologies regularly involves comparisons with previous innovations. For instance, analogies with asbestos and genetically modified organisms have played a crucial role in the early societal debate about nanotechnology. This article explores the power of analogies in such debates and how they could be effectively and responsibly employed for imagining and governing emerging technologies in general and nanotechnology in particular. First, the concept of analogical imagination is developed to capture the explorative and anticipatory potential of analogies. Yet analogies do not simply stimulate imagination, they also restrict it by framing emerging technologies in specific ways. Thus, second, the article argues that tracing the rhetorical and persuasive power of analogical arguments is essential for understanding how analogies are constructed to legitimise assessments, funding policies, and governance approaches. Third, the article addresses factors that account for the persuasiveness of analogies in debates about emerging technologies. The article concludes with reflections on how analogical imagination and an enhanced analogical sensibility for framing and persuasive effects can foster responsible research and innovation (RRI).