The information age and the intermediary: John Brockman, new media and science writing since the 1960s

历史学家正在越来越多地研究科学家被提升为名人但却被认为是代理人角色的机制。在名人科学家的背后、中间和之外，都是像约翰·布罗克曼这样的智力、社会和财务调解人，他的文学机构代表着当今科学和技术领域的一些最杰出的作家。布罗克曼从艺术经理到网络文化大师的蜕变故事经常被重复，作为一套主要来源-他作为特工的做法利用了媒体制造神话的潜力-很重要，但作为分析严重缺乏。布罗克曼作为媒体理论家和实验艺术推动者的第一个职业生涯必须得到充分的探索，才能理解他作为代理人的打破传统的做法。他的非营利性研究网络的发展也是如此，通过这个网络，布罗克曼在BigTech慈善家和著名科学家之间建立了重要的关系。与此同时，他和他的客户的声誉通过动员围绕知识先锋的反文化和网络文化叙事而得到支撑。通过对这位在他所有矛盾中最有影响力的中间人的探索和背景分析，我将展示布罗克曼是如何塑造我们今天所知的科学、科学家和科学作家的。

Historians are increasingly investigating the mechanisms by which scientists have been elevated to celebrity but haveseldom considered the role of the agent. Behind, between, and beyond celebrity scientists are intellectual, social, andfinancial mediators like John Brockman, whose literary agency represents some of the most prominent authors in thefield of science and technology today. The oft-repeated story of Brockman's metamorphosis from art impresario tocyberculture maven is important as a set of primary sources - his practice as agent exploited the myth-making potentialof the press - but is severely lacking as analysis. Brockman's first career as a media theorist and promoter ofexperimental art must be fully explored in order to understand his iconoclastic practice as an agent. So too thedevelopment of his non-profit research network, through which Brockman cultivated important relationships between BigTech philanthropists and prominent scientists. At the same time, his and his clients' reputations were buttressed bymobilising countercultural and cybercultural narratives surrounding intellectual vanguards. Through an exploration andcontextualisation of this most influential of intermediaries in all his contradictions, I will show how Brockman shapedscience, scientists, and science writers as we know them today.