Technoscientific Constitutionalism: Exploring New Horizons in STS Research at the intersection of Science, Technology, Law, and Governance

我们是否面临一场宪法危机？随着干细胞研究重新定义生命的意义，大数据系统颠覆了人们对隐私的期望，推动经济扮演政府和监管的角色，科学技术(S&T)在规范我们的世界方面发挥着越来越深远的作用。这样做，它们不仅是当代社会生活的“组成部分”，而且确实是“合宪的”--既挑战了我们法律和政治制度中所尊崇的现有社会秩序，也挑战了最初被视为理想的秩序。这在科学技术研究(STS)、法律和公共政策的交叉点上提出了一些关键问题：鉴于S律师事务所最近的趋势，如何思考社会的宪法基础？这些安排对理解权利、责任、主体性、政府和监管有何影响？在一个技术科学的世界里，传统的法律和民主治理方法是否足以应对宪法的挑战？这次德美研究会议将探讨科学技术如何通过“技术科学宪政”的视角(重新构成)社会。我们建立在多个领域最新工作的基础上，包括生物宪政、基础设施政治和关键的法律研究。由于S律师事务所经常切入社会、政治和法律范畴的核心，我们建议从生物科学、信息技术和经济学三个范式领域来研究这些转变及其后果。因此，会议将采用双重比较的方法(跨领域和有来自两个国家的与会者参加)，重点是使我们能够确定技术科学构成中的显著差异和文化特质。我们还想找出我们必须如何改变我们的理论和方法，以便分析当代社会的技术科学构成。这次研究会议是与DFG和美国国家科学基金会(NSF)一起提出的。在美国方面，该提议已经经过了同行审查。然而，这笔资金取决于德国的共同出资。会议将于2018年春季在华盛顿特区的美国科学促进会(AAAS)举行，将有来自STS、法律、人类学、社会学、历史学、政治学和公共政策的约50名学者和从业者参加。会议邀请了初级和高级学者，将促进合作，并为未来跨越地理和学科边界的研究铺平道路。我们将采用最先进的做法，使其成果广泛可访问(例如，会议主页、流媒体、Twitter等)。并力求出版一期特刊或编辑后的卷，突出会议的突出贡献，以及政策白皮书或简报等与政策有关的产出。

Are we facing a constitutional crisis? As stem cell research redefines the meaning of life, big data systems subvert expectations of privacy, and nudge economics takes on the role of governments and regulation, science and technology (S&T) play an increasingly profound role in ordering our world. In doing so, they are not only ‘constitutive’ of life in contemporary societies, but indeed ‘constitutional’ – challenging both the existing social orders enshrined in our legal and political institutions and what comes to be regarded as desirable orders in the first place. This poses a number of critical questions at the intersection of science & technology studies (STS), law, and public policy: how to think about the constitutional foundations of society in view of recent trends in S&T? What are the implications of these arrangements for understanding rights, responsibilities, subjectivity, government, and regulation? Are conventional approaches to law and democratic governance sufficient to address the challenges of constitutions in a technoscientific world?This German-American research conference will explore how science and technology (re-constitute) society through the lens of "technoscientific constitutionalism.“ We build on recent work across a number of domains, including bio-constitutionalism, infrastructure politics, and critical legal studies. As S&T frequently cut to the heart of social, political and legal categories, we propose to study these transformations and their consequences in three paradigmatic domains: biosciences, information technology and economics. Using thus a two-fold comparative approach (across domains and with participants from two countries), the conference will focus allow us to identify salient differences and cultural idiosyncrasies in technoscientific constitutions. We also want to find out how we must change our theories and methods in order to analyze the technoscientific constitutions of contemporary society.This research conference is proposed in tandem to DFG and the US National Science Foundation (NSF). On the US side, the proposal has already undergone peer review. This funding is contingent, however, on German co-funding. The conference will take place at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. in spring 2018, and will feature about 50 scholars and practitioners from STS, law, anthropology, sociology, history, politics, and public policy. Inviting both junior and senior scholars, the conference will foster collaboration and pave the way for future research across geographical and disciplinary boundaries. We will employ state-of-the-art practice to make its outcomes widely accessible (e.g. conference homepage, streaming, twitter etc.) and aim to produce a special issue or edited volume that highlights outstanding contributions from the conference, as well as policy-relevant outputs such as a policy white paper or brief.