Much like an exotic city, a computer programme or an artistic exhibition, new technologies often require guidebooks. This is particularly the case for nanotechnology, a multifaceted and diverse research programme characterised by canonical origin stories, seemingly limitless claims about its potential to transform everything from sunscreen to space travel, the nascent ingredients for a public risk controversy and state-level coordination of research funding and support measures. If ever anyone was in any doubt, What is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter? (...) confirms that nanotechnology has arrived.Its authors open with a straightforward narrative outlining the significance of nanotechnology and the importance of understanding what its novelty is, stating:New and emerging technologies both excite and worry us … and nanotechnology today is certainly a flashpoint for irrational exuberance and fears. By definition, there is a knowledge gap during the nascent stages of any new technology, a .. (shrink)

In a first part, the contribution goes through different competing and/or complementary concepts of ontography as they appear in phenomenology, object-oriented ontology, science and technology studies, and semiotics. From this comparative examination, the text develops a notion of ontography in contrast to that of ontology. It highlights the ontography of temporal objects and adds a specific media-philosophical approach to it by concentrating on the operations and tools of ontographical writing, registering or drawing being in time. In a second part, ontography (...) is analysed as a techno-aesthetic operation on television, namely as the core of the slow motion replay. Four spectacular examples of instant replay are taken from the history of television that make the writing of an extended and malleable presence through television visible. From that, the contribution develops a hypothesis about the ontographical functioning of the medium of television and of its approach to the world. (shrink)

This discussion paper proposes that a meaningful distinction between science and technoscience can be found at the level of the objects of research. Both notions intermingle in the attitudes, intentions, programs and projects of researchers and research institutions—that is, on the side of the subjects of research. But the difference between science and technoscience becomes more explicit when research results are presented in particular settings and when the objects of research are exhibited for the specific interest they hold. When an (...) experiment is presented as scientific evidence which confirms or disconfirms a hypothesis, this agrees with traditional conceptions of science. When organic molecules are presented for their capacity to serve individually as electric wires that carry surprisingly large currents, this would be a hallmark of technoscience. Accordingly, we propose research on the ontology of research objects. The focus on the character and significance of research objects makes this a specifically philosophical project. (shrink)