nordmann

Molecular Disjunctions: Staking Claims at the Nanoscale

…nanoscale research concerns molecular architecture, nanotechnology aims for the control of this architecture, and nanoscience investigates the physical properties that depend on it. However, if the thesis is correct, it turns out that even nanoscience isn’t “science” properly or traditionally speaking, and that even for nanoscience there is no distinction between theoretical representation and technical intervention, between understanding nature and transforming it.
First, some prima facie evidence will be presented for the thesis. It comes from the
general area of molecular electronics. The initial impressions obtained from this will then be traced to two culturally distinct research groups that appear to be working on the same problem. Trying to identify in their writings the core commitments of both groups, one finds that one of them seeks to identify and solve “fundamental problems” and that this orientation marks a rather fundamental disagreement between the two research groups. However, this disagreement remains entirely implicit and does not become subject of debate. Like the lack of scientific discussion on such basic issues as the physical possibility of “molecular assemblers”, this lack of debate can be taken as evidence for the thesis of a non-traditional NanoTechnoScience that is not driven by theoretical issues but consists mostly
in the settlement and staking of claims on the nanoscale. Nanoscience may be surrounded by controversy but here it proves to be characterized by its absence.