Molecular Capture
The Animation of Biology
Seiten
2021
University of Minnesota Press (Verlag)
978-1-5179-1033-4 (ISBN)
University of Minnesota Press (Verlag)
978-1-5179-1033-4 (ISBN)
How computer animation technologies became vital visualization tools in the life sciences
Who would have thought that computer animation technologies developed in the second half of the twentieth century would become essential visualization tools in today’s biosciences? This book is the first to examine this phenomenon. Molecular Capture reveals how popular media consumption and biological knowledge production have converged in molecular animations—computer simulations of molecular and cellular processes that immerse viewers in the temporal unfolding of molecular worlds—to produce new regimes of seeing and knowing.
Situating the development of this technology within an evolving field of historical, epistemological, and political negotiations, Adam Nocek argues that molecular animations not only represent a key transformation in the visual knowledge practices of life scientists but also bring into sharp focus fundamental mutations in power within neoliberal capitalism. In particular, he reveals how the convergence of the visual economies of science and entertainment in molecular animations extends neoliberal modes of governance to the perceptual practices of scientific subjects. Drawing on Alfred North Whitehead’s speculative metaphysics and Michel Foucault’s genealogy of governmentality, Nocek builds a media philosophy well equipped to examine the unique coordination of media cultures in this undertheorized form of scientific media. More specifically, he demonstrates how governmentality operates across visual practices in the biosciences and the popular mediasphere to shape a molecular animation apparatus that unites scientific knowledge and entertainment culture.
Ultimately, Molecular Capture proposes that molecular animation is an achievement of governmental design. It weaves together speculative media philosophy, science and technology studies, and design theory to investigate how scientific knowledge practices are designed through media apparatuses.
Who would have thought that computer animation technologies developed in the second half of the twentieth century would become essential visualization tools in today’s biosciences? This book is the first to examine this phenomenon. Molecular Capture reveals how popular media consumption and biological knowledge production have converged in molecular animations—computer simulations of molecular and cellular processes that immerse viewers in the temporal unfolding of molecular worlds—to produce new regimes of seeing and knowing.
Situating the development of this technology within an evolving field of historical, epistemological, and political negotiations, Adam Nocek argues that molecular animations not only represent a key transformation in the visual knowledge practices of life scientists but also bring into sharp focus fundamental mutations in power within neoliberal capitalism. In particular, he reveals how the convergence of the visual economies of science and entertainment in molecular animations extends neoliberal modes of governance to the perceptual practices of scientific subjects. Drawing on Alfred North Whitehead’s speculative metaphysics and Michel Foucault’s genealogy of governmentality, Nocek builds a media philosophy well equipped to examine the unique coordination of media cultures in this undertheorized form of scientific media. More specifically, he demonstrates how governmentality operates across visual practices in the biosciences and the popular mediasphere to shape a molecular animation apparatus that unites scientific knowledge and entertainment culture.
Ultimately, Molecular Capture proposes that molecular animation is an achievement of governmental design. It weaves together speculative media philosophy, science and technology studies, and design theory to investigate how scientific knowledge practices are designed through media apparatuses.
Adam Nocek is assistant professor in the philosophy of technology and in science and technology studies and is director of the Center for Philosophical Technologies at Arizona State University. He is coeditor of The Lure of Whitehead (Minnesota, 2014).
Contents
Introduction: On Speculative Media Philosophy
Part I
1. Molecular Entertainment
2. Visuality and Experimental Knowledge Practices
3. A Feeling for Theoretical Biology
Part II
4. Eco-social Media
5. Governing the Social
Part III
6. The Animation Apparatus
7. Epistemic Capture
Postscript: A Prolegomenon to Governmental Design
Acknowledgments
Notes
Videography
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 15.01.2021 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Posthumanities |
| Zusatzinfo | 40 b&w illustrations |
| Verlagsort | Minnesota |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 140 x 216 mm |
| Themenwelt | Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV |
| Naturwissenschaften ► Chemie | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-5179-1033-1 / 1517910331 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-5179-1033-4 / 9781517910334 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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