Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Chaos and control: Nanotechnology and the politics of emergence

Kearnes, M.B.

Authors

M.B. Kearnes



Abstract

This article looks at the strong links between Deleuze's molecular ontology and the fields of complexity and emergence, and argues that Deleuze's work implies a ‘philosophy of technology’ that is both open and dynamic. Following Simondon and von Uexküll, Deleuze suggests that technical objects are ontologically unstable, and are produced by processes of individuation and self-organization in complex relations with their environment. For Deleuze design is not imposed from without, but emerges from within matter. The fundamental departure for Deleuze, on the basis of such an ontology, is to conceive of modes of relating to the evolution of technology. In this way Deleuze, along with Guattari, provides the basis for an ethics and a politics of becoming and emergent control that constitutes an alternative to the hubris of contemporary reductionist accounts of new areas such as nanotechnology.

Citation

Kearnes, M. (2006). Chaos and control: Nanotechnology and the politics of emergence. Paragraph, 29(2), 57-80. https://doi.org/10.3366/prg.2006.0014

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jul 1, 2006
Deposit Date Apr 10, 2008
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Paragraph
Print ISSN 0264-8334
Electronic ISSN 1750-0176
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 29
Issue 2
Pages 57-80
DOI https://doi.org/10.3366/prg.2006.0014
Keywords Nanotechnology, Emergence, Reductionism, Evolution, Deleuze.

Files




You might also like



Downloadable Citations