OAFP 4445 - Forecasting the unknow : an ARcheology of Tech Foresight to the industrialisation of cultural conten

Massively disruptive technology changes have generated important production of foresight discourses, from theoretical analysis to literature of anticipation. In order to understand better the stakes of the digital transition through its rapidly changing grids (digitization, big data, internet of things, artificial intelligence for instance), this seminar aims at introducing the students of the School of Public Affairs to a typology of foresight discourses on technological change, with a particular focus on the industrialisation of cultural contents - through selected historical case studies, either of global transformation of societies, or of media and creative disruptions. This seminar will first focus on basic theoretical references regarding the epistemology of scientific revolutions (Thomas Kuhn, David Bloor, Georges Canguilhem), the history of technology (Gilbert Simondon, Bertrand Gille), the history and philosophy of science (Michel Foucault, Dominique Lecourt), theoretical references in media studies (from Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno to Bernard Stiegler) and Cultural History (Ann M. Blair) and on the structuring role of science fiction on technological imaginaries. .

David FAJOLLES

Enseignement électif

English

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No pre-requisite

Autumn 2022-2023

To be confirmed

The students will simultaneously go through several case studies of change management and anticipation that involved lobbying, ethical controversies, economic debates and policy-making, such as: - The Middlemarch years, 1830s: British controversies on the consequences of the industrial revolution in the making - Germany, 1520s / the industrialisation of printing, 1: Flugschriften and the industrialisation of propaganda. - 1890s, Europe and US: has the hippomobile lobby ever existed? - Munich, 1560s / the industrialisation of printing, 2: Roland de Lassus and the dissemination of contemporary music in Europe – competing (open and proprietary) models. - Nadar in Paris, 1860s: anticipated impacts of commercial photography. - 1970s: VHS and the issue of audiovisual piracy. - 1999-2000: the Napster effect and the music industry. - From “telematics” to “IoT” (Internet of Things), from “Big Data” to “AI”: how do we name transitions?