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Thinking science with thinking machines: The multiple realities of basic and applied knowledge in a research border
Social Studies of Science
|October 20, 2015
Summary
The distinction between basic and applied science is actively constructed, not inherent. Ethnographic AI research reveals how scientists make these boundaries real through specific practices.
Area of Science:
- Science and Technology Studies (STS)
- Philosophy of Science
- Artificial Intelligence
Background:
- The distinction between basic and applied science is often dismissed as outdated.
- However, this boundary significantly influences research policy, scientific discourse, and laboratory practices.
- Existing frameworks struggle to adequately explain the persistence and practical relevance of this distinction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a stable, constructivist affirmation of the basic-applied science distinction.
- To analyze how this boundary is actively made real in scientific practice.
- To move beyond viewing the distinction as mere perspective or illusion.
Main Methods:
- Grounded in ethnographic research within Artificial Intelligence (AI) science.
- Utilized a multiple ontology framework.
- Analyzed in-situ interactions within neighboring AI labs.
Main Results:
- Identified three repertoires used by scientists: partitioning, flipping, and collapsing.
- Demonstrated that the boundary between basic and applied science is actively constructed and enacted.
- Showed that while scientific objects lack inherent essences, the distinctions between knowledge types are made real through practice.
Conclusions:
- The basic-applied science boundary is not an illusion but a product of situated scientific practices.
- A constructivist approach, informed by multiple ontologies, offers a robust framework for understanding this distinction.
- Scientific knowledge distinctions are actively produced and maintained through specific social and practical mechanisms.
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