Dramatic Rehearsal on the Societal Embedding of the Lithium Chip

Abstract

There is a certain immediacy, and thus attractiveness, in the idea of encountering scientists in their natural habitat, on the laboratory floor. As ethnographers know, however, a lot of the time nothing much happens, other than the daily practices and their exigencies. The ethicist or social scientist might become more active, ask questions and point out (ethical) issues. But, even then, these only lead to minor modifications (Schuurbiers and Fisher 2009). One key point is that scientists act on many more ‘floors’ than the laboratory floor, and encounter different groups of actors, particularly when scientists are involved in the development of new technologies (Sorensen and Levold 1992). What happens on the different ‘floors’, for example in policy-making and funding, shapes what (can) happen on the laboratory floor, and how new technology and innovation will materialise in society (Rip et al. 1995; Robinson 2010).