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STS and the Future(s) of Open Science

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Thursday, November 29, 2018
3:30 pm
Philip Mirowski, University of Notre Dame
Science and Technology Studies and Economics

STS often likes to think of itself as 'radical', and one tenet of that belief is the conviction that 'openness' can fix whatever ails science. Consequently, everyone is enthusiastic that 'open science' is the wave of the future. Yet when one seriously examines the flaws in modern science that the movement proposes to remedy, the prospect for improvement in at least four areas are unimpressive. This suggests that the agenda is rather to effectively re-engineer science along the lines of platform capitalism, under the misleading banner of opening up science to the masses. This is one way that STS unwittingly falls into line with the larger neoliberal agenda.

Philip Mirowski is Charles E. Koch Professor of Economics and Policy Studies and the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of numerous books, including More Heat than Light: Economics of Social Physics (1989), Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg Science (2001), and Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste (2013). He has edited volumes on, among others, the Mont Pelerin society, the natural imagery of economics, and the Chicago school.

Contact: Carolin Benack