NATS 1840 Lecture 32: Lecture 10
22 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
Nats 1840 m - lecture 10 - state planning and the legibility of nature. Complex technological networks, people, institutions and resources. Need for state to address complex technologies. Epistemological claim: claim about knowledge: certain kinds of knowledge and control require a narrowing of vision . Simplification and predictive power: centre of gravity. 18th century german scientific forestry, manipulation of nature for profit. Timber as a fiscal resource, practical and local uses of flora and fauna left out. Failure of large scale state social initiatives, unexpected consequences. Epistemological problem, local knowledge lost to legibility. Forest management was treated by the state as fiscal management, measurement needed to plan for profit. Synoptic view of nature, simplification one quality in many things rather than many qualities in one thing. Costs: greater pest and weather impact on monocultures, adoption of most productive species destroyed ecosystems, forests died off. In this case simplification cut out knowledge about biodiversity that led to loss of crop.
