Speculative progress questions the sociopolitical phenomenon of String Theory, a bridge between Enlightenment and Postmodernity. Enlightenment emerged in the eighteenth century and prophesied a strict pattern of history in which the narrative of scientific progress would inevitably lead to social improvement. This deterministic view however could not have accounted for the complexity of twentieth century atrocities like Hiroshima or the Holocaust. Theorists began to reject the project of modernity and its belief in rationality and progress in favor of Postmodernity, which defines knowledge as a set of perspectives emphasising fragmentation and chaos. Benjamin wrote against the notion of progress arguing that although different societies appear in succession and technologies develop whilst older ones are lost; these periods are arbitrary, without logic or chronological coherence.
However as the Twenty-First Century takes hold, String Theory continues to "progress" towards its goal of unification, a supposition that has yet to make any falsifiable predictions that would allow the theory to be tested. In order for String Theorists to explain how knowledge of the world of experience is understood, the Kantian Rationa of this speculative progress must be unified with the Empirical evidence. In 2002 the European Investment Bank lent EUR 300 million to finance the final phase of the construction of a particle accelerator scheduled for completion in 2008. The Large Hadron Collider at the European Laboratory of Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva may provide scientists with the empirical proof of more than our perceived three dimensions and the existence of Supersymmetry, a fundamental element of String Theory. CERN, the world's leading particle physics research laboratory, is an international organisation established in 1954 and with Norway being one of the twelve European Founders. "With the largest set of interconnected accelerators in the world, CERN contributes to the "knowledge society" by providing a competitive working environment for direct research and the training of scientists and engineers each year."
It is my conviction that this heightened moment of scientific engagement reflects Benjamin's cairologic perspective and should be visualised from a sociopolitical context. The great expense and scale of scientific research reflects the high cultural value placed upon it by Western society. The practice of science is subject to the wider cultural norms that individual communities are situated within; the gendered division of labour, dominant cultural models and ideology, as well as economic and material restraints from industry and government funding.
The term speculative progress must not be exaggerated, to be mistaken for a rejection of the truth science does seek to discover. Nor does it seek to devalue and undermine the scientific merit of what is accepted as scientific knowledge. Speculative progress, more precisely, is a critical analysis of the practice of science and during a planned artist residency at CERN I will attempt to demystify the actual 'doing' of science.
Notes:
Cosmic Landscape, Leonard Susskind 2006