ABSTRACT
In recent years, the governance of new technologies has increasingly become framed as a re-negotiation of an implicit contract between science and technology and society. The direct motivation for re-negotiating the contract between public techno-science and society has been the uncertainties and ignorance that often accompany the processes and products of technological innovation. Technological innovation is an excellent example of a collective activity that is dependent on particular institutions and policies, and which aims to meet vital needs, enhance capabilities, and alleviate suffering. Technological expectations contribute to the evolution of new technologies and also shape regulatory responses. An example drawn from speculative representations of future nanotechnologies might be the production of concepts and images of 'nanogears' that, in combination with past innovations. Knowledge practices and ethical frameworks that disembed the future 'prehend' past and future in an abstract way, creating the future as a reflection of a given dataset, a single slice taken through the past.
