ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seeks to contribute toward the philosophy of technoscience and a better understanding of its significance. It proposes to do so by following objects that occupy a place of prominence in contemporary science and technology. Objects of advanced research such as smart materials, brain-machine interfaces, stem cells and artificial organisms tend to capture the popular imagination. The book presents a collection of diverse objects: polar ice cores, the oceanic garbage patch, graphene as the latest incarnation of carbon, video game networks, cardboard, GMO seeds, 'social' robots, stem cells, 'natural' wetlands, frictionless surfaces, nuclear waste, fuel cells, heroin and a giant heap of 'sand' that simulates the genesis of an ecosystem. It contains stories about the genesis and life of a selection of such objects.
