ABSTRACT
In this chapter, it is analysed how the concept of ‘microbial ecosystem’ functions as relational technology, or rather as a specific way of relating certain elements of a system. It is illustrated how, in this process, the microbial ecosystem also becomes an aspirational technology, or rather, a means of expressing researchers’ aspiration to make different scales interact. The chapter shows how the social sciences and metagenomics can collaborate in a critical and yet at the same time constructive way, respecting and understanding the differences of each. The interdisciplinary perspective, finally, leads us also to a reformulation of the traditional philosophical concern with the ‘reality’ of science.
