How Bruno Latour might approach Computer Science

This peculiar fascination with "computer science." What is this thing? A realm of pure thought, perhaps, detached from the muddy earth and the sweat of human hands? Or is it, as some would have it, merely a new tool, a sophisticated abacus to tally our worldly affairs? Let us, as always, follow the actors.

Where do these calculations, these 'programs,' actually reside? Are they disembodied ideals, floating in some ethereal space? Or are they inscribed, hammered into silicon? We must look past the abstract diagrams, the elegant proofs. We must trace the wires, the blinking lights, the humming machines. We must observe the engineers, their fingers stained with solder, their eyes glued to flickering screens. We must ask about the materials: the rare earths, the mined ores, the energy consumed in their fabrication and operation.

And the 'users,' those who seemingly wield this 'science' with such mastery? Are they truly in control, or are they themselves being shaped, guided, translated by the very instruments they employ? The ‘interface,’ this supposed window onto a digital world, is it a neutral pane, or is it a powerful mediator, channeling attention, dictating possibilities, and subtly reconfiguring our very perception of reality?

"Computer science" is not an essence, a pre-existing truth. It is a continuously assembled network. It is the collaboration, often fraught and negotiated, between circuits, algorithms, human intentions, economic imperatives, and vast quantities of data. To understand it, we must dissolve the facile separation between the 'natural' substrate of the hardware and the 'social' dimension of its use. We must see the entire chain, the endless relay of transformations, that allows a mere thought to ignite a distant signal, to organize a market, or…

Imagined perspective — an AI synthesis grounded in Bruno Latour’s recorded ideas and methods, not a quotation or a statement they actually made.