Harvard professor talks technology, idea of ‘self’

Harvard University professor and historian of physics  Peter Galison presented his lecture, “Science, Technology and the Reformulation of the Self,” on Thursday evening in the Maurer School of Law as part of the William T. Patten Foundation lecture series.

The lecture addressed “the intersection of technology, philosophy and physics,” a press release said.

Thurday’s lecture was the second of Galison’s two Patten lectures. The first, titled “Blacking-Out Words and Worlds”, took place Tuesday evening.

“Science, Technology and the Reformulation of the Self” examined how individuals can imagine certain technologies and, once it exists, how it acts back upon individuals.

Galison addressed Rorschach’s ink-blot tests as the first technology that has affected the way individuals are analyzed.

Used in court, psychiatry, art and other settings, he said the ink-blots teach us how to think about ourselves.

Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, used the test to elicit responses from subjects after asking them to explain what images they see within the print.

Galison referenced Rorschach’s thoughts on the test: Almost all subjects regard the experiment as a test of imagination, although it is actually a test of perception.
The ink-blots actually aren’t ink-blots at all, Galison said.

He also spoke of “purposeful machines,” or feedback machines, inventions such as the automatic-guided boat and guided missiles that simulate human qualities, such as ability to exhibit a sense of control, direction or a seeming purpose.

The discussion that followed surrounded the definition of what constitutes “purpose” and how individuals see themselves in the scheme of feedback systems.

— Kirsten Clark