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Computer-based technologies for the production and analysis of data have been an integral part of biological research since the 1990s at the latest. This not only applies to genomics and its offshoots but also to less conspicuous subsections such as ecology. But little consideration has been given to how this new technology has changed research practically. How and when do data become questionable? To what extent does necessary infrastructure influence the research process? What status is given to software and algorithms in the production and analysis of data? These questions are discussed by the biologists Philipp Fischer and Hans Hofmann, the philosopher Gabriele Gramelsberger, the historian of science and biology Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, the science theorist Christoph Hoffmann, and the artist Hannes Rickli. The conditions of experimentation in the digital sphere are examined in four chapters—“Data,” “Software,” “Infrastructure,” and “in silico”—in which the different perspectives of the discussion partners complement one another. Rather than confirming any particular point of view, Natures of Data deepens understanding of the contemporary basis of biological research.
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PHILIPP FISCHER, GABRIELE GRAMELSBERGER, CHRISTOPH HOFFMANN, HANS HOFMANN, HANS-JÖRG RHEINBERGER, HANNES RICKLI
Natures of Data A Discussion between Biology, History and Philosophy of Science and Art
DIAPHANES
Table of Contents Introduction 9 DATA 14 – SOFTWARE 17 – INFRASTRUCTURES 21 – IN SILICO 24 – ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 27 Data 31 ANALOG/DIGITAL 31 – DATA REPRODUCIBILITY 37 – DATA SCIENTIST 41 – TRUST 45 – ACCURACY 49 – DATA VISUALIZATION 51 – THE RESEARCH OBJECT FORM 58 Software 65 AUTOMATION OF THE OBSERVER 65 – SOFTWARE CULTURES AND THEIR AGENCY 73 – UNDERSTANDING SOFTWARE 77 – ELOQUENT DATA 80 – THE INCOMPLETENESS OF SOFTWARE 84 – SOFTWAREBASED EXPERIMENTATION 86 Infrastructures 97 MATERIALITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURES 97 – INSIDE AND OUTSIDE 102 – THE SENSUAL PRESENCE OF DATA 103 – INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESEARCH 105 – STABILITY/INSTABILITY OF INFRASTRUCTURES 107 – DISTANCING THROUGH INFRASTRUCTURES 111 In silico 117 THE DEVELOPMENTAL HOURGLASS 117 – QUALITY OF A DATASET 123 – AGENT-BASED MODELS 124 – DATA MASSAGE 126 – WHY IN SILICO? 129 – REARRANGING 132 – TIMES OF EXPERIMENTATION 134 Experiments, Traces, Data Streams A Reminiscence 141
PARTICIPANTS 145 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 149 INDEX 151
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Introduction
The nature of data can mean: What kind of nature takes shape in captured data? It can also mean: What is the nature of data, what characterizes them? And finally, under the nature of data one can also imagine an environment, a biotope, in which data flourish and endure. The title of this book incorporates all three of these meanings—and thus also expresses that nature and data are interrelated in multifarious ways. No particular occasion is needed to reflect upon scientific data in this manner. In the modern sciences, data, even though the pertinent meaning of the word did not become established until the twentieth century,1 constitute the undisputed point of reference of all knowledge. Nevertheless, since the 1990s the situation has changed once more—in some areas of the sciences much earlier, later in others. From this point on, data increasingly make their appearance digitally, packed in files. From this point on, calculations and graphic renderings become more and more a matter for programs. From this point on, one device dominates scientific institutions: the computer. Everywhere, writes philosopher Michel Serres, one encounters “the same picture: people sitting at computer screens, pounding on their keyboards. They can no longer be distinguished in this dance of bodies. Be they scholars, a species that is slowly disappearing, b