Acceptance and sometimes also the concrete implementation of technical innovations are determined by cultural factors. Various cultural areas are assigned specific mediator functions between scientific (engineering and natural sciences) and general public discourses. The conceptions most individuals have of new technologies, their chances, and risks are mostly determined by presentations of mass media, popular scientific journals, daily press, and TV, if they are not among the relatively few persons who have direct insight in scientific developments. Mass media usually rely on older cultural interpretation and design patterns when presenting such issues. Their internal logics are largely independent of the respective technical innovation. Here, cultural science with its specific competence assumes an analytical and diagnostic function and identifies cultural backgrounds that might explain a certain public reception of technology. Historic and presence-related aspects have to be considered, as the cultural traditions characterizing current developments mostly date back far into the past and adequate understanding is impossible without knowledge of cultural history. On this basis, cultural science may also assume an advising and operational function, in particular in connection with media science, the objective being to optimize communication between science and the broad public.
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last change:
2011-08-24
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