Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: The Singularity of Nanovision 1

1. Nanotechnology in the Age of Posthuman Engineering: Science as Science Fiction 19

2. Small Worlds: Beyond the Limits of Fabrication 59

3. The Horrors of Goo: Molecular Abjection and the Domestication of Nanotechnology 111

4. Nano/Splatter: Disintegrating the Postbiological Body 161

Notes 189

Bibliography 231

Index 267

“[S]omething of a tour de force, simultaneously providing a cultural history of nanotechnology as well as using nanotechnology as an analytical lens to bear upon the very language we use to frame our portrayals of science, both in fiction and nonfiction. Nanovision should be extremely valuable to any scholars researching the relationship between sf and scientific discourse, while also proving useful to those researchers whose work touches upon media representations of science and technology, including media representations in both the research field and popular culture. Nanovision would also be a worthwhile addition to any library with a focus upon science and technology studies.” — Alicia Verlager, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

“Nanovision contains a host of fascinating ideas and images that Colin Milburn draws from public discussion of nanotechnology, many of which he weaves together in startlingly creative ways.” — Daniel Patrick Thurs, Isis

“Nanovision offers a novel perspective about how an emerging technoscience will potentially make new kinds of futures. The book will be a stimulating read for those in visual culture, sociology, and science and technology studies interested in considering the social and cultural effects of nanotechnology.” — Jennifer Tomomitsua, Science as Culture

“[I]t cannot be denied that nanotechnology, for better or for worse, is accompanied by the ideas that Milburn calls nanovision and the words that he calls nanowriting, and that they are not going to go away anytime soon. This book is the best account there is of those ideas and words.” — Chris Toumey, Nature Nanotechnology

“[Milburn’s] book fills gaps that most nanoscientists have in their knowledge about the history of a field that has evolved so fast as to effectively obscure its founders. . . . [I]f you like a romp through themes that mix current nanoscience and literature in interesting ways, Milburn’s book is a valuable read. Perhaps reality is stranger than fiction.” — Stefano Tonzani, Nature

“[T]he subject is quite compelling, and Milburn shows that the connection between science fiction and nanotech is incontrovertible. . . .” — Christine Wenc, Endeavour

“[The] concluding chapters display Milburn’s agility as an analyst of contemporary technoculture, treating a wide range of texts—including films, advertisements, science-fiction novels, video games and scientific articles—with the tools of gender/sexuality studies, psychoanalysis, biopolitical theory, deconstruction, science studies and media theory. Nanovision is exhaustively researched and carefully argued.” — Nathan Brown, Radical Philosophy

“Milburn's survey of popular culture work inspired by nanotechnology offers a cultural analysis of, and an insight into, the divide between science and the humanities. This divide features as linking narrative arc in Nanovision, mirroring similar divisions and concerns in the wider world over past, present, and future technologies. Milburn has made a reasonable attempt to bridge this divide via his conceptualisation of 'nanovision'.”
— Peter Schembri, M/C Reviews

“[S]omething of a tour de force, simultaneously providing a cultural history of nanotechnology as well as using nanotechnology as an analytical lens to bear upon the very language we use to frame our portrayals of science, both in fiction and nonfiction. Nanovision should be extremely valuable to any scholars researching the relationship between sf and scientific discourse, while also proving useful to those researchers whose work touches upon media representations of science and technology, including media representations in both the research field and popular culture. Nanovision would also be a worthwhile addition to any library with a focus upon science and technology studies.” —Alicia Verlager, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

“Nanovision contains a host of fascinating ideas and images that Colin Milburn draws from public discussion of nanotechnology, many of which he weaves together in startlingly creative ways.” —Daniel Patrick Thurs, Isis

“Nanovision offers a novel perspective about how an emerging technoscience will potentially make new kinds of futures. The book will be a stimulating read for those in visual culture, sociology, and science and technology studies interested in considering the social and cultural effects of nanotechnology.” —Jennifer Tomomitsua, Science as Culture

“[I]t cannot be denied that nanotechnology, for better or for worse, is accompanied by the ideas that Milburn calls nanovision and the words that he calls nanowriting, and that they are not going to go away anytime soon. This book is the best account there is of those ideas and words.” —Chris Toumey, Nature Nanotechnology

“[Milburn’s] book fills gaps that most nanoscientists have in their knowledge about the history of a field that has evolved so fast as to effectively obscure its founders. . . . [I]f you like a romp through themes that mix current nanoscience and literature in interesting ways, Milburn’s book is a valuable read. Perhaps reality is stranger than fiction.” —Stefano Tonzani, Nature

“[T]he subject is quite compelling, and Milburn shows that the connection between science fiction and nanotech is incontrovertible. . . .” —Christine Wenc, Endeavour

“[The] concluding chapters display Milburn’s agility as an analyst of contemporary technoculture, treating a wide range of texts—including films, advertisements, science-fiction novels, video games and scientific articles—with the tools of gender/sexuality studies, psychoanalysis, biopolitical theory, deconstruction, science studies and media theory. Nanovision is exhaustively researched and carefully argued.” —Nathan Brown, Radical Philosophy

“Milburn's survey of popular culture work inspired by nanotechnology offers a cultural analysis of, and an insight into, the divide between science and the humanities. This divide features as linking narrative arc in Nanovision, mirroring similar divisions and concerns in the wider world over past, present, and future technologies. Milburn has made a reasonable attempt to bridge this divide via his conceptualisation of 'nanovision'.”
—Peter Schembri, M/C Reviews

“A paradox: we see the future utterly transformed by nanotechnology and related technosciences; because the future is transformed, we cannot see it at all. Spiraling out from this central insight, Nanovision explores the cultural and social implications of nanotechnology through a wide range of material-semiotic-discursive effects. Witty, incisive, and insightful, Nanovision is essential reading for anyone interested in where we are now and where we might be headed.” — N. Katherine Hayles, Duke University

“There has been so much hype and controversy surrounding nanotech that it has been hard to figure out what it really is or might become. This wonderful book spectacularly clarifies matters, providing the new field with its history and with a paradigm that allows us to judge its present situation and whatever future may emerge. That Colin Milburn is also often wickedly funny is much appreciated, and a very appropriate response to nanotech’s constant evocations of paradise or apocalypse.” — Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the, Mars Trilogy

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