Blog Post #4 - Bruno Latour

           In this week's blog post, I would like to talk about Bruno Latour. As he was mentioned in one of my other classes I found that some of his theories and ideas related to other influential figures we have brought up in this course. 

In his article ‘Visualization and Cognition: Drawing Things Together,’ Latour points out the invention of print and its effects on science and technology as well as mobilization and immutability. The meaning of mobilization as we know is the ability to make something movable, and the meaning of immutability is the inability to change. Latour brings forward the concept of immutable mobiles, the printing press becomes a device that makes both mobilization and immutability possible at the same time. The printing press ensures immutability by the process of printing great quantities of identical copies, and mobility is ensured by the number of copies that will be distributed around the world. Immutable mobiles then become a link between time and space. Latour describes the presence of immutable mobiles as “translation without corruption” in his article. 


Latour claims that at first the printing press was used to reproduce maps, cosmologies and much more which were centuries old and would be deemed inaccurate later in time. As the old texts are spread everywhere, they offer counterexamples of themselves as the information changes. But, corrections can be made to the errors and quickly reproduced with no changes made to prior texts. So, space and time applies itself to new objects. The printing press does not corrupt or add anything to the mind or to the scientific methods according to Latour, it merely conserves and spreads everything by making it mobile. Before the development of print achievements in geography, cosmology, medicine, and politics stayed local and temporary because there was no way to move their findings around and allow criticisms or corrections made to their works. The printing press is a privilege with its ability to help many innovations act at once. 


I wanted to mention Latour’s theories because I thought in some ways it was similar to Innis’ ideas, I personally believe that time and space bias can and does coexist. As Latour mentions immutable mobiles in his article, we can find new ways to see and understand how other theorists view media. How do you think Latour's arguments about immutable mobiles relate to Innis’ time and space bias? What are the similarities as well as the differences?

Comments

  1. Sarah HumphreysDecember 2, 2022 at 9:28 AM

    Great blog post Lydia! I really liked how you made a connection to Innis' time and space bias to Latour's concept of immutable mobiles.

    Innis' time and space bias, states that time bias is long-lasting durable mediums that can be transported, whereas space bias is portable, light, and ephemeral. Time and space bias reflect the significance of media in civilizations, and together these concepts balanced to maintain a stable society. After reading your discussion, Latour's concept of immuntable mobiles refers to circulability of objects, with a focus on mobilization and immutability, and are used to determine how information is passed between agents.

    Both of these concepts by Innis and Latour defines the circulability of objects, in Innis' time and space bias, we see how time bias encompasses transportable mediums like clay or stone tablets - with an objective to carry messages to last many generations but only reach limited audiences. Space bias possess ephemeral such as radio, television, and mass circulation of newspaper - projecting information over a long distance with a short exposure time. And Latour's immutable mobiles possesses the over arching concept of discussing the methods in which these mediums are passed, suggest the way information is passed and can be interpreted the same, in different contexts, for example Latour mentions the "printing press allowed for the possibility of "translation without corruption" meaning that maps, newspapers, among other printed materials, could be produced on a mass scale without the possibility of alteration along the way" (Latour, 7).

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