Science and Platform Capitalism:
The New Organization of Knowledge Production
A conference in honor of Phil Mirowski
April 12–14, 2023
University of Notre Dame
Online platforms have become ubiquitous in everyday life. Few realize, however, that platforms are also seeking to re-engineer scientific research and the university. By bringing together specialists who are studying this process, this conference will allow us to speculate on the shape of future science.
Featuring keynotes by:
Naomi Oreskes
Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science
Harvard University
author of Merchants of Doubt
Mario Biagioli
Distinguished Professor of Law and Communication
University of California Los Angeles
author of Gaming the Metrics: New Ecologies of Academic Misconduct
Keynotes and sessions are free and open to the public.
Sponsors
- Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values
- Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, Henkels Lecture Fund
- Department of Economics
- Sr. Kathleen Cannon Distinguished Lecture Series (Naomi Oreskes keynote)
Schedule
Wednesday, April 12
8 p.m. Welcome and talk Morris Inn Private Dining Room
The Evolution of Platform Science
Philip Mirowski, Carl E. Koch Professor (emeritus), University of Notre Dame
Thursday, April 13
10:30 a.m. Session I 205/206/207 McKenna Hall
Other Natures of the Firm: Notes from Studies of the Pharmaceutical Industry
Sergio Sismondo, Professor of Philosophy, Queens University, Canada
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Lunch B02 McKenna Hall
1 p.m. Session II 205/206/207 McKenna Hall
Platform Regulation Beyond Transparency
Frank Pasquale, Jeffrey D. Forchelli Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
2–3 p.m. Coffee break
3 p.m. Session III 205/206/207 McKenna Hall
Disrupting Knowledge and Weaponizing Hope: Creating a Market Epistemology of Platform Medicine (2002–2016)
Edward Nik-Khah, Professor, Department of Business Administration & Economics, Roanoke College
4–5 p.m. Break
5 p.m. Keynote DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Decio Theatre
Can Truth Survive Platform Capitalism?
Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
7 p.m. Dinner Downes Ballroom, Corbett Family Hall
Friday, April 14
10:30 a.m. Session IV 205/206/207 McKenna Hall
On the Platform at the End of the World: Transparency, Truth, and Trust in Climate Knowledge Systems
Paul Edwards, Director, Program in Science, Technology & Society, Stanford University
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Lunch B01 McKenna Hall
1 p.m. Session V 205/206/207 McKenna Hall
The Legal Construction of Information Exchange
Salome Viljoen, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan
2–3 p.m. Coffee break
3 p.m. Session VI 205/206/207 McKenna Hall
Budgets as Obfuscation: Competition, Austerity and the Organizational Politics of Higher Education
Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, Associate Professor, University of California San Diego
4–5 p.m. Break
5 p.m. Keynote Eck Visitors Center Auditorium
The Impact of no Impact: Changing Temporalities of Misconduct Incentives
Mario Biagioli, Distinguished Professor of Law and Communication, University of California Los Angeles
6:45 p.m. Reception Eck Visitors Center Atrium