The Steam Politics of Nanotech: Energy Entanglements in The Diamond Age. Issue 1 (1st April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ingwersen, Moritz
• Is Part Of: Extrapolation. Volume 64:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 73
• Publication Date: 2023-04-01
• Subjects: Science fiction -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Science fiction -- Bibliography -- Periodicals; Science fiction; Bibliography; Criticism, interpretation, etc; Periodicals; 809.38762
• DOI: 10.3828/extr.2023.5
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-5483

Abstract

Abstract : This article traces the linkage of Victorian energy regimes to nanotechnology in Neal Stephenson's postcyberpunk novel The Diamond Age (1995) to critically examine the unacknowledged cultural entanglements in techno-optimistic visions of post-carbon futures. By invoking the social relations of the steam age as a foil, the novel problematizes the fantasies of control and stability that undergird the history of modern energy imaginaries. Drawing on the novel's incorporation of thermodynamic metaphors, I illustrate how Stephenson's juxtaposition between conservative and entropic systems invites a critique of (petro)modernity that amplifies imaginations of disruption and energy justice.