Agribusinesses are among the oldest oligopoly corporations in the world, and their concentration gives them an advantage over other food system actors. Kelly Bronson explores what happens when big data get caught up in pre-existing arrangements of power. Her richly ethnographic account details the work of corporate scientists, farmers using the data, and activist “hackers” building open-source data platforms. Actors working in private and public contexts have divergent views on whom new technology is for, how it should be developed, and what kinds of agriculture it should support. Surprisingly, despite their differences, these groups share a way of speaking about data and its value for the future. Bronson calls this the immaculate conception of data, arguing that this phenomenon is a dangerous framework for imagining big data and what it might do for society.
This event is part of the public lecture series ‘High-Tech Valorization of Nature: (Re)Production, Technology and Politics in Green Capitalist Projects’ hosted by the BioMaterialities Research Group at Humboldt University Berlin.
Join us on November 28, 2022 at 6 p.m. (CET) for a public lecture + discussion with Dr. Kelly Bronson (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Zoom Link: https://hu-berlin.zoom.us/j/69618539542
[source of picture: pexels.com/ Tom Fisk]