Nov 23 2009
Turning Objects Into Subjects
While object are acted upon, subjects do the acting. But what happens when two objects collide? In the language of agency and causation, where do we pin our focus?
In an effort to sexy-up their reporting, science writers will often dress dumb objects and events in words denoting and connoting agency. Now we have a plot!
Consider this recent headline:
Watching a Cannibal Galaxy Dine
Certainly, galaxies are not agents that eat other galaxies. There is not intention, nothing resembling a plot-line, behind what “they” do. Galaxies are aggregates of cosmic matter that will collide with, merge, and even “absorb,” other galaxies. What’s the actual science behind the agency-speak?
A new technique using near-infrared images, obtained with ESO’s 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT), allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes of the giant cannibal galaxy Centaurus A, unveiling its “last meal” in unprecedented detail — a smaller spiral galaxy, currently twisted and warped.
Is there any harm in “dressing up” scientific findings so they have a tiny tidbit in common with what you will find in a soap opera? Intention, power, the ability to “do evil” . . . agency.
I suspect so. But until I find evidence of harm, my suspicion itself is suspect.
Wait. Can a suspicion be suspect?
