Following the Futures of an Emerging Technology: The case of Brain-Computer Interfaces

By examining the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) - an emerging neurotechnology that promises to establish direct and real-time interaction between the human brain and electronic devices - this thesis explores different ways and dynamics through which ‘the future’, as a social phenomenon and social fact, is implicated in technological innovation and in the emergence of a technological field. In this sense, I aim on the one hand to contribute to the exploration of the field of BCIs and related socio-technical futures from a sociological perspective, while on the other hand - and as the main research goal - to contribute to the understanding of the messy and multidirectional co-enactment of socio-technical futures and innovation processes. Specifically, this research focuses on (a) what narratives and representations of the future circulate within the BCI field, (b) what are (some of) the material-discursive practices through which the assemblage and circulation of socio-technical futures occur, and (c) what are the performative dynamics that alternative visions of the BCI future have in the structuring of an emerging technological field. To do so, I draw on STS (Science & Technology Studies) approaches that have focused on the topic of the future (in terms of expectations, visions and imaginaries), as well as the conceptual tools and sensibilities of ANT (Actor-Network Theory). Indeed, it is in bringing these different approaches into dialogue that the epistemological and methodological principle of following the futures adopted in this project is articulated, to engage with the semiotic work and socio-material articulations through which a novel technology, an emergent technological field and a particular future horizon are co-enacted. Moreover, in order to operationalise this principle and to address the research questions, different methods of inquiry are employed: 1) documentary analysis (systematic analysis of scientific articles, conference reports, roadmaps and institutional documents in the field of BCIs), 2) semi-structured interviews (with public and private sector researchers, entrepreneurs and start-ups, technology consultants and science journalists), 3) ethnographic observations (online and in person) of different digital environments (e.g. social networks and web articles), conferences, trade fairs and promotional events. The principle of following futures is intended both as a way of paying attention to different scales and thus following futures across different sites (texts, conferences, public-oriented events), and as a way of analytically problematising the “representations-practices” dualism by considering both these aspects as part of the same socio-technical assemblage process through which futures are enacted, both as discursive articulation and as structured/structuring practices. In line with this, each of the empirical chapters presented in this thesis addresses the interplay between socio-technical futures and innovation processes - or, in other words, the co-enactment of ‘what it is’ (the present) with ‘what it is not yet’ (the present future) - at different scales and from different analytical angles. More specifically, chapter 4 analyses the very semiotic operations through which a BCI future world is enacted in/through scientific texts, chapter 5 examines the emergence and development of the BCI field and provides a processual account of its innovation trajectory in order to explore the interaction between the latter and different competing visions that have characterised its historical evolution, while chapter 6 analyses the discursive practices through which a messy future horizon is precariously and continuously enacted in public spaces where BCI experts and insiders are confronted with the ‘wider society’ and non-expert publics.