Global scientific projects: great battles for independence from time and space

Abstract

The article examines a set of scientific projects referred to the study of the prehistoric period of the Earth and the resurrection of extinct animal species using the characteristics of a global scientific project developed by I.T. Kasavin. The author reveals the unobvious connections between scientific and extra-scientific factors (such as media, utopianism, the influence of cultural paradigms, etc.), in particular, the influence of such scientific and cultural trends as posthumanism and global evolutionism was shown. The paradoxical nature of this set of projects is reflected by prospects and advantages associated with its implementation, what can be explained by the significant ideological and psychological component in its composition. The author considers the Pleistocene park in Yakutia awaiting its settlement by “resurrected” mammoths, as a Russian example of a global scientific project belonging to this direction. In addition to the identified by I.T. Kasavin characteristics the author proposes such a property of the global scientific and engineering project as the scientific and sociotechnical imaginary. The author briefly discusses a concept of the sociotechnical imaginaries in the context of the works by Sh. Jasanoff. As well the author consideres the scientific imagination (the concept of which is still based on Jasanoff’s ideas) and its role in science diplomacy using the work of S. Robinson. Finally the article concludes about the problematic points of using the concept of imaginaries in the study of science and technology (vagueness, inconsistency, lack of elaboration, if any possible) and makes a comparison of this concept with the idea of a global scientific project.