The first half of Simulation and Its Discontents consists of Sherry Turkle’s reflections on the impact of computer simulation and visualization technologies on science and architecture. Her essay is based on two research projects. In one, launched in the early 80s, Turkle investigated how personal computers changed education and learning at MIT, and then 20 years later in the other, she investigated how computer simulation and visualization had changed research, engineering and design in the intervening years. The second part of the book consists of four more narrow but detailed ethnographic case studies, written by William J. Clancy, Stefan Helmreich, Yanni A. Loukissas, and Natasha Myers. These describe the roles of “simulation” in four different contexts: a Mars exploration mission, an oceanographic fieldwork expedition, the work practices at two architecture firms, and a molecular biology university course.

Turkle’s reflections twists around several themes, which also surface in the ethnographic case studies of the book’s second part: the benefits and dangers of the immersion that computer simulation and visualization offer, the changes in professional roles, responsibilities and identities that the new computer tools bring with them, and the (increased?) entanglement between ourselves and our simulation technologies. Throughout her extended essay, the themes are presented through the voices of informants: students, teachers, researchers and designers.

‘Simulation’, as it is used in the title and throughout the book, is loosely used to mean, roughly, computational mediation or visualization (although the term is never defined). A more revealing book title would have been High-Fidelity Simulation and Its Discontents, or perhaps Computer-Mediation and Its Discontents. Everything from remote sensing and control and computer-aided design (CAD) to the use a software program that analyses the molecular structure of (real) compounds, are discusses under the label of ‘simulation’. However, physicists use of pen and paper to plot data points and graphs, and architects use of drawing sketches to visualize future buildings apparently don’t qualify as practices of simulation. Such mundane technologies of visualization instead make up the background against which the kind of hi-fi simulations Turkle is interested in stands out.

The most prominent theme of the book is what Turkle calls the “tension between doing and doubting” (p. 8). When architectural designs or graphic presentations are done by hand and on paper, the risk of confusing visualization and reality is small. But computer simulations, with their seductive detail, precision and internal coherence, make it difficult for practitioners to do and doubt at the same time. The dilemma is this: “Screen versions of reality will always leave something out, yet [they] may come to seem like reality itself.” (p. 17) To illustrate this and its potential consequences, Turkle tells the story of an architecture student at MIT who left out a contour line from his CAD drawing because all the contours made the drawing on screen too dense and confusing. But, as the student’s teacher pointed out, the contour represented twenty-five feet of height difference at the building site, an absolutely essential constraint for the student’s design. In the “reality” of the simulation, however, it was open to the student to disregard it simply by removing it.

Turkle describes this “discontent” (as well as others) of computer simulations and describes how practitioners in various fields have responded to them, and adapted to them. She does this through the eyes and voices of the practitioners themselves, with a focus on narrative rather than analysis. This also holds for the case study chapters of the book’s second part.

Clancy’s and Helmreich’s ethnographies look at the use of tele-presence and robot technology for exploring (Mars in Clancy’s chapter, and the ocean depths in Helmreich’s). In both, the role of sensor-equipped robots in mediating collaboration between scientists and engineers, and mediating the sensing and moving on earth to space and sea, is a prominent topic. Loukissas examines how computer-aided design software was introduced and appropriated at two architecture firms, focusing on how the software changed the social and professional dynamics at the firms. Finally, Myers looks at how molecular biologists use their bodies to enact and communicate how protein molecules fold themselves into three-dimensional structures. 

Simulation and Its Discontents is an engaging look at some of the consequences of computer simulation and visualization for a variety of fields. All of the chapters are well written and engaging, some engrossing even. I am thinking of Stefan Helmreich’s case study in particular. His participatory-observational study of an oceanographic exploration is a real page-turner. I am not sure what audience Turkle and MIT Press had in mind for the book, but it could easily be read by anyone who finds the topic interesting. Academic jargon is by and large absent from the book and much of the material is written as if it was feature style journalism (I mean this as a compliment).

However, if you are looking for in-depth analysis, theorizing and explanation of the role and consequences of computer simulation and visualization for science, engineering and design, then the book is probably not for you. Even with the educated lay reader in mind, I think the book would have benefited from some discussion and analysis of what the different phenomena touched upon in the book — remote sensing, automatic data analysis, visualization etc — have (or have not) in common.

LINK: WILLIAM J. CLANCY’S CASE STUDY (online version)

© 2009 Olle Blomberg

Olle Blomberg is a Ph.D. student in Philosophy at University of Edinburgh (UK) and a freelance journalist. He is interested in the philosophy of social and cognitive science, the philosophy of technology, as well as science and technology journalism. For information about his freelance writing, see http://www.olleblomberg.com/english.html. Information about his Ph.D. research can found on his University of Edinburgh web page [http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate/students/phd/OlleBlomberg.html].