Research Seminar of the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University. Monday October 31st, 6:00 PM.

During this lecture, Claude Rosental analyzes the activities and interactions that took place during a high-tech conference recently held in Jerusalem, based on ethnographical observations he carried out on site. He shows how this high-tech event led to a massive production of public demonstrations, including public demonstrations of technology or “demos”, which offered a solutionist view of the world structured by solutions — especially technological solutions — brought to problems of all kinds. Since a very large number of high-tech conferences and fairs are organized in Israel every year, he explores one important component of what he calls a “demonstration society” (Claude Rosental, The Demonstration Society, Cambridge (MA), MIT Press, 2021).