Theses - Science, Technology & Society

Humanizing autonomy : social scientists' and engineers' futures for robotic cars ?

Stayton, Erik Lee. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020)

Highly automated cars -- unlike robots in factories -- must operate in existing social spaces, which are complex and hard to control. Unlike household robots, these systems are also fast and dangerous. The fundamental ...
Technologies of perception : searches for life and intelligence beyond Earth ?

Webb, Claire Isabel. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020)

Scientists in the late 1950s in the United States gained technological capabilities to test for signs of extraterrestrial life. While exobiologists developed visual techniques to detect whether sites beyond Earth might ...
The kernel of doubt : agricultural biotechnology, braided temporalities, and agrarian environments in India ?

Chaudhuri, Ashawari. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019)

Genetically modified (GM) cotton, Bt cotton was introduced in India in 2002 through a joint venture company, Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech (India) Private Limited (MMB). It is a collaboration between the Indian agricultural ...