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Towards an Anatomy of Protracted Scientific Controversy: Perpetuated Negotiation in the 'Directed Mutation' Debate

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Towards an Anatomy of Protracted Scientific Controversy: Perpetuated Negotiation in the 'Directed Mutation' Debate Towards an anatomy of protracted scientific controversy: perpetuated negotiation in the ‘directed mutation’ debate Miss Louise Hannah Mary Jarvis PhD Thesis University College London Department of Science and Technology Studies 1 UMI Number: U591505 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U591505 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract In 1988 an article from the Harvard School of Public Health sparked the ‘directed mutation’ debate. Its authors claimed that bacteria starved of their accustomed food were able to specifically control their genetic mutations and so adapt directly to use alternative food sources. Apparently, they were not at the mercy of random mutation to achieve adaptation as Neo-Darwinian theory demands. Rather, the authors claimed the bacteria chose their mutations and participated in their evolution as Lamarckian theorists had previously supposed. The controversy that followed was comprised of two sub-debates. The first concerned negotiation of this molecular genetic anomaly in bacteria. The second concerned the broader debate between Lamarckians and Darwinians, and contributed a new episode to a considerable historical legacy of similar dissent. The directed mutation debate has been protracted. I argue that it has been prolonged by active factors, which I refer to as ‘perpetuating forces’. These include: the historical and cultural context of the controversy, the influence of scientific dogma on the evaluation of the anomalies, the role of defamation by association in Lamarckian resurrections, the interdisciplinary contest for authority and participants’ styles of advocacy. I also analyse the role of the Internet in the protraction of this debate and provide quantitative analysis of the scale change caused by uptake of the debate in what I term ‘the Internet forum’. To enable this analysis I apply boundary theory and the cartographic metaphor. I extend that theory in line with its’ architects recommendations; addressing the concept of ‘old maps’, and identifying boundary work at the interdisciplinary boundaries within the territory ‘science’. I, Louise Hannah Mary Jarvis, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Contents Abstract 9 Contents 3-5 List of figures 6 Acknowledgments 7-8 Front notes 9.10 Introduction: 1.1 Project theses 1.2 Introducing terminology 1.3 Project methodology 1.4 Project Structure Chapter 1: Methodology and literature review 1.1 Modelling conflict: from ‘demarcation’ to the ‘boundary problem’ 1.2 A synthetic methodology 1: How philosophical approaches to the ‘demarcation problem’ might illuminate the ‘directed mutation’ debate and the anatomy of protracted controversy 1.3 Synthetic methodology 2: How sociological and constructivist approaches to the ‘boundary problem’ might illuminate the directed mutation debate and the anatomy of protracted controversy 1.4 Looking at controversy from different perspectives 1.5 Scientific controversies, historical narrative, and the role of case studies in the development of analytical tools: Justifying the case study-based approach 1.6 Enthusiasm for the ‘ends’ of conflicts and the neglect of protracted negotiation 1.7 Perpetuating forces: An alternative to the passivity of end-directed analyses 1.8 Conclusion: Towards an anatomy of protracted controversy: the contribution of this project to the wider discourse 3 Chapter 2: Case study: the directed mutation debate - a protracted scientific controversy 2.1 The directed mutation debate is comprised of two sub-debates 2.2 After On The Origin o f Mutants: the development of a controversy core-set 2.3 The extension of the directed mutation debate in the Internet context; changing scale and agendas as a new community takes on the controversy Chapter 3: The intellectual and cultural context of the directed mutation debate: an agent of controversy perpetuation 3.1 A context for Darwinian adherence in the late twentieth century: the creation of an ‘old map’ of Darwinism 3.1.1 Seeking the origins of synthetic theory 3.1.2 The growth of the synthetic movement 3.1.3 The deployment of the synthetic approach and Darwinian triumphalism: boundary work at the Darwin centennial 3.1.4 The boundary function of the centennial publications: publication as a means of programme extension and deployment 3.2 The ‘iconic failure of Lamarck and Lamarckism: A second old map influence on the directed mutation debate 3.2.1 The construction of iconic failures: Kammerer and Lysenko 3.2.2 Some other features of the old map of Lamarckism 3.2.3 The three deaths of Lamarckian theory and the rise of dogma in evolutionary biology: closure rhetoric perpetuates the old maps of Darwinism and Lamarckism 3.3 Conclusion: The cultural and intellectual context for non-Darwinian research in the late twentieth century Chapter 4: The role of ‘the clash of sub-disciplines’ and ‘advocacy’ in the perpetuation of the directed mutation debate 4.1 The clash of disciplines 4.1.1 Molecular biology versus evolutionary biology 4 4.1.2 Molecular biology versus evolutionary biology: a conflict of styles of science 4.1.3 An analogous case: chemistry versus physics in the cold fusion debate 4.1.4 How the clash of disciplines perpetuates negotiation 4.2 Dedicated advocacy perpetuates negotiation: Introduction 4.2.1 John Cairns: A short biography 4.2.2 John Cairns’ ‘normal’ science 4.2.3 John Cairns’ unorthodoxy 4.2.4 Boundary work in the directed mutation debate: advocates and adversaries 4.2.5 John Cairns versus Barry Hall: ‘loud’ versus ‘quiet’ advocacy 4.2.6 An analogous case: Jones, Pons and Fleischmann’s styles of advocacy in the cold fusion debate Chapter 5: A new forum for perpetuation: Controversy on the Internet 5.1 How the Internet changed the scale of the directed mutation debate: ‘following the object’ 5.2 New audiences generate new conflicts: Is closure possible in diversified debates? 5.3 Is there boundary work in the virtual world? What becomes of the ‘cartographic metaphor’ online? 5.4 Is the Internet forum ‘constitutive’ or ‘contingent’? A new arena for acceptance and rejection? 5.5 What becomes of ‘safe’ discredit in the twenty-first century? The implications for closure of contemporary conflicts 5.6 An analogous case: Jacques Benveniste and the homeopaths Conclusion Bibliography Appendix 1: Project design and methods Appendix 2: The directed mutation debate: Cast of characters Appendix 3: John Cairns bibliography 5 List of figures Fig.l Zoo poster Fig.2 An abstract depiction of the territory ‘science’ Fig.3 An abstract depiction of the disciplinary delineations within the territory ‘science’. Fig.4 Notions of centre, periphery and marginalization can be built into the abstract depiction of the interior of the territory ‘science’. Fig.5 John Cairns at the Max Delbruck laboratory dedication at Cold Spring Harbor in 1981 Fig. 6 John Cairns at the 1978 Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology. Fig.7 Types of material available online relating to ‘directed mutation’ in October 2000 Fig.8 Types of material available online relating to ‘directed mutation’ in January 2005 Fig.9 Online materials on ‘directed mutation’ in 2000 as compared to 2005 Fig. 10 Visualization study of NSFNET Fig. 11 The Internet Industry Map Fig. 12 3-D Internet topography visualization, created using Walrus visualization software Fig.13 Still from the film ‘The Matrix’ Fig.14 Still from the film ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ Fig.15 Basic surf-map showing a simple navigation Fig. 16 A Natto view 3-D visualization surf-map Fig. 17 Surf-map created using Webpath visualization Fig. 18 Types of material available online relating to ‘water memory’ in February 2005 6 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Joe Cain for his enthusiastic help in designing the scope of this project, and for encouraging me to tackle the difficult material of the ‘Internet chapter’. I would like to thank Joe Cain, Hasok Chang and Brian Balmer for comments on work in progress and help in discovering an appropriate methodology. I am grateful to Rob Iliffe for discussions on the construction of genius, and to Peter Bowler and Janet Browne for discussions on Lamarckism and the Darwin centennial respectively. Thanks also to David Edgerton for his enduring interest in my project. A great debt is owed to Jane Gregory for introducing me to boundary theory and many other aspects of the sociology of science. These became key to my project, and it could not have been completed without my transition from historian of science to sociologist of science. Jane’s support through the long process of completing this project has been vital intellectually, but also personally. Her understanding regarding long breaks for illness, and kindness in bolstering me to press on has been invaluable. I would like to thank Professor John Cairns for the kindness and candour with which he conducted the oral history interviews for this project. His honesty and advice were vital to the construction of the case study for the project, and for the assimilation of his own biography and bibliography. I would also like to thank Ron Roizen, Bruce Levin and Patricia Foster for taking time to answer questions and illuminate aspects of the case study that were difficult to reconstruct from the primary materials alone.
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