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Papers by Tihomir Mitev
International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation
The additive manufacturing (or the popular 3D printing) is relatively new technology which opens ... more The additive manufacturing (or the popular 3D printing) is relatively new technology which opens new spaces for entrepreneurial imagination and promises next stage of the industrial revolution. It is creating three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The printer transforms the file into a material object layer by layer, using different raw materials. Today, the additive manufacturing is successfully used in architecture, medicine and healthcare, light and heavy industries, education, etc. The paper analyses the roles of actors in manufacturing the objects. It starts with the Heideggerian questioning of technology (), searching for the causes of bringing into appearance of the 3D model. According to Heideggerian analysis the technology is represented as an ‘unveiling of the truth'. The paper suggests that the old understanding of matter as a thing-in-itself should be replaced by a new, flexible, fluid, concept of matter, which is more or less manipulable. The matter is...
3D Printing: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice, 2000
The Making of Europe’s Critical Infrastructure, 2013
The Making of Europe's Critical Infrastructure, 2013
International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation, Apr 1, 2015
The paper discusses the issue of safe functioning of large technical systems (LTS) and questions ... more The paper discusses the issue of safe functioning of large technical systems (LTS) and questions what are the principles of "operating and living together" of heterogeneous communities. It argues that personal interactions between humans, nature, and technology are crucial for the sustainable operation of socio-technical systems. The paper presents some results of an "ethnographic case study" carried out in one of the biggest hydro-energy systems in Bulgaria, that of "Kardzhali dam". In order to make clear how an 'intersubjective' (or inter-actantial) space between humans and non-humans is being formed and how it could bring a sustainable functioning of the dam, the paper explores the micro layer of actors' interactions, i.e. the coexistence in everyday life. Particularly, it is focused on the experience of the dam's chief Ivan Delchev who has spent over 40 years (most of his life and the whole life of the dam) in diligent work, living with technology. Such a long lasting habitation in common space and time brings to the formation of a specific "heterogeneous coupling" (Tchalakov 2004), where caring for the Other (non-human) could not be explained just as "trials of strength" (Latour 1988). Searching for pathways of possible dialogue between Actor-Network Theory and phenomenology (Schutz, Levinas), the analysis reveals in what way "growing together" with technology and "feeling its own rhythm and its own breathing", in the words of the dam's chief, have a crucial contribution to the safe operation of the whole hydroelectric system.
International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation
The additive manufacturing (or the popular 3D printing) is relatively new technology which opens ... more The additive manufacturing (or the popular 3D printing) is relatively new technology which opens new spaces for entrepreneurial imagination and promises next stage of the industrial revolution. It is creating three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The printer transforms the file into a material object layer by layer, using different raw materials. Today, the additive manufacturing is successfully used in architecture, medicine and healthcare, light and heavy industries, education, etc. The paper analyses the roles of actors in manufacturing the objects. It starts with the Heideggerian questioning of technology (), searching for the causes of bringing into appearance of the 3D model. According to Heideggerian analysis the technology is represented as an ‘unveiling of the truth'. The paper suggests that the old understanding of matter as a thing-in-itself should be replaced by a new, flexible, fluid, concept of matter, which is more or less manipulable. The matter is...
3D Printing: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice, 2000
The Making of Europe’s Critical Infrastructure, 2013
The Making of Europe's Critical Infrastructure, 2013
International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation, Apr 1, 2015
The paper discusses the issue of safe functioning of large technical systems (LTS) and questions ... more The paper discusses the issue of safe functioning of large technical systems (LTS) and questions what are the principles of "operating and living together" of heterogeneous communities. It argues that personal interactions between humans, nature, and technology are crucial for the sustainable operation of socio-technical systems. The paper presents some results of an "ethnographic case study" carried out in one of the biggest hydro-energy systems in Bulgaria, that of "Kardzhali dam". In order to make clear how an 'intersubjective' (or inter-actantial) space between humans and non-humans is being formed and how it could bring a sustainable functioning of the dam, the paper explores the micro layer of actors' interactions, i.e. the coexistence in everyday life. Particularly, it is focused on the experience of the dam's chief Ivan Delchev who has spent over 40 years (most of his life and the whole life of the dam) in diligent work, living with technology. Such a long lasting habitation in common space and time brings to the formation of a specific "heterogeneous coupling" (Tchalakov 2004), where caring for the Other (non-human) could not be explained just as "trials of strength" (Latour 1988). Searching for pathways of possible dialogue between Actor-Network Theory and phenomenology (Schutz, Levinas), the analysis reveals in what way "growing together" with technology and "feeling its own rhythm and its own breathing", in the words of the dam's chief, have a crucial contribution to the safe operation of the whole hydroelectric system.