/l/ll`

/i/|l' or
1l! !'VL ' 1Ll'!''
cUD .C!U
TRANSLATED HY CATHERINE PORTER
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS !O
Cambrid
g
e, Massachusetts, & London, England
Copyright 1996 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Amtrica
This book was originally published as Armis,0|l lamcurJcs
tccbnqae, by Editions La Decouvertt, copyright '~ 1993
by Editions La Decouverte, Paris.
Puhlication of this book has been aided by
3 grant from the French Ministry of Culture.
Lbrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Latour, Bruno.
[Aramis. Inglish]
Aramis, O thclove of \chnoo@ / Bruno LatoU : translated by
Catherine Porter.
. cm.
ISB^ 0- 674--04322-7(alk. paper)
lSB^ 0 674-042 3 5 (paperback: alk. paper)
I Local transit- France-Paris Metropolitan Area. 2. Personal
rapid transit-Francc-Paris Metropolitan Area. I.Title.
HE4769.P3L3813 1996
388.4
'
0944
'
361-dc20
CONTENTS
Preface I?
Prologue: Who Killed Aramis?
1 An Exciting Innovation 1 2
2 Is Aramis Feasible? 51
3 Shilly- Shallying in the Seventies 84
4 Interphase: Three Years of Grace J 24

5 The 1 984 Decision: Aramis Exists for Real 1 59

6 Aramis at the eET Stage: Will It Keep Its Promises? 203
7 Aramis Is Ready to Go (Away) 251
Epilogue: Aramis Unloved 289
Glossary 303
Photographs follow page IoB
TO SIMON SCHAFFER
.
/
/
PREFACE

Can we unravel the tortuous historv of a state-of-the-art technol-

w
ogy from beginning to end, as a lesson to the engineers, decisionmakers,
and users whose daily lives , for better or for worse, depend on such
technology? Can we make the human sciences capable of comprehend
ing the machines they view as inhuman, and thus reconcile the educated
public with bodies it deems foreign to the social realm? Finally, can we
turn a technological object into the central character of a narrative,
restoring to literature the vast territories it should never have given
up-namely, science and technology?
Three questions, a single case study in scientifiction.
Samuel Butler tells the story of a stranger passing through the
land of Erewhon who is thrown into prison because he owns a watch.
Outraged at the verdict, he gradually discovers that draconian measures
forbid the introduction of machinery. According to the inhabitants of
Erewhon, a cataclysmic process of Darwinian evolution might allow a
simple timepiece to give birth to monsters that would rule over
humans. The inhabitants are not technologically backward; but they have
voluntarily destroyed all advanced machines and have kept none but the
simplest tools, the only ones compatible with the purity of their mores.
Butler's Nowhere world is not a utopia. It is our own intellectual
universe, from which we have in effect eradicated all technology. I n
this universe, people who are interested in the souls of machines are
severely punished by being isolated in their own separate world, the
world of engineers, technicians, and technocrats.
By publishing this hook, I would like to try to bring that isolation
to an end.
! have sought to afer humanists a detailed analysis of a technology
sufficiently magnificent and spiritual to convince them that the machines
by which they are surrounded are cultural objects worthy of their
attention and respect. They1l fnd that if they add interpretation of
machines to interpretation of texts, their culture will not fall to pieces;
instead, it will take on added density. I have sought to show technicians
that they cannot even conceive of a technological ohject without taking
into account the mass of human beings with all their passions and
politics and pitiful calculations, and that by becoming good sociologists
and good humanists they can become better engineers and better
informed decisionmakers. An object that is merely technological is a
utopia, as remote as the world of Erewhon. Finally, I have sought to
show researchers in the social sciences that sociology is not the science
of human beings alone-that it can welcome crowds of nonhumans
with open arms, just as it welcomed the working masses in the
nineteenth century. Our collecti ve is woven together out of speaking
subjects, perhaps, but subjects to which poor objects, our inferior
brothers, are attached at all points. By opening up to include objects,
the social bond would become less mysterious.
What genre could ! choose to bring about this fusion of two so
clearly separated universes, that of culture and that of technology, as
well as the fusion of three entirely distinct literary genres-the novel,
w u
the hureaucratic dossier, and sociological commentary? Science fction
is inadequate, since such writing usually draws upon technology for
setting rather than plot. Evcn fiction is superfluous, for the engineers
who dream up unheard-of systems always go further, as we shall see,
than the best-woven plots. Realism would be misleading, for it would
construct plausible settings for its narratives on the basis of specific
states of science and technology, whereas what I want to show is how
those states are generated. Everything in this book is true, but nothing
in it will sem plausible, for the science and technology it relies upon
remain controversial, open-ended. A journalistic approach might have
sufficed, but journalism itself is split by the great divide, the one I'm
seeking to eliminate, between popularizing technology and denouncing
its politics. Adopting the discourse of the human sciences as a master
discourse was not an option, clearly, for it would scarcely be ftting to
call the hard sciences into question onl y in order to start taking the
soft ones as dogma.
Was I obliged to l eave reality behind in order to inject a bit of
emotion and poetry into austere subjects? On the contrary, I wanted
to come close enough to reality so that scientifc worlds could become
once again what they had been: possible worlds in confict that move
and shape one another. Did I have to take certain liberties with reality?
None whatsoever. But I had to restore freedom to all the realities
involved before any one of them could succeed in unifying the others.
The hybrid genre I have devised for a hybrid task is what I cal l
scient!jction.
For such a work, I needed a topic worthy of the task. Thanks to
the Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) , I was able to
l earn the story of the automated train system known as Aramis. Aramis
was not only technologically superb but also politically impeccable.
There was no " Arami s affair, " no scandal in the newspapers. Better
still, during the same period the very same companies, the same
engineers and administrators, succeeded in developing the VAL auto
mated subway systems whose background forms a perfect counter
weight to the compl ex history of Aramis. Even though I had not gone
looking for it at the outset, the principle of symmetry hit home: How
can people be condemned for failing when those very same people arc
succeeding elsewhere?
I could have done nothing without the openness and sophistication,
new to me, of the world of guided transportation (that i s, transportation
that functions on rails). The few engineers and decisionmakers in this
fel d, who have been renewing the framework of French urban life
through spectacular innovations in public transportation over the last
twenty years, were nevertheless willing to cooperate in the autopsy of
a failure. It is owing to their openmindedness, with special thanks to the
RATP, the Institut National de Recherche sur l es Transports (INRETS) ,
and Matra Transport, that Aramis can be presented to us all as an
PRFfICl
exemplary meditation on the difficulties of innovation. So Aramis wi l l
not have died in vain.
This book, despite its strange experimental style, draws more
heavily than the footnotes might suggest on the collective work of the
new sociologists of technology. Particularly relevant has been the work
of Madeleine Akrich, Wiebe Bijker, Geoffrey Bowker, Alberto Cam
brosio, Michel Callon, John Law, and Donald MacKenzie. Unfortu
nately, the book was published too soon for me to use the treasure
trove of narrative resources developed by Richard Powers, the master
of scientifction and author of Galatea 2.2, whose HcIen is Aramis' un
expected cousi n.
Here i s one more cue for readers:
In this book, a young engineer is describing his research project
and his sociotechnological initiation. His professor offers a running
commentary. The (invisible) author adds verbatim accounts of real-life
interviews along with genuine documents, gathered in a feld study
carried out from December 1 987 to January 1989. Mysterious voices
also chime in and, drawing from time to tie on the privileges of
prosopopoeia, allow Aramis to speak. These discursive modes have to
be kept separate if the scientifiction is to be maintained; they are
distinguished by typography. The text composed in this way ofTers as a
",hole, I hope, hoth a little more and a little less than a story.
Q

...............
"IT'S TRULY A NOVEL, THAT STORY
ABOUT ARAMIS .
"NO, IT'S A NOVEL THAT'S TRUE, A
REPORT, A NOVEL, A NOVEL-REPORT."
"WHAT, A FAKE LOVE STORY2"
"NO, A REAL c'!'!'' STORY."
"NONSENSE! LOVE |` TECHNOLOGY?!"
PROLOGUE: WHO KILLED ARAMIS?
The first thing I saw when I went into Norbert H. 's office was
the new RATP poster on the wall [see Photo 1 ] :
[DOCUMENT: TEXT OF THE RATP'S ADVERTISEMENT LAUNCHING THE R-312 BUS]
Darwin was right!
RATP means the evolution and adaptation of buses in an ur
ban environment.
I: 1859 Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, main
taining that the struggle for life and natural selection
should be seen as the basic mechanisms of evolution .
The latest product of this evolution is the R-312 bus,
which is about to begin service on Line 38 . For the occasion,
today's buses and their predecessors will join in a big pa
rade i: honor of the R-312.
The theory of evolution has its advantages . Thanks to Dar
win, you can ride our buses around the Luxembourg Garden for
free on Wednesday, June I.
" Chausson begat Renault, Renault begat Schneider, Schneider
b
egat the R-31 2 . . . Darwin's theory has its downsi de," said my future
mentor solemnly when hc saw me reading the poster. "There are people
who want to study the transformation of technological objects without
worrying about the engineers, institutions, economies, or populations
involved in their development. The theory of evolution can take such
people for a ride! If you leave your engineering school to come study
innovation, my friend, you'll have to drop all that third-rate biology.
This may disappoint you, but-unless I 'm completely incompetent in
such matters-a bus does not have sex organs. Never mind the poster:
the R-31 2 doesn't descend from the Chausson APU 53 the way humans
descend from apes. You can climb aboard a bus, but you can't climb
back to the Schneider H that was all over Paris in 1 91 6. Frankenstein's
monster with his big dick and his lopsided face? Such things exist only
in novels. You'd have quite a crowd of people parading around the
Luxembourg Garden if you really wanted to honor all of the new bus's
progenitors. "
I hadn't yet done any in-depth studies of technological projects.
I 'd j ust emerged from a telecommunications school where I 'd taken
only physics and math; I 'd never seen a motor, or a chip, or even the
inside of a telephone. That's why I wanted to spend a year at the Ecole
des Mines, in sociology. There at least, or so I 'd been told, ambitious
young people could learn the engineering trade and study real projects
in the fi eld. I didn't fnd it at all reassuring to be abandoning the peace
ami quiet of technological certainties only to apprentice myself to a
laboratory Sherlock who'd just been entrusted by the RATP with the
investigation of a recent murder: " Who killed Aramis?" I 'd read The
Three Musketeers, but ! didn't know Aramis and wasn't aware he was
dead. In the beginning, I really thought I 'd landed in a whodunnit,
especially since Norbert, the inspector to whom I 'd been assigned, was
a fellow at least forty years old with a Columbo-style raincoat.
" Here's the beast, " my professor said [see Photos 1 1 -1 41. " It's a
new transportation system, apparently a brilliant design. A combination
of private cars and public transportation. The ideal, you might say. In
any case, it's not like the R-31 2; there wasn't any parade in Aramis'
honor, and there certainly weren't any Darwinian posters. Just a slightly
sad farewell party on the boulevard Victor, at the site of the Center for
Technological Experimentation (CET) three weeks ago, in early Oe-
= =.~======.-==..
cember
1 987. A promising, seductive, dazzling l ine of technology has
b
een
buried without fanfare. The site will be an empty lot for a while,
until it's developed as part of the renovation of the quai de Javel . You
should have seen how mournful the engineers were. According to what
they told me, the project was really admirable. They'll never have
another chance to build, from the ground up, an entirely automatic and
entirely revolutionary system of guided transportation-a system run
ning on rails. But Aramis fell out of favor. ' They dropped us'-that's
what the engineers say. 'They' who? The Nature of Things? Technological
Evolution? The Parisian Jungle? That's what we've been asked to fnd
out, my friend, because we don't belong to the transportation worl d.
Some people claim that Aramis woul dn't have kept its promises. But
others, apparently, say that it was the State that didn't keep its promises.
It's up to us to sort all this out, and we can't rely on Darwin or on
sexual metaphors. And it won't be easy."
Personally, I didn't see the problem. I replied confdently that all
we had to do was take a close look to see whether the project was
technological l y feasible and economically viable.
"That's al l ?" asked my mentor.
.
" What? Oh, no, of course not; it also has to be socially accept-
able. "
Since my professor was a sociologist, I thought I was on the right
track. But he grinned sardonically and showed me his frst interYiew
notes.
[INTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
| ooes| ~oseo~y sese Sx ~o~|s ogo, eveycody|'o.g'| |vos|e
e g|'vode|o|''evo| d ''eo ' o|osJdde evey|'rg|e oo| `ooody
scppo|ed |ocy oge ' |'oppeed so|os||'o! ooeco| gae |oc| !e
'eod o| |'e co~poy co| |gc|e | oJ| e |'e o yoJ do so~e!' cg 'oy
so~e|' g
!| 'oo oee g. ~goc io |ve~!yyeos, | 'e' ~e od :o~e|o co | q.|s
' | ' ceo ' ecose |oyoc ~acsoes|o~ |'e cco edes^ es \'ydd |ey
seep |o| ~os|os|, go g so og o |oveocs |eed gs, J| ' so~eoooy
| co' y 'oo |'e oo' s|o yo o.||e |coes
`ll

!s ' ; co y ecc| +oc ovo o sys|e~ |o|s .,,.sedy or l o|_ o.|

ocody vo's ' |s o v'e e e;o| Yoc go o o~d oc ~oe| |ey 'e
sce' :|s 'oveo g o d ' ~e
l|o|s 'oce |o yo. Yo. ge|o good | g go g, 'o expo||, |s o| !e
c.|' g edge |ec'o og co ' y, peope po. ~oey | |o ||o| |||ee yeos, |
evo c| o.es .c c|ospo|o| o Ad!'ev'o|'oppesle g'|co~es
!o pove oo evey| g co~es |o o sLeec'rg o|, v|| o vo| ~ g, .s
v'e ''ees ' ~o ygo g|o ceo poyo|| ' |vo.d eo y 'e p |yo. co.d do
so~ei ' ~g oooc| | \oy dd !|ey drop o o~ s g po[ec| e !os o'!e
s.;o| g ||oso ' og`
!e dcs|o deve'o;e e| | go ''ey go| |'e s|.des ooe o| oc
expese, |'e |vos !osyoc oo Coodoye
!'eopeo| gogecycoc d|occep|o novo|o |'o| vos|'e eos|o !
odco opoo!e :c' !ce s||epoo e~ ess|oce'o coge, eec|o o|
o |osp o|
''epuo| L ou''o!esoie |os ng u|ees|. ,uo couspoi|o|io. |'so.o|'e
p oy oy |'e oce^ s|y, ous ess os .sco
||s o ecoo~ c poo' e~ | vo: ceoc| |c' cc' ' cos||oo ~.c .o |ee
vos oc'oce
! s od'os' oed |s oocsvod oos g '|s |'e s x| es '~ l -o/ |s o
gooo, 'vo '|'y
!e yeo.so, |ivti | ' oe oocs, 'ose ay vod |o | ' ' ' ove o ev
o~e; oc|''eso~e eeds :eo|e |'eso~e|ec'o og es. Ad |ec;eop'ev
eo y s cs |'e~se'ves |o ooo~do g | cs' v'e eve|yoody voc'd ove
vo~!ed .'
"But what's the real answer?" I asked with a naIvete that I
regretted at once.
"If there were one, they wouldn't pay us to fi nd it, chum. In fact,
they don't know what killed Aramis. They really don't know. Obviously,
if by ' real answer' you mean the offcial version-then, yes, such
versions exist. Here's one. "
|1'. ''c
[DOCUMENT: EXCERPTS FROM AN ARTICLE PUBLI SHED IN ENTRE LES LlGNES,
THE RATP HOUSE ORGAN, JANUARY 1 988]
Four questions for M . Maire, head of research and develop
ment.
Do t ransportation systems l ike Aramis really fill a
niche, from the user's poi nt of view?
The idea of little automated cabs that provide service on
demand is seductive a priori, but hard to bring off economi
cally. Furthermore, the creation of a new mode of transpor
tation is a tricky business in a city where billions of
francs have been invested ,; the infrastructures C! C::-:
transportation systers that do the job perfectly well. In
new cities or in cities that. don't have their own "on-site"
transportation, a system like Aramis can offer an interest
ing solution. The project designed for t:e city of Montpel
lier would be a good example, except that there, too, imple
mentation had to be postponed for financial reasons.
People tal k about the fail ure of t he Arami s project. But
can't it be seen as a success, gilf en that the experimental
card was played and appropriat e conclusions were drawn?
It's not a f3ilure; on the contr3ry, it's a tecrnological
success. The CET has demonstrated that the Aramis princi
ples were valid and that the system could work. We did play
the card of experimentation, there's no doubt about it. But
the evolution of needs and financial resources doesn't al
low for the implementation of such a system to be included
among the current priorities for mass transportation in
Paris. Why would you want us to keep on trying to perfect a
transportation system that we see no real use for in the
short run, or even in the medium run?
The Aramis CT was the fi rst phase of a project that was
intended to serve the southern part of the Pet i t e Ceinture
in Paris. The problem of providing this service still as:' L
been resolved. Aren't there some risks involved in coupl .ing
a research project like this wi t h a project for upgrading
the transportation network?
The important thing now is to protect the existing track
`'
system of the Pet.ite Ceinture so as to avoid
r:tQaQ.:Q the
construction of a future public transportation line. Any
way, some market studies will have t o be redone , perhaps
wi th an eye toward liaison wi th an automated mini -met ro . As
for the notion of ri s k, I don't aq:ee. T1we don't t ry
things, we'll never accomplish anything new. Generally
speaking, it stimulates research if you have concrete objec
tives. I t also makes it easier to mobilize decisionmakers
around a project-even if there's some risk in doing z!
Aramis comes across as a technologi cal gamble. Do the
st udies that have been carried out gi ve Ma t ra Transport and
t he RATP a head st art in the realm of automa ted urban trans-
portation?
Even if the Aramis project wasn't initially intended to
be a melting pot for new urban transportation technologies ,
it ended up playing that role. There will be a lot of spill-
over. Besides, research has shown how important it was to
take a global approach in thinking about the transportation
of tomorrow. The key to success is as much in the overall vi
s ion of the system as in mastery of the various technologi
cal components.
I wasn't used to making subtle distinctions between technical
feasibility and "ofcial versions" of what is feasible or not. I 'd been
trained as an engineer. I didn't really see how we were going to go
about fnding the key to the enigma.
"By going to see everybody who's being criticized and blamed.
Nothing could be simpler. "
My boss had his own peculiar way of going about these things. In
the evening, after the interviews, he would organize " meetings and
confrontations" (as he called them) in his fle-cluttered offce. What he
actually did was arrange our interview transcripts in little bundles.
"That's the big difference between sociology and justice. They
don't come to us; we go to them. They answer only if they feel like it,
and they say only what they want to say. "
_

( (

__________
_
___
_
__
_
_______

_____
__
___
___
"You see, " he went on during one of these daily "confrontations, "
"there
have been hardly any questions about the proximate causes of
Aramis' death. It all happened in three months. "
[INTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
||e :cee : ||e |/i' pe::e: o ||e ooc|evod \c|o( !ece:oe 1987
|||ee |cded yod: |o: ||e o|:|op |ee ||e 've /o:|: po|o|ype co:
:|| :o|o|e:: ||e poec| egee: oe |o|||g |eo|ed'y
\' eo ~ee|gvoscoevoy eccoy l -o, ^ .| eejo| /o|o]
sece|y o s| ca|eo o pov s oo veco' o|e , |vos c v | g, o ' |'e so~el
soy g '|opevey|' g. osy, ve o o| coes|oo vo'vos go g o
o z| '
^ Cod, o |e:pooy o|ce do|o
!'eeo o o| scp se ~e !'e oce ^ cs|y vos o | |oos . . \e
od o coosscs v|' |ee| o| coy |s v'o e sappo|s|cc|ce oo o soppeoeo
|'e ~eo' ~e
| oo'y~o||esvo vos espos ce|o p go |e os!s'ov, |o|vos
us||'e pox ~o|e cocse ocyeve|,|'e pon| s|'o|o'| | |oo| o: oe |o:|
:|/o '| ooesn| ~o||e vo s eo |'e poec| As 'o |'e pox ~o|e coase,
oo| sov
B.| yo. |o ||e e:o|e coc:er
Yes, o|cocse Ac|co' y, ve | eo zeo ''o|Ao~ s 'oo oee co' ed o||,
|l o o| sapse ~e o ~e, | vos o.|| |g|| |o ||e o|.e o| ||g: o
l o]
^. !e:c'ee:, o e|ego| :.o.oo o||ce o| ||e ':||c| |o|oo| de
|ec|ec|e :. 'e: |o:po|: |||t|'
!'ees oe | g ' ooc|vo||oseeg'ossed ove yoJ s|coy . !'ee
vos o vey ~po'o| po | co coge o||e l -o. 'oc os, !'e ev A!
pesoe, 'oo ceegeeo spec'oo|| oces,v'eeosCc sexpeece
*The numbers refer to the original interviews. Certain protagonists were
interviewed several times. Some interviews were conducted in a group setting. Certain
data
come from sessions devoted to summing up the investigation for the benefit of
the client; these sessions arc called "restitutions."
t
The legislative election brought the Right to offce for a two-year period of
power sharing between President Fransois Mitterand and Prime Minister Jacques
Chirac.
-
vos ~oe|cg od pcL' c e' o| ocs The ev ,soe'vo|zd |o o go
scper|' uocs eseoc' |o o 'o | Afer o 'ev ~o|hs I ve~||o sez ' ~, 'e |o'o
~e|o cc|o |'o| o.|I so d, \'eyo.ve o eodyspe|-'pece|o|yoc
ocdge|, ~oyoe 's oes||o eep gOing.'
SoJ osgolleedgame .devoyve e|o|d c| ee'oo|the cos|.c
| o o| |'e evoc'd o| oe c cded in |he ex| 'veYeo o; |' s vos n
o|e I -ooeo y l -o
So ''e A!' peop'e ooy |e'| yoc |'o| they doc| Jdes|od vo 'op
peed, o.' |'e| s| covco~e|o~ v |' |'e . ovc ocs o l . j
^ |eq.e, ooe o|^o|o: dec|o:, :peo|g o| ^o|o |eodq.o|e:
Hy o|e l -o d oeco~ecov ced|'o'|'od|os|op . c.coc cs os
were ceos ng' y negative. odcc|o costs veo go g cp, v |~ 'o~|c|
results for us because the State's participation was constant whereas ours was
variable.
So os eoy os the twenl
y
seve| ~o| we were go g o d||eec|
d ec|o |o~ |'e po'oco' !'e o|esveesoy g, s'yoc podcc|od
do vo|yoc co v |' | 'o|e o, ve seeoooc'oc d g''e e
"Read the potocol : by the twenl-seventh month we were supposed |o be
podcc|oo' ' ~y | s| epo', |' s vos c eo|y spe ed o.|, o|e o, |'ey
g'ossed ove |
o|vos | , |o ~e I'd |o| c|' s|' g \e co~e| oonogee~e|. The
|es|g|eo~ vosed o `ove~oe i 1, o |ego 'o doy, od ~ very pocdo|
|'o|.\'e |'e s' p s go g dov , yoJ s|oy o| yoc pos| .| |'e o.|
o .|e-''o|s so~e|' cgI ce eve o. |
^o|o |eodq.o|e: ogo| ^ |||ee, ||e pe:de| : :peo|g
\'o|c'ogedevey|~ g vos|~ec'ogeo|pes det jo| ||e RATP). e
co~e c|ce, I ~e|' ~ c'ooe l -o eso d, C ve ~e' ~e | |oo ' ~
t o Lille on October 26 t o see VA| | remember sent him o note. 'Here's what
veth k: we do|have oy~oooppl cotios; |'esys|e~ 'os'ooes ~p'|ed,
''e ne|vo s| comp co|ed eocg 'o cs'|y o coop co|ed sys|e~
'e told ~e, 'ee ' oe poc|co y o|' cg |'e Ten| ' o 'o |he
A!o||oAo~ :o|ocy o|e, o||o|cons|cc'oo||'e ' e I thanked ~ ~
|o s|oness `ovt 'ot I've gotten t o know him, 'e sve:y s!o' g||ovod
`o| g v ' oppe |o |'e ex|seve yeos
!e RATP was occp| g |ecc|oocs, veyqU e|'y. \eveevode
ing 'ov|o|'eyveego g'o o ov |'s |h ng |o go

"But du| ugtho |e|'od | o.d out for ce|o othat neither lhe |! nor the
| oce ~ s|e ~|eded |o coc|oc|e o |' g 'oc osvos g'
!' s sv'ee~yecaoy c co|e co~e|o~ `o'' cgvosgo g |o
opp
ec |oseve yeos ^o|o vo|s |o pc' oc|eoy|'o|sv'o|''e A!
peop
'e vee soy cg
\'o| ve vee soyg ee vos .e|s e|occs Ao~s, ~oe ' ~oe
e||cen| \e vo|ed |o eego|o|e \'e ve s|o' cp ogo seve yeos
|o~nov, ve' o| 'eos| ove so~e| g |o s|o'v|
!'eysJ ed ' ceyoc vo||o pc oJ|, ve s'.||nev'o e|' gdov
!o| vos| vo| ve vo|ed Hc| |e '|o|e o~ d|'e pco' c oc''o ' es d d|
'ove oy ~oe~ocey
\|' po|ece, 'oJos go||'e e|o~s 'e vos o||e le go|Ao~ s s'c|
dov, 'evos|o'o y oces' o z1|
^. ^oe, oe o| ||e dec|o: c|oge o| ||e |/|s e:eoc| od
deve|ope|, :peo||g o| ||e ogecys |eodq.o|e:
c| ees|ovedVA|o Soc' os, od'oc' os sov ' scooce|o oss \o'
oooc|Ao~ s |voc |ge|o ce~| ge||e p c|Je, c| ece ep ed
5o ||e |o| dec:o eo|'y dd coe |ro ||e |/'|-
^ t|ee `o, o, co|o|o 'oc'osvos |'e ~oc|pece|o |e oce
^ s|y o|'e~, oy ovo|o so do oesocces |ce|o yvos'o
qces| oc o| 'oc os oe g vo ove cy |'e Al', o oy oc eope, oc
eg cees co zz]
^ 5c.'o:, pesde| o||'e x/| 's p'.s' secoo''oooffice overlooking
|e 5ee
Ao~ sd ed o cy |se|, o|essoH. d dc | 'evece cosoy|' sqc|e
|ee'y, oecocse ~ o c|evec|os'es de|ocd ' d |e' yoc | d s|epped c
' d d |ande.s'ocdvoo'vosoope g ' |oodoeeo|oc|o|||eeyeos
' | vos o sedcc|ve deo, Ao~ seo y q.|e nger oas | vos| o e
se L saovoy, oc| ~oe ' e o o oods'eo~ |vos scpposed 'o go|e, se
ve s od o'ees ovocs y |'e deo doesc| ~ose sese | |'e sys'e~ oe
co~eso eoc ca '|o' s, | ' ceoses |o oe o ce|vos
Hc' ' sgood deo eve |occd o geogop c|oo' cg . |vosoos|oc|
|s ' eo|o~, | |eded |oge||os'o~ed c|o o ||'e ~e|o, os o sys|e~, '
oeco~e cceos g'y yo d ocd co~p co|ed ^oy peope od~ ed ' '|
oeco~e~oeocd ~oe|ec' co , ess ocd essco~e'e~s o e|o |'ecc c|
o|ed, odo socceo|oxe|y|o|e oce^ s|y vo|c'ed |d e d d|
|evee c |s deo'', | d d| 'ove |o
' `!
B.| ,o. pc:|ed o '!||e, ddn| ,oc-
`o, dd| eed |o pcs' |oc~d oc| oe doy ''o| Ao~ svos oe.g
e||soed ^o|o od decded, o||'e A'` |ec' c os d oe |ees|ed
|o ov v'ose dec s o ! vos, oc|uo y ^y |ee' g s |'o| ^o|o ~ode!'e
|o|o ~ove oyeve|, |'e|opp oi|y ~ov sodd g o e|'o|v ' poo e
' eAo||'e L He|oe, vecoc' do|'od'oexpe ~e|v!'Ao~ s, ovve
co|eve~oogeo g~| o |'e|ov, os |ve|e
'e||'g oo.| oe co|o|oo', o |: o.|o/] '|s ex|ood oy !'o|
|'eyveosedyo.|odo|'. ss|cdy'YoJ ovv'o|| e~ ~ds~eo|- ed pcs
os g ''esoo|soyevy|'ep' og.e 'osco~e|o!'eoes' Yo. 'ove!'e
osve |'eqces|o |se !'eyveo o des ~, |'ees o|o o.ceo'
v o~og|e o|o||~e~, oc|' ve ~eve|seescc'.~po | co peop'e ov
co. d | 'o;;e- !'ey ~as| oe vode g lov coJ d ve ~oe so~e|'g
|'o| vos, od |~e | o ' goes oe' ycp- |s |occ' g, eo 'ys'ovs o
ex|ood oy' oco' ovoeess. !'e |ov~ cose | gces|'e~, oecocse|'ey
' e soco'ogy . . Ao~:s s scc' o | co|e ~ess, ced o y | co|e o
1
9]
" You see, my friend, hovv precise and sophisticated our informants
are, " Norbert commented as he reorganized his notecards. " They talk
about Oedipus and about proximate causes . . . They know everything.
They're doing our sociology for us, and doing it better than we can;
it's not worth the trouble to do more. You see? Our job is a cinch. We
just fol low the players. They all agree, in the end, about the death of
Aramis. They blame each other, of course, but they speak with one
voice: the proximate cause of death is of no interest-it's j ust a fnal
blow, a last straw, a ripe fruit, a mere consequence. As M. Girard said
so magnifcently, ' It was built right into the nature of things. ' There's
no point in deciding who fnally killed Aramis. It was a collective
assassination. An abandonment, rather. It's useless to get bogged down
concentrating on the fnal phase. What we have to do is see who built
those ' things' in, and into what ' natures. ' We're going to have to go back
to the beginning of the project, to the remote causes. And remember,
this business went on for seventeen years. "
"There's one small problem, " I said timidly. "I don't know a thing
abou
t transportation. "
"Neither do I , " replied mv boss serenelv. " That's whv l was
. . .
cho
sen
. In a year, you can learn about any subject in the world. There's
work ahead, but it will be good for your education. You're going to
lose your innocence about the sexuality of technology, Mister Young
Engineer. And I 'm going to take advantage of the opportunity by writing
a lIttlL commentary, a little sociology manual to make your work easier.
You're to read it in addition to the books on this list; they're all in the
school
library. "
He put on his old raincoat and disappeared in the drizzle, heading
down the boulevard Saint-Michel .
Left to my own devices, looked at the list. It included eighty-six
titles, two-thirds of them in English. Tell an engineer to read books? It
was quite a shock. As for the commentary, I was certainly going to
need it, because there was a further complication: the laboratory where
I was doing my i nternship used the word " sociology" in a way that
absolutely no one else did.
-
AN EXCITING INNOVATION
" A
.
" N b t Id "
,
.
t 1 f s It turns out, or ert l me, we re gomg to ge a at a
help from a retrospective study done by the RATP Here's a chrono
logical chart that sums up the project's phases starting in 1 970. Each
phase is defned by its code name, by the money spent (in constant
francs) , and by its time frame. The horizontal axis shows annual expen
ditures. You can see they hesitated a lot. And the point at which they
were spending the most money is the point at "vhich everything ground
to a halt, in 1 987. "
" It stopped before 1 98 1, you'd have to say. And after Mitterand's
election it started up again. Then, afer Chirac's government came in,
it fell off again . = = "
"That's right, my friend, elections do count in technology. You
didn't suspect that?"
" Uh, well , yes, " I responded prudently. "So we're beginning with
the preliminary phase?"
" Yes, this one, right before Phase 0."
PROJECT CHRONOLOGY
1969: DATAR enlists Bardet's company Automatisme ct
Technique, for a study of various Personal Rapid
Transit systems.
l -J Matra buys patents from Automatisme et Tech
nique.
' -3 Test site at Orly; three-vehicle train; demerging;
merging; regrouping; four scats; off-line stations;
passenger-selected destination; Transport Expo
exhibit in Washington.
l -
, eo.oy Enal report on Phase 0; creation of the Aramis
development committee.
I -, ^oy Beginning of Phase site analyses for the South
Line; eleven sites studied; six scats; concept of
point-to-point service abandoned; end of whole
sale use of off-line stations. Giscard d'Estaing
elected president; Bertin's aerotrain abandoned;
tramway competition initiated.
I -, Variable-reluctance motor.
l - Final report on Phase J Aramis simplifed for
economic reasons.
1977 Beginning of Phase 2A; Aramis simplified; ten
seats; site analyses in Marne-la-Vallee; VAL mar
keted in Lille.
l -o Final report on Phase 2A; beginning of Phase
3A; test of the system's main components; test
ing grounds established; site analyses at La
Defense and Saint-Denis, on the Petite Ceinture,
and elsewhere.
' -oJ. Final report on Phase 3A.
`-o I Teams disbanded; no activity. Mitterand elected
president; Fiterman named transportation minis
ter; Quin becomes president of the HJ1
l -o2 Team reconstituted from VAL teams; site analy
ses in Dijon, Montpellier, Nice, and Toulon, and
on the Petite Ceinture; Araval proposal, Aramis
greatly simplifed; initiation of SAC EM project
Phase 3B: two-car units, twenty passengers; new
test runs at Orly; initiation of the project for the
World's Fair.
l-oJ Favorable final report on Phase 3B; VAL put into
service; World's Fair project abandoned (June);
site analyses in Montpellier for an Aramis using
the `1 automation svstem.

l -o^, July: Protocol for construction of CET signed; Fiter-

man and Communist ministers leave the admini
stration.
A , |1 |1'`
Millions of francs per yo
. . ~
|

.
Preliminar
y
Phase
Z

.
Z.
.
.

!
!ZO
.
ZC
ZZ
.
.
Zo
Z
.
o
r-
Phase ZF
|hOaO./

o
o.
Interphase
.
o.
.
!o
.
oO
.
oC
.
oZ
oo
|

Phase Oriy Site

'
Phase
Motor,
South Line
Aramis simplified
Installation
of components
Two-car u
_
nit (doublet), CMD, microprocessors

lhOA

|1
' '
.
.
Millions of francs per year

/_u:c |. lotal and annual expenses by phase, in 1992 francs. After Phase 3A,
the amounts no longer include either the RATP's internal expenses or Matra's
cost overruns. (Offcial contracts, January ! 1988.)
/ | 7' | ' l ` | " (V/' | ( |
l -o' Scale model of two-car Aramis presented. 1 986:
First two-car unit delivered; two-tiered Aramis
proposed; studies of potential ridership; Chirac
named prime minister; Quin leaves the RATP.
l -o Termination of project announced; ffth two-car
unit delivered; three weeks of contradictory test
runs; project halted; postmortem study begun.
[I NTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
^. |evo, |||t|' eogoee
^o~ s s|'e os| o||e !sys|e~s, yoc cov
'|-
|vos|os'. ooo' eo||e| ~eesoco opdlos |, l .veyoodyvos
exc|ed oooa| | .
\|eo wo: |||:-
, oocd | 'es x| es !e eedy eo vo|e cos vee o | 'evoy
oc||o|s v'o| eveyoe vos soy g Hc| o| |e so~e |ne |'e odvo|oges
o|cos'od|ooe~o c|o ~ed, vecoc' d~'eep ~ovcg |ed ec'oco|~oss
|ocspo|o| o ~o l '
^. t|eooe, o| ^o|/o
c l -/z |'e lospo| cxpo |oo p'oce \os g'oc l'o|ex o 'vos
c | co |o 's .veyoody c |'e vo d co~e. !'ee vee Hoeg sys|e~s,
|'eevee Hed xsys|e~s. eop evee ceg c cg'o ecog~ ze |'e po|e| o
ol co~pc|es |see~ed og co |oco|o ve c es|o~ o ce~|o co~pc'e
~o. z l |
^ Co|eo, :peo|og o| ^o|o: Be:oo,oo o|ce
^|' |'e ~o o ~oa|oc|ces p ccged |o !s Hoe g, | s, ve dd |'e
so~e|' g o|^o|o 'eeveeo| eos||ecd ||eec| sys|e~s `oe o| |'e~
voed ^o~ s s |e oe |o| os!ed |e 'oges|, | vos |'e ~os| ced o e,
l co y \evoc d|do ||'eso~evoy|odoy, vevoc dc '|e ocseves|'o|,
ve' ' , ve cov 'ov|o ~ose p oesod so|e ' |es, geo|, ~oss |ocspo|o|o
~as| ce o c c. |s o| !Je, |s o| |'o| eosy ^ |o ~oy ve' oe ~oe
co~p co|ed |'o o so|e |e, |eco og co yspeo g o ^'|
^ B/||eo, oo /e/coo p/vo|e coo:c||oo| | o |o/:
\ |' ls, v'o|doesc|vo s |e | ~eospeop|e, o|pe/:ooo| \e
cev|o~ |'eoeg g|o!|o|po!d d~| oveoc'occe c ' -' ove
/1 |7'||1 `1'\|'1
|e epo| go|ee, yoc co^ ooko| |ve so do||oeo y| g |o| ~ode
o d ||eece vo: gove~e| scppo| . |~e |e poec' _e|' continuous
gove~e|support, or ose |e v~o o|oc ' yo|Ao~:|ye PRTs collapses. '|s
|o|s ~p' e
'.o , o| |.opeo ||! |ojec| (From ECOPLAN, Innovational Guide-
way Systems and Techn%B in Europe [Paris: Transport Research Group, January
1975J.)
Year of Government Present
Project name origin backing Status in 1 971 72 status
ARAMlS 1 967 Yes Advanced R&D Active
CABINENTAXI 1 969 Yes Hardware Active
development
CABTRACK 1 965 Yes Advanced R&D Abandoned
Coup 1 969 None Concept only Abandoned
ELAN SIG 1970 None System design Under study
Heidt 1 971 None Concept only Abandoned
Automatischehahn
Schienentaxi 1 975 None Concept only Abandoned
Spartaxi 1 969 None PRT site study Set aside
TRP (Otis TTl) 1 968 Some Active
TRANSURBAN 1 969 None Preliminary Abandoned
NONSTOP design
"Here's an innovation with a niche that's easy to understand, for
once," sighed my boss as he elbowed people aside so we could exit
from the subway car. "If I take my car, I 'm stuck for hours in traffc
j ams. If I walk, I breathe carbon dioxide and get lead poisoning. If I
take my bike, I get knocked down. And if I take the subway, I get
crushed by three hundred people. Here, for once, we have no problem
understanding te engineers. They've come up with a system that allows
us to be all by ourselves in a quiet little car, and at the same time we're
*See also Catherine (, Burke, Innovation and Public Polic The Case i Personal
Rapid Transit (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1979).
IXClrING INNOVATION
in
a
mass transit network, with no worries and no traffic jams. That
w
ould be the ideal . I for one would welcome PRTs like the Messiah. "
" Isn't i t always that way?" I asked.
" You've got to be kidding! The last study I read was on inertial
g
uidance systems for intercontinental missiles. Those things are not
g
reeted like the Messiah. "
"You're right, " I sai d, edging back into the cloud of smoke on the
quai des Grands- Augustins.
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
^ |o|o|, :peo|g | ||e oep pe|ooco|ed ou|d|g o ||e oo.|e
.od \c|o ||o| |od oee ||e /o: poec| :|e
^o~ls, |'e 'eo|o' ^o~ s, so~o|eo'cocp' g !'o|s |ev'oe ey
!'e cos do| |occ' eoc' o|'e pysco' y !e coec|o s s ~py co cc
'o|ed
'og.e y gooce, oc' '|ee: :oe||g | do| .de:'od \|y do!
||ey o||oc| ||e co/: |oge||e ~ec'o co' y`| eo, I do | |o, | oge|c
coop|iogs, ood ||e .co.p|e ||e o.|oo'co'|y- '|ey eo''y doo| |o |o
|o do l|-
`o, !s ou| o| |'e qces|' o .vey|'cg 'os oee |'ed \e o 'o |o
do oc|o~o| c cocp' gs od cccocp' gs o s|o|ooy cos. \e do~| ov
'ov|ococpeodccoap e~ov gvec es~ec'o co y !' oooc| |. cos
|o| oe seveo' ~e'es og, go g JJ o~e|es oc o., co~ g cp |o o
sv|c'. oy, |' s oe |oes |~e s d g, |'o|oe eeps o go g ond scp
v |'| ~eco oeo; ^ec'o co 'y, | s l~poss o e `o, l | .oc o'yoeco .c
o|ed, od eve |'o| s~| o:s ~p' eos |socds o J
^. |l5v|u, :peo|g o| |||t|'
|l yoc |oe |o s ~ode .p o| e'e~e|s |'o| co eoc go o d ||ee~|
d ec|o, |s ~poss o e!o:se~ec'o co cocp' gs Hesdes,!'eesos ~p e
poo' e~ ^ec~o .o coap g |ocs~|s |e |oce o| o' |'eo|ecosdc g
oo cg ods|o|cp 'oeoc'co 'os| ooeso deocg| os|od cpogo s|
|~eec|e|o c !soe g'|ve g'|ve' c' esoc|o~oo es, c|s~e s !'eyco~
oe g'! cecoase |'ey eve |occ' eoc' o''e, oecocse |'eye cocec'cd
*D. MacKenzie, Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociolo iNucleaT Missile Guidance
Systems (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1990).
/ | |7'||1 ` " V/1 (
e'ec|oco y oc| ~o| p'ysco y. 'os 'e Ao~ s evo' c| oc o ~o o
veg!
edJc| o \eve goce |o~ o oods |o oJ|o~oo es, |'oks 'o o~o|e o
coJp g o l ']
^ C|o|.on, o| /|:||o
oc e.e |o|| oooc| e.|o.o' c.ocp|g o: o :o'c|o-
`o, 'does~|exs| | s ~oss o' e I n O cose, ~o| |:peed s o |oc!o
|s o|eve o op| o ' I Js|does|co~e .p o 46]
How to frame a technologi cal i nvestigation? By sticking to the frame
work and the l i mits i ndicated by the i nterviewees themselves.
They al l say the same thi ng: "At the time, the world was dreami ng
of PRTs; mechani cal uncoupl i ng was i mpossibl e. " For our informants, PRTs
are no l onger the i nvention of an isolated engi neer, traceable through
projects, contracts, and memoranda; rather, they're a coll ective dream. The
technological i mpossibil ity of uncoupl i ng is not a decision or the opi ni on
of a handful of researchers. It's self-evident, obvious to everybody. Goes
without sayi ng. Doesn't generate the sl i ghtest controversy. It woul d take a
Martian l andi ng in the world of guided transportation to open up that
question . Our i nterviewees no longer even manage to recall who mi ght
have come up wi th the dream of PRT. They can't tel l you what i nstitutions
were behi nd its devel opment. They can't come up with the names of the
dozen or so engi neers, j ournal i sts, mi ddl emen, and publ i c offi ci al s that
would al low the i nvestigator to replace the term "everybody" with a l obby,
a school, a network. In 1 988 the Sixties are remote. The origi n of the
project ( 1 968, 1 969) quickl y gets lost i n the mi sts of time, and l i ke every
narrative of origi ns i t takes on the mythi cal characteristics of al l Mists of
Ti me: "Once upon a time; Everybody; No one can resist; I mpossi bl e. " Of
course, a hi stori an of technol ogy ought to work back toward that ori gi n
and replace it with groups, i nterests, intentions, events, opi nions. She woul d
go to America, to Germany, to Japan. She would vi si t the SNCF; she would
work out the enti re hi story of coupl i ngs and uncoupl i ngs. She would rum
mage through the archives. She woul d sketch the enormous fresco of
guided transportati on. She would reposition Arami s "in its hi stori cal frame
work"; she would determi ne its pl ace in the entire hi story of gui ded-trans
portation systems. She would go further and further back in ti me. But then
we woul d l ose si ght of Aramis, that parti cul ar event, that fiction seeki ng to
E X C I T I N G I N N OVAT I O N
come true. Si nce every study has to l i mi t its scope, why not encompass it
withi n the boundaries proposed by the i nterviewees themselves? None of
them goes back further than 1 965. For al l of them, PRTs are beyond
discussion: everyone wanted them; they had to be developed. There is no
di sagreement on this point. No engi neer leaves open the possi bi l ity of
mechani cal uncoupl i ng of cars. It's out of the question .
The i nvestigator does not have to take the discussion any further. He
wi l l enjoy readi ng the hi stori an, enjoy crossi ng the mythi cal boundaries of
PRTs, enjoy perusing the history of the technol ogical requi rements of cou
pl i ng. But si nce hi s i nformants do not question the power of these thi ngs,
i n his own analysis PRTs and coupl i ngs wil l pl ay the role of what is "in the
ai r. " Everybody breathes it in equal proporti ons. It creates no distinctions.
None of the smal l bifurcations that will turn out to expl ai n the project can
be dependent on that vast background common to al l projects. The i nfra
structure, even in the fi nal i nstance, does not expl ain the fragi le superstruc
ture of the Arami s vehi cl es. If that i ndifference to the general "framework"
i s shocking, let's say that our sociology prefers a local hi story whose
framework is defined by the actors and not by the investigator. Our local
hi story wi l l tal k about Arami s, not about guided transportation, mechani cal
coupl i ngs, or monopolistic state capi tal i sm. On the other hand, i t wi l l let
the actors add whatever they choose to the framework; it wi l l let them take
i t as far as they care to go.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
Slill :peo|g || ^ |o|o|, o |e ooc|e.oo \`c|o
| :|| oo | .oe:|ono e, e'| \|, o| o|e co: ||o| :|o, for eo.g|
O[O||- T|eed oe o eed |o oo|eo' co.p'g:
Hecocse |e yoc voc d| oe oo e |o od e e~o.g' osseges :oc'
vec'e s s~o , o osseges oe seo|ed If yocvo| oe|vee co.s, | so
ve|yoc | | be po.ess g cs| o lew oosse~ges oe ou Yoc eed |o| s
!o|s| ecos|o |yoc s|o||v |', |o~| 'eoeg go|'!s co. J]
Senate hearings, Washington, D. C. , around 1 965:
Senator Don MacKenzie: "But Professor, before you do away with
private cars with a stroke of your pen, can you show us how you expect
....

"

'
_

_ '
"

To downtown

Train
Branchings
L
Separated modules
L
|_o c 2 !rcipc of FKJ ystcus,
to service the suburbs with your PRTs? In the inner city, okay. But just
think: What about Los Angeles? "
Jim Johnson, engineer: " On the contrary, Sir, it's the ideal system
for serving large, thinly populated suburbs. What 's most expensive in
guided transportation, whether you're talking about tramways, sub
ways, or something else? The infrastructure, of course, frst and fore
most. But then what? The trains, the empty trains that never seem to
get calibrated. If you introduce a branch line, either you double the
number of trains so as to maintain a constant frequency-and that's
expensive-or else you cut the frequency in half If there's just one
branch line, you can do it. But what if there are four, or eight, or
sixteen? At the outer edges of the network, there'll be just one train a
day-it'll be like the Great Plains in the nineteenth century! And sub
urbanites will buy a second car. It's inevitable. What you have to do is
cut the branching trains into the smallest possible units. Just look at
the diagram [Figure 2}:
When some old lady-a housewife, let's say-wants to go down
town, she fiddles with her keyboard. The computer calculates the best
route. It says, 'I'll be there in two minutes'; it's like a taxi. But it's a
collective taxi, with no driver, and it's guided by computer. When it
arrives, the old lady fnds it's carrying a few of her cronies whom the
computer has decided to put in the same cab. There's no need for a
second car There's less pollution. And we're still talking about the
suburbs, without a heavy infrastructure. It's just like a car. "
Senator Tom "Network" Hughes: "But what do you do about the
/ | X ' ` ' ` ' ` '`/ ' '
&&
&
load factor Professor? Your isolated train cars, operating far apart, are
fne at the end of the line where few people live, but when you get closer
to downtown they're going to clog up. It'll be much too slow. "
Jim Johnson: "Right, right, that's exactly the idea of the train. We
put cars together like a real train, with independent cars, and that way
we take care of the passenger load. "
Senator Howarth: "You're hardly going to couple and uncouple
them by hand a hundred times a day!"
Jim Johnson: "No, Sir no, that would be too slow; we're looking
fo
r
a
practical way of coupling. By computer. But we haven't quite
perfected it yet, I have to admit. "
Senator Wallace: "If I may say so, there's something else that hasn't
been perfected in this business. What if instead of finding her 'cronies, '
b you put it, in this closed car with no driver, your housewife runs into
a couple of thugs? (I didn't say 'blacks '-be sure to get that straight.)
Then what does she do? What happens to her then? "
Jim Johnson (at a loss for words): " Uh . . . "
Senator Wallace: " Well, I'll tell you what happens, she gets raped!
And the rapist has all the time in the world, in this automated shell of
yours with no doors and no windows. You know what you've in
vented? You've invented the rape wagon!"
[Shouting, commotion]
[ I NTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
Lievin, ot INRETS: Ao~ s '|vos|'e\o|d s'o \ |ooc||'o|, yo. co '
uodes|oodo | goooc||~epocc| |ce'o c,voc' d|'oves|o||ed.pogo r
| | 1 98 1 , 1 982 oo 1 5
]
Etienne, o| /o|o Ad|ec |eevos|e\ods o poec|!~o| sv~o|
go| |go gogo o 2 1 ]
Cod \~o|exp o ~s~ycoves oc, |yoc e, vos|~epoec||o|e
1 989 \o' d s'o :vey\o|d s|o pescpposeso ev|o|+ o'!ospo|o
|o. \ |' u 'e .o.ge of poecs esen|!d_ Arami s was truly i nnovative:
o~cevoseo ygog|oocoo e|opese|so~e| g|o'sy~oo zedec
|ecoo ogyo| |~ec~d o||e 1 980s. l'o|svo|~ode~e c'oge ~y~ d
[ no. 1 8, p j
/1 c7' | |1. |`1.\/! '`
` Arami s had been ready in time for the World's fair, would it
have gotten everyone's attention?" I asked.
" Yes, everyone's-it was really a compelling idea. "
"But there was no World's Fair, as it turned out. "
" Well, no, Chirac didn't want one; he didn't want to upset
Parisians with reminders of the Revolution. "*
Reuters, September 1 0, 1 989, from our special correspondent Ber
nard Joerges. Every World's Fair refurbishes the image of public trans
portation to some extent. The one that marked the bicentennial of the
French Revolution in banner-bedecked Paris, the one that has just
closed its doors after a grand ceremony on the Champ-de-Mars, was
no exception to the rule. From this standpoint, one of the key features
of the fair was unquestionably the completely automated and com
pletely modular transportation system called Aramis. More than mo
torboats on the Seine, more than moving sidewalks, Aramis is a revo
lutionary transportation system conceived and constructed by the
Matra Transport company, which has demonstrated its technological
superiority once again. Specialists in space technology and sophisti
cated weaponry, the Matra people are shaking up the feld of urban
transportation, which has been mired in tradition for so long. The
Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP), responsible for im
plementing Aramis, has leapfrogged into the twenty-frst century
thanks to this astonishing display. A train arrives at the station. Of
course, as in the VAL system that operates ln Lille, or Morgantown's
small system in the United States, or Atlanta's, there is no conductor.
Elegant little cabs, as cozy and comfortable as a Renault Espace, hold
up to twenty visitors each. But here is the surprise: each car is separate.
Nothing visible links it to the ones behind: no coupling, no cable, no
wire, no linkage of any sort. And yet the cars form a train; they
approach one another and merge ever so gently. They stay together as
*Jacques Chirac, in addition to serving as prime minister from 1 986 to 1 988,
was the mayor of Paris from 1 977 to 1 995 . vVorld's Fairs have been held many times
in Paris from 1 889 to 1 937 and have shaped a number of its landmarks, including
the [iffd Tower. For the new socialist goverment, hotin
g
a \Vorld's Fair in Paris in
1 99 seemed natural way to celebrate the hicentennial of te French Revolution.
Obviously, however, tbc m;yor of Paris-who was also the leader of the opposition-
would have had to agree.
if by magic. An electronic calculation attaches them together more
solidly than any cable. This is what the project engineers call "nonma
terial coupling. " Sometimes a slight jolt, a little bump, is felt when two
cars come into contact. The most violent shock is psychological-the
one that awaits visitors at branching points. Their car pulls away from
th
e train! While one group of riders is transported to one part of the
fair,
the rest of the train reconstitutes itself and goes on toward another
ar
ea. No one needs to change trains! No more transfers between lines!
Matra and the RATP have invented the transportation system of the
tw
enty-frst century, as intimate and personalized as a taxi, as secure
and inexpensive as collective transportation. The automobile becomes
co
mmunal property. Several years before the Japanese and the Ameri
cans, while we are still at the stage of trying to make our own Cabinen
taxis work, France has been able to get a toehold in a promising market
thanks to the World's Fair. People in the transportation industry are
simply wondering how much this little marvel must have cost. There is
talk of two billion francs! After the Concorde, La Villette, the Rafale,
and the nuclear power program, we are well aware that French engi
neers do not worry about the price tag. True, the fair makes it possi
bleto justify any extravagance. The revolution (of public transporta
tion) within the Revolution (the French one) is beyond price . . .
By defi ni ti on, a technol ogical project i s a fiction, si nce at the outset
it does not exist, and there is no way it can exist yet because it is in the
project phase.
Thi s tautology frees the analysis of technologies from the burden that
weighs on analysis of the sci ences. As accustomed as we have become to
the idea of a science that "constructs, " "fashions, " or "produces" its objects,
the fact still remai ns that, after al l the controversies, the sciences seem to
have discovered a world that came into being without men and without
sciences. Gal i leo may have constructed the phases of Venus, but once that
construction was complete her phases appeared to have been "always
al ready present. " The fabricated fact has become the accompl i shed fact,
the fait accompli. Di esel di d not construct hi s engi ne any more than Gal i l eo
bui l t hi s pl anet. Some wi l l contend that the engi ne i s out of Diesel ' s control
as much as Venus was out of Galileo's; even so, no one would dare assert
that the Diesel engi ne "was always al ready there, even before it was
di scovered. " No one i s a Platoni st where technology is concerned-except

/ ` . / 1 | |1! |
for very pri mitive, basic gestures l i ke the ones Leroi-Gourhan cal l s "techno
l ogi cal trends. "
Thi s rejection of Platoni sm gi ves greater freedom to the observer of
machi nes than to the observer of facts. The bi g probl ems of real i sm and
relativism do not bother hi m. He i s free to study engi neers who are creating
fictions, since fiction, the projection of a state of technology from five or
fify years in the future to a ti me T i s part of their job. They i nvent a means
of transportation that does not exist, paper passengers, opportunities that
have to be created, places to be designed (often from scratch) , component
i ndustries, technological revol uti ons. They're novel i sts. With j ust one di ffer
ence: thei r project-whi ch is at first i ndisti ngui shabl e from a novel-wi l l
gradual l y veer i n one di rection or another. Ei ther i t wi l l remai n a project i n
the fi l e drawers ( and i ts text i s often less amusi ng to read than that of a
novel) or else it wi l l be transformed i nto an obj ect.
In the begi nni ng, there i s no di stinction between projects and objects.
The to circulate from office to office in the form of paper, pl ans, depart
mental memos, speeches, scale models, and occasional synopses. Here
we're in the real m of si gns, l anguage, texts. I n the end, people, after they
leave thei r offices, are the ones who circulate i nsi de the object. A Coper
ni can revol uti on. A gul f opens up between the world of si gns and the world
of thi ngs. The R-3 1 2 i s no longer a novel that carries me away i n transports
of del i ght; it's a bus that transports me away from the boulevard Sai nt
Mi chel . The observer of technologies has to be very careful not to di fferen
tiate too hastily between si gns and thi ngs, between proj ects and objects,
between fiction and reality, between a novel about feel i ngs and what is
i nscri bed i n the nature of thi ngs. In fact, the engi neers the observer is
studying pass progressively from one of these sets to another. The R-3 1 2
was a text; now it's a thi ng. Once a carcass, i t wi l l eventual ly revert to the
carcass state. Arami s was a text; i t came close to becomi ng, i t nearl y
became, it might have become, an object, an i nstituti on, a means of
transportation i n Paris. I n the archives, i t turns back i nto a text, a techno
l ogical ficti on. The capacity of a text to weigh itself down with reality, or,
on the contrary, to l i ghten its load of real ity, is what endows ficti onal
technol ogies wi th a beauty that the novel we've i nherited from the ni ne
teenth century has di ffi cul ty mani festing nowadays. Only a fiction that gains
or loses realit can do justice to the engi neers, those great despised figures
of culture and hi story. A fiction with "vari abl e geometry": thi s is what needs
_

_____
to be invented, if we are to track the variations of a technol ogical project
that has the potential to become an object.
"Personal Rapid Transit systems , nonmaterial couplings, the com
p
osit
ion
of trains-all this is beginning to take shape," Norbert told
me.
"Now
let's try to see whether we can pin down the archaeology
of
te
project, the earliest ideas, the creative spark. Often the initial
idea
doesn't count for much in a project, but my hunch is that this time
it must have played a role. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
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A' . / 1 ` ' |'`
| '

__~~~~~
-- Transporter

Time

Charger
Ii
P|onorm : ,1

Time
T
,
Time

_
||Qu /c J. The AT- 2000 train.
ce g od oeo|'e c. !'e ~vese o| o ve|o~ s s| o ve| o 'oes
|'o| |ees|yoc-
Hode|so d, !' s s~|ge| gJsoyv'e|e 'e's~oeo ve|o~o| x
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ooc' c'o|ges ~|o |'e 'ce' v|'oJ| s|opp g `eo o s|o' o, ''ose vo
vo||oge'o|| ~ove |o ''ecodo| ''edoosc ose, | sc~cocp ed, |s'ovs
dov ^eov' ' e, ''e peope v'o vo| 'o ge| oc ove go||e 'o |'e
co|doo|o~c |'o|vos c |'e s|o|o `'ey speed .p od e o |e coc
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oe ooccd so~ev'ee
Ad |o| oooc' //o::, ^ |e|-

/ | | X ' | ' l ` |NOV

|

" Wel l , Ao~ svos |'e e g'|y| s ooxo||'e invention co| x, |'e ||es|o|
o ' , | vos |'epog|o~~ed ~e|oseo| !'etraveler ~ee ygoes|o |'es|o| o
e s|sdov, pcc'es |'e pogo~, ocd opecs cp ~ s evsoope| \'ec
|'e |' ~g s|ops, 'e oos cp, pc|s ovoy 's pope, od ''ee e s, v'ee e
voc|ed |ogo ' | spo||opo|, v'' cococec! os, os|opso' c|e|~edo|e
s|o|ocs `ee g'|y|s|ooxvos''e~os|seduc|veo|o |oov|'||ec'coco'
eoge |o ~pess o c' ec|
^eov' e, ^o|o 'od o v'o e o| o| deos !'eyvo|ed |o dvesf
l'ey vee voved c ~ |oy ocs ess, v' c' e| .ogo|dee ~oe o good
s'ov !'ey ' | |o||v|' Ho|de| o ^J]
The di fference between dreams and real ity i s variabl e.
The guy who spray-pai nts hi s i nnermost feel i ngs on the whi te wal l s
of the Pi gal l e metro station may be rebel l i ng agai nst t he drab real ity of the
stati ons, the cars, the tracks, and the surveillance cameras. Hi s dreams
seem to him to be i nfinitely remote from the harsh truth of the stati ons, and
that's why he si gns his name i n rage on the whi te ceramic tiles. The chief
engi neer who dreams of a speedier metro l i kewise crosses out pl ans
accordi ng to hi s moods. But i f the AT2000 had been devel oped, hi s dream
would have become the other's world. The spray-painting hoodl um would
then be living partly withi n the other's dream brought to l i fe, j ust as he is
living in the waking dream of Ful gence Bienvenue. In Paris, a war of the
worlds i s ragi ng, a war of dreams, a war quite di fferent from the opposition
between states of feel i ng and states of affairs, between soft subj ects and
hard technologies. Dreams seeking to be real i zed are shapi ng Paris, work
i ng through its subterranean spaces and stati ons. They touch and try one
another. The subway i s too sl ow; i t can be redone. The engi neer Bardet i s
no l ess i mpatient than the hoodl um. He, too, wants to change the metro,
to change l i fe. Let's be careful not to oppose cold cal cul ators to hot
agitators. Neither is more spontaneous than the other. Petit i s i nfl uenced
by the Americans' PRT, whi ch i s hardl y surpri si ng; then agai n-and thi s is
much harder to bel i eve-the i l l i terate hoodl um does hi s taggi ng spontane
ously in Engl i sh and i n the graphi c style of the New York Ci ty gangs!
As for Bardet, he' s dreami ng too. For where, i f not i n a dream, coul d
one compare a 1 30-pound grandmother headed for the 5acn3-Coeur sta
tion with a 1 00-gram cartridge that a transfer machi ne picks up on an
assembl y l i ne? You sai d "transfer"? Wel l, wel l ! Could the unconscious be
full of machi nes as well as affects? The entire Paris metro system-in fact,
al l the transportation systems of the world-fi nd themselves brought to
gether i n an ei ghty-one-box chart on DATAR's tabl e. Dreams change the
scale of phenomena, as we know: they al low new combinations and they
mix up properties. So: an engi neer's dream?
" Well, my dear Watson, what do you think? It is all perfectly
clear?
"
" Certainly," 1 sai d, a bit uneasy to be feeling so sure of myself.
"Of course, 1 don't know much about it, but Aramis is an engineer's
toy, one of those far-fetched ideas that didn't grow out of a needs
analysis. That much is obvious right away. "
" Wrong, as usual , " Norbert replied amiably. "On the contrary, i t
was to avoid far-fetched inventions like those the Lepine compftition
produces that Petit and Bardet drew up their matrix. I questioned the
director of SOFRETU, and he confrmed Petit's account point for
point."
From a grimy little notebook, Norbert extracted his interview
notes.
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
||e oec|o o| 'C||||J
' ~ o| s|o| g v| ve| os o co~poe~|s, o ~oe o o! od
c^vooo' e deos ' ~s|o| gv |oosseges,v 'o|'e eo eeds ,v !'cses.
!'e deo , 'oposseges, sv'o|' | so||o'' , o||os ovdov~, o||o
stop, ro| !o ||os|e, od |o arrive at thei r des||o|or ~e.e|oeess. That's
po c||opo | !o~spo|o| o !'o|s Ao~ s o l o]
"I even came across a document by Bardet from 1 969 or 1 970.
Yo
u
kow what he says?"

` / T | | C | ` |\-' `

[OOCUMENT: FROM AUTOMATISME ET TECHNI QUE, REPORT ENTITLED

"LES TRANSPORTS URBAI NS, " TECHNI CAL NOTE; EMPHASI S ADDEO]
Continuous t ransportation is the pos sibi l i ty of adapt ing
later t o any evolut i on, no ma t t er how unpredictable, of
technol ogy or of urban planning; .: other words , .\ amourc s
t o respect for the indeterminac of the fut ure . This safe
guarding of the future has to be envi saged both on t he t ech
nological level and from the standpoint of serving con
s t antly evolving met ropoli tan populations . On the
technological level , it is important tc stress t hat no hy
pothesis was made at the outset regarding the technologies
to be used e Sys tems of continuous t ransportation are es
s entially based on a kinemat ic principle and wi l l always be
able to incorporat e future technological proj ects .
" You see," my professor continued, " it 's more complicated than
you tink . . . It's the opposite of an engineer's idea: it's d system-idea,
open to the unpredictable. No, no, we're off to a good start. A textbook
case, my friend, a real textbook case. ' Respect for indeterminacy, ' that's
what we teach our students; to start from principles, needs, systems
and not from technology. It's really rotten luck. " Then, looking at his
watch, he added: " We're going to be late for our meeting on the quai
des Grands-Augustins. "
We got off the bus, which was stuck i n a traffc jam, and we
studied the subway map, trying to calculate which route would involve
the fewest transfers.
" Aramis ought to be making this calculation, " I said.
" Exactly, and we woul dn't have to transfer at Chitelet. You see,
my friend, Aramis really is an idea for consumers, not an engineer's
idea. It's the one time they were actually thinking about us-and it
didn't work. "
" You mean, 'The one tim they were thinking about our not
having to think about anything, ' " was my clever riposte.
" Engineers dream, but they're not crazy," my mentor replied
/ | | / | | ` | | | '`| | ' |_

__
p
rim
ly,
without acknowledging my cleverness. "What does Bardet
p
r
odu
ce, Mister Oh-So-Reasonable Young Engineer? A critique of the
urban society of his time. Well? Does it surprise you that a kinematician
should get involved in making a whole movie script out of cars,
happiness, and the future of civilization?"
[DOCUMENT: REPORT BY AUTOMATISME ET TECHNI QUE, 1 969 OR 1 970]
To summari z e, without getti ng bogged down in a purely
sterile critique, let 1. note [ in l ` ` ' ] that the situation
is t riply paradoxical :
-Whi l e the automobi l e st i l l seems to be the fastest
( though cost l iest ) solution for urban transport ation i n the
short run, its very prol i feration wil l increasingly cut
down on its speed, whi ch wil l soon become unacceptably s low;
at the same t ime, automobiles will increase to dangerous
levels the atmospheri c pol lution t hat they inevitably pro
duce . This is the paradox of the scient i fic organi z at ion of
total a sphyxia-in t he broadest sense of t he term .
-At a t ime when e ffi ciency has the status of dogma, we are
all subject to its discipl ine, and in our stres sed-out
state, before and after work , we all have to pDt up with
physi cally exhausting compressions i n uncomfortable spaces
and annoyirg waiting periods owing to breakdowns i n the
traffic flow . This is the paradox of antisocial behavior i n
a society that woul d like to see i tsel f as social .
-Finally and i n more general terms , i sn ' t it unreasonable
that in thi s speeded-up century the t ime it takes us to cover
the distance between home and the a i rport hasn ' t changed,
coming or going? Thi s is the paradox of " constant t ime, "
whatever the di stance covered .
I n the face of these observat ions , whi ch are not j us t
ploys in some amus ing menta l game but have social repercus
s ions whose economic consequences wei gh heavi ly on us , I S
tecrc1 cqcwe:. eSS [ p o 7 ] ?
Automati sme et Technique doesn' t think so . For the past
three years, with the cooperat ion of publ i c agencies that
/ ` . / 1 | l ` | (\' | ( `
are especially concerned-the RATP on tr one hand, DATAR on
the other-we have been working on theoretical research pro
j ects and technological devel opments leading to new s O1u~
t ions characterized as much by their performance as by their
variety and adapt ive f lexibi l ity . [ p o 8 ]
The key t o thi s i nnovation i s a ki nematic principle . Pub
lic transportation has to be considered a particular case o f
continuous t ransportation .
The application of " continuous kinematics" t o t ranspor
tation problems makes it possible, above and beyond the pos
s ibi lities of classic transportation systems, to reconci l e
research aimed at greatly i ncreased speeds and heightened
comfort with concern for maximi z i ng fine-tuned service .
I n order t o translate this obj ect ive , Automatisme et
Technique has spelled Cu two rules that apply to the traf
fic f low :
-Pas sengers must be able to pass t hrough the intermediate
stations on their itinerary without stepping .
-An i ncrease i n the number of stations along a connect ing
l i ne must not a ffect either the speed or the volume of serv
ice on the line .
The f i rst consequence of these rules i s that they lead to
dissociat ion o f the "transportation" function as such f rom
the function of " acces s " t o the t ransport mechani sm,
whereas i n clas s i c t ransportation systems these functions
are taken care of by a single mechanism . [ p o 13] .
No technol ogi cal project is technol ogi cal first and foremost.
"What's that engi neer poking hi s nose i nto?" you may wel l ask.
"Why i s he criticizing soci ety, pursui ng hi s own politics, hi s own urban
pl anni ng? An engi neer answers questions, he doesn't ask them. " Thi s i s the
i mage of engi neers hel d by people who thi nk technol ogy i s neutral , or (i t
comes down to the same thi ng) that technology i s purel y a means to an
end, or (and this sti l l amounts to the same thi ng) that the only goal of
technology i s technology i tsel f and i ts own further devel opment. Bardet, as
we have seen, defi nes hi s goals and questi ons for hi mself, even i f he i s

`

`

(

_ -.._ . - =
defensive about pl aying "amusi ng mental games" or maki ng "sterile cri
ti ques. " He's a sociologist as wel l as a techni ci an. let's say that he's a
sociotechni ci an, and that he rel ies on a particul ar form of i ngenuity, het
erogeneous engineering, whi ch leads hi m to blend together maj or social
questions concerni ng the spi rit of the age or the century and "properly"
technological questions in a si ngl e
d
iscourse.
How does this blend come about? Not by chance, but by a precise
operation of translation. Urban transportation systems are bei ng asphyxi
ated, Bardet says; this asphyxiation, as he sees it, i s contrary to the spirit
of the age. Thi s i ntolerable situation has to end. How can we put a stop to
it? Ki nematics deals with continuous transportation of bottles, cartridges,
or jam jars. And who controls ki nematics? Bardet and h is company. Be
tween the asphyxi ated soci ety of automobil es and transfer machi nes i n
factories, there i s no connection whatever. Bardet, approached by Petit, i s
going to make thi s connection. The price to pay i s an i nnovati on: the
discontinuous transportation of people, whi ch no one knows how to i m
prove, has to be vi ewed as a particular case of the conti nuous transporta
tion of things, whi ch Bardet knows how to i mprove. The result? A chai n of
transl ation: there is no sol ution to the probl ems of the ci ty without i nnova
tions in transportation, no i nnovation in transportation without ki nematics,
no ki nematics without Automatisme et Techni que; and, of course, no Auto
matisme et Techni que without Bardet.
People always wonder how a l aboratory, or a science, can have any
i mpact at all on society, or how an i nnovation arises i n the mi nd of its
inventors. The answer i s always to be found i n the chai ns of translation that
transform a global probl em (the ci ty, the century) i nto a local probl em
(ki nematics, conti nuous transportation) through a series of i ntermediaries
that are not "logical" i n the formal sense of the term, but that obl ige those,
l i ke DATAR, who are i nterested in the gl obal problem to become i nterested,
through al most i mperceptible shi fts, i n the l ocal sol uti on. The i nnovation ,
as Bardet says, wi l l make it possible to "translate" and to "reconci l e"
contrari es i n order to establ i sh chai ns of translation and to si tuate Bardet':
expertise as the obligatory passage point that will resolve the great prob
.
l ems of the age. The work of generating interest consists in constructing
these long chai ns of reasons that are irresistibl e, even though their logica I
form may be debatabl e. if you want to save the city, save Bardet. This
i mpl ication i s not logical ly correct, but it i s socio-Iogi cal l y accurate.
A| t X C i i ` | ` CVA` i '|
I was outraged by what my professor, with a certain satisfaction,
was calling " chains of translation. " He seemed to take great pleasure
in seeing huge intcrests drift off toward little laboratori es. For my part,
was deeply shocked by that sordid, self-interested yision of the
. .
engineer's work.
" It's just a way of talking about priming the pump, if I understand
correctly," I said with more feeling than my professor usually permitted
(it was never a good idea to let him think one ", -as naive) . " Bardet is
making money by making silk purses out of sows' ears. He's a cynic.
But what would a real engineer have done in his pl ace?"
" My dear young friend, I forbid you to speak, or even to think,
ill of Bardet. He's a great engineer, a real one. You're always jumping
from one extreme to another. You show up here convinced that tech
nology is neutral and beyond question. You get your nose rubbed in a
proj ect-for your own good-and you conclude that it's all a matter
of pork barrels and white elephants. You move too fast. You really do
have a lot to learn. An engineer has to stimulate ID/c1c5t: that's the long
and the short of it. And he also has to convince; that's the Law and the
Gospel . You can't put any real engineer ' in Bardet's place' (as you term
it) except a bad one, some imbecile who doesn't interest and doesn't
convince and whose kinematics has never gotten beyond the end of its
transfer function.
" In contrast, l ook at the beauty of Aramis and PRTs. It's a fantastic
invention. To discourage residents from taking their cars, you merge
cars "ith puhlic transportation. There's only one wav vou Can do that:
. . .
you have to get people to see public transportation the way they do
automobiles, so they11 take public transportation instead of their O
cars. It's a matter of mimicry, j ust like in the jungle. The worn-down
citydweller stops distinguishing between his private car and his Aramis
car. He literally takes one for the other! Let's give collective transpor
tation some of the automobil e's most interesting features---point-to
point service, no transfers, comfort, intimacy-plus all the advantages
of public transportation: speed, train service that copes with te traffc
fow, low cost (to the user) , lack of responsibility (agai n, for the user) .
No one will want to do without it. Just look at these great interest
| / | ' | ` | " | 'V' | ' "
cu
rves: DATAR, the RATP, Paris, before you know it the whole worl d.
Yet
it's still contemporary twenty years later! The diagnostic hasn't
budged: everything has only gotten worse, in cities. And in the center,
in what has become the center, resting at the heart of the mechanism:
kinematics, continuous transportation. A peaceful revolution desired by
all. And you'll never again have to change trains or wash your car. Cars
for everybody. No, the importance of Bardet's innovations can't be
ove
res
timated. I don't like the word, but Bardet is a genius. Unfortu
nately
we can't interview him. I 've talked to his wife: he's very old,
ad
too ill to answer any questions. "
" Still, he blew i t, " I thought. But I kept my opinion to myself.
Justice and young engi neers with no memory are hard on projects
that fai l .
The ul ti mate defect of proj ects-they di e-takes us back t o thei r
begi nni ngs: they were condemned from the start because some crazy
engi neers had mi staken dreams for reality. The verdict i s cl ear: Personal
Rapid Transport systems died because they were not vi abl e. But biol ogical
metaphors are as dangerous for technol ogical organizations as they are
for living organi sms. You can't say that PRTs di ed because they weren't
vi abl e, any more than you can say that di nosaurs, after surviving for
mi l l ions of years, died out because they were doomed or i l l-conceived.
Arami s died-in !987-and its accusers cl ai m that it was nonviable from
the begi nni ng, from 1 970. No: Arami s was termi nated i n 1 970, and the
expl anation makers were ki cki ng a dead horse when they cl ai med that it
hadn't been feasi bl e from the start and that they themselves had been
saying so al l along. Bl essed are the lesson givers, for they wi l l always be
right-afterward . . . Don't ask them for i mmediate opi ni ons on the Con
corde, or the future of computers, or aerotrai ns, or superconductivity, or
tel ephones. You' l l get the answers onl y ten or twenty years l ater, and they'll
say they knew all al ong that the project was not viable. No, Arami s is
feasi ble, at least as feasi bl e as di nosaurs, for l i fe i s a state of uncertai nty
and risk, of fragi le adaptation to a past and present environment that the
future cannot j udge.
The i nnovations produced by peopl e l i ke Bardet, Petit, Boei ng, Oti s,
A| | / C | | ' | VA' |
and Dai mler-Benz are real, i mportant, and
excit
i
ng. What is at stake,
owing to the fusion between the worlds of continous ki nematics
and publ i c
transportati on, i s a compromise. I nnovation always comes from a bl ending
or redistribution of properties that previously had been di spersed. Prior to
the fusion of ki nematics and publ i c transportation, no one had noticed that
the transport function coul d be separated from the access function. This
distinction is what al l ows the technol ogical compromise to emerge: let's
invent a system that never slows down and that nevertheless al l ows for
personalized access. Arami s i s a textbook case. No one in hi s or her right
mind can be opposed to a PRT that marries, fuses, blends the private car
with publ ic transportation, a project that saves us from asphyxiati on. No
one can criticize the management of a project that leaves the future open,
that does not make premature judgments about the technological compo
nents. Neither wicked capital ists nor purveyors of useless gadgets are the
driving force behind this effort. No, it i s a mater of real inventions designed
to meet real needs proposed by real publ ic servants and supported by real
scientists. A dream, yes, a dream. I n any case, i t i s paved with good
intentions.
" Always assume that people are right, even if you have to stretch
the point a bit. A simple rule, my dear pupil, when you're studying a
proj ect. You put yourself at the peak of enthusiasm, at the apex, the
point when the thing is irresistible, when what you really want, yourself,
is to take out your checkbook so you can, I don't know "
" Buy a share in the Chunnel?"
" That's it, or even shares in the Concorde. "
" Even i n La Villette?"
" Which one, the frst scandal or the second?"
" The second. "
" Oh, the La Villette museum. I don't know; it's a disaster, but
after all , why not, it had to be tried. Never say it's stupid. Say: If I
were in their shoes, I 'd have done the same thing. "
" Even in that business of the sni ffer planes?"
" Of course, silly boy, you would have bought into it, and not
because you're naIve; on the contrary, precisely because you're a clever
` | / | ' ` ' | | | '\1 ' |
fellow. It's like the Galileo affair. You have to get inside it until you're
sure: that one is gUilty; he should be exiled, and even, yes, even fried
a little, the tips of his toes at least. Otherwise, if you think differently,
you're a little snot. You play the sly one at the expense of history. You
play the wise old owl. "
"The one that always arrives at nightfall , like the cavalry?"
" Ah, I see they do teach you something, after all , in Telecommu
nicatons. Yes, you have to reread your Hegel because, you know,
technological reality isn't rational, and it's no good rationalizing it after
the
fact. "
In the list of books to read, Hegel came after F for Favret-Saada,
and G, for Garfunkel or Garfinkel, like the singer but not so easy to
set to music.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
At RATP headquarters, on the second floor where the directors have their
plush lairs, M. Maire is sitting in his ofice.
Hode|vos o eo y c ce gcy e~e~oe ~ ' -oo|- 'e v |ed .s |o
|ccc | a l i ttle oistrot-G| ad, Ac|oe, od me. He'd i nvented the A!zJJJ
'e|o'd as 'e vos voed, 'e d dc| ccdes|od v'y peop'eveesep'co
ooou||'eA! \'yoe|yo.s.ppo| ~g|eA!zJJJ-\e|od ~ved dc|
| ' s | vos vey e oo e ' do~| e~e~oe v'ose deo | vos, da g .c',
|o|ys c g |e |o ~s |'eo|e d ec| o, cossvse !'o|s || g'||'ee
|'o|s v'ee Ao~ s co~e ||o~ 'e opp ed lo |~e po|ec| o~ o |ev doys
o|e|
ed o'so ve|ed|'e~oda o |o c [Sketching on a scrap of paper-see
Figure 4. } !'o| vos| s|up d, oecouse | d d ovoy v |' |'e eed |o s de
s|o| os o|o||~e|o [modules c and d] dd| s|op, od 'ooed upv |'
|e||o|sec|oc[modules ? and y], v c' 'od ~ovedoa|o||'es|o| o He|oe
|eoc' ^g|'e s|o| o, |'o|sec|o s'ed |s eoco~po|~e|[modules a and b).
So|'eeveeovoyscoso||'ecec|eo||'e|o |'o|d dc |s|op!'epoo e~
vos|'o|posseges 'od|o ~ove|o|e eocos, v~ c've|e|~eo yoces
|'o|s|oppedo's|o' os ||'eeveeo o'o| s|o|os, |'eevoa d 'ove oee
qc |e o o|o|~ove~ec|
SoHode' opp ed |o|o po|e| o|o ~s cos s| go|s~o pogo~~ed
vehicles. 'Small vehicles, ' si nce they were to oe comfortable and i ntimate, al l
| c / ' | ' | ` " (V' | ( |

~
Platform
.
- - . - x y

. PItfar
r
r
- - . - x y
. - .

x
| _. c
go g ''eso~ed ec|oc od eosy'o ~se! c|esv|oU|oeoy ~ios|ac
|U|es!|o s, oecocse ~ovg |o_e|el |o |os o~ s'oeo yvoy'o esce
odeqco'ei'ov og|o~~ed, sopossegesvoc doyhave |opcc' |oe
des| c| oo|hedos'ooodod|'eve c evoc d'eods| g'||o|'edes |ed
des| c| o !'e ^o|o cocg| Hode|s o|e|s ['e sketches Aramis-see
Fi
g
ure co ..|
" Since the witness has moved from DATAR to Matra, we have to
move from the public to the private sphere as wel l , to gather our
testimony. See, it's not that hard. As soon as somebody's name is
mentioned, you call him up, you make an appointment, and you go see
him. "
" D l t d t ?" o you a ways ge a goo recep IOn.
" Always, and the more important the people are, the less they
keep you waiting."
/ ` / | 1 | ` ' | ` | 'V' | ' |
Ti me _
-
, ~ O
CII ___

I I I I I I I I
Time
T
1
1
~
,

5 I I I I I I I I
m
II I I I I I

r Qu| c Train consistin
g
of small pro
g
rammed vehicles.
[INTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
The :ceoe |: ^o|/o 'or:po|: suburban headquarters, r a building deco
o|ed o ||e ne.||oo|e po:|noden ||e |'e: -| the ed o| ||e :'c|, ||e
o |o'', ,o. can :ee ||e :p'ed|d ||e cos_ o|-|o: ||e dec|o,
^. ||ee, : :peo|g
.ogode 'od pc| ` ee ce|od c'oge o|dves|y g^o|o |e
c v osec|o e|ooo good 'ooo ' ooc~d !'eevee so~e p cses, ocd
so~e~ s|oes `o|vos o~o
Ayvoy, c|od voso|oe ooo.| eood oee~ ' osee ~oeo ess
eveyoody, o||e g^oos .evces, s s| goc'oe odvo~ceo|ecoo' og co
co~pe|ece, o~do'soo |oe 'ogc o| |oeco~p'exsys|eas |'o|vee o~ocg
|oe|spec o' |es 'e' |so.g| o:'^o'|o-o|Quetard socg|oc''e'|, | don't
e~e~oe ~ov Ayvoy, e|| so d. \ee o'o so~e|' g |e | c 'ee ~
|eody |o pc' ~o~ey ~|o | loees| s' ||e co~poy ''o|s ove 's 'eoo
Yo.vego||o vos v | |e~
edeveco~e'osee~eo| |e.',|'eoJeoco|gocd|ospo'o| o| ,
oc| I do ||o | gove' ~ oy ~ocey o||'o| po | Yoc ove |oe~e~oe
|oo| .A!A |'osedoysvos|v'o| | s ov |voso pove'ocse |od
oee se| cp so | coc d eo' y do so~e'' g o |'e ~ s| es, o ,e| |o~
'A!A vos o eo co|os'oe, o||e| ~e
\e' ' , .^'A<vosoosessedv | '|'egov''o'| e'oseg o, od' l vos
||y| g |o :cppo|| po' | c |ospo|o|o '| vos |e|esed ceo g o cev
` . / | 1 ` ' | | ` 'V/' | ' `
|e~edo|e cooa e|vos So ev |c~s o| pco' c|ocspo|o|oc vee e~o
~ocs y | gc cg |e og c, !e pooc!veoppooco:co~p sedso~e
|o. gs, |oo, |o|vosv'ovos oe'|o |'e ev c||.es ''eye s|. ' |ee ''o|
vos o'so|'e |oce |'o|co ed o ~o||o|'egov'' o| o s
' oy eve|, ^o|o co~e |o o.~des|od gv |' Borde!. ^o|o dd|
eo' y jJlcose Hode'so|e~|s o| eos| |vos ~oeLo~; co|ed |o o
pcc'o:e !eco|oc|s od|oooy.e |oc|, exce|'oocoeo|esse~|o
deos|'o|s|oyed pe|!y ~cc|e so~e, o |'ees|vos^o|oO do ~g, o|'e
|o Ac|o~o|s~ee|!ec qJe s cve |'e ~o~e socs ~o z l |
" So we finally know why it's called Aramis?"
" Yes, Matra gave Bardet's little programmed vehicles the bizarre
name Agencement en Rames Automatisces de Modules Independants
dans les Stations, meaning ' arrangement in automated trains of inde
pendent modules in stations. ' Aramis, for short. It has a nice ring to it,
' Aramis. ' "
" The name i s different, but when you get right down to it, i f you
read the documents from that period, Matra is making the same
arguments as Petit and Bardet. "
[DOCUMENT: FROM "ENGI NS MATRA," A REPORT ON
ARAMIS, UNDATED BUT PROBABLY FROM 1 97 1 ]
The automobi l e marks our generati on . Weekend gridlock
and urban pollut ion are upsetting, but they don ' t stop its
development . The qual ity of service i t of fers-speed, avail
ability, suitabi l ity for door-to-door t ransportati on-is
incomparable, and accounts for its appeal . Arami s , a syst em
of urban and suburban on-site transportat i or. , of fers an al
ternative to the automobile, whose very proliferation cuts
down s igni fi cantly on its performance [ p o 1 ] = + . Arami s
does not stand in competition with \!e automobile, but as a
compl ement to it . By of fering users a free choice between
two equal ly attract ive methods , i t gi ves the a u t omobi l e ' s
"pri soners " their freedom back . B y pulli ng part of the t ra f-

|

|

|
__@_@___~~ ~~,
fic off the roads , i t i mproves traffi c condit ions . . .
Arami s ' users const itute a c l ientele that appreciates the
advantages of the automobi l e, whi l e rej ecting its disadvan
t ages . For Arami s is l i ke the automobi l e : it of fers comfort ,
ava i l abi l ity, * the absence of interrupti ons . But in addi-
t i on, it offers speed 5 0 km/ h) , safety, punctuality . An
electric-powered system on pneumati c wheel s , Aramis also
protect s the envi ronment ( no atmospheric pol lution, no
noise ) [ p . ! ] . . . To choose Arami s today i s t o win the wa
ger al ready, the one our chi l dren wi ll make tomorrow i n or
der to l ive i n cities that have a human face .
"The style is better than Bardet's. "
" Yes, and you11 also notice that they cast a wider net. A l ot more
people are interested, or might become interested. It's no longer j ust
the State that is presumed to be interested in Aramis for the purpose
of improving the infrastructure or serving the publ i c. Now it's drivers
temselves, 'prisoners' freed from their chains, who are achieving their
goals-by way of Arami s. Not bad! Notice that for the first time the
market is making its appearance in the form (a somewhat curious form,
I admit) of the consumers' desire t o buy cars but to use Aramis as wel l ,
so as to cut down on automobile traffc. You sec, i t was a good idea to
move from the public to the private sphere. It's always crucial to get
hold of the original documents. "
The "market forces" of the private sector are actors l i ke the others.
The analysis of technol ogical projects often runs aground because
the observers are i nti midated by the economic forces that, l i ke the techno
logical determi ni sm we saw earlier, are assumed to go up and down the
*In the industrial world, availabilitv is not a moral virtue comparable to charitv;
t is a practical virtue which indicates th
:
t the machine or the means of transportati

n
in guestion has not broken down, that it is available. It is usuallv calculated as a ratio
that should be above 0. 96, at least for a metro line.

/ ` : / ' 1 | | ` | (\/1 ' '

boulevard Sai nt-Mi chel with the power of an R-3 1 2
bus. Yet consu
mers are
seduced by Arami s j ust as DATAR i s. Consumers, too, are i nven
ted, di s
placed, transl ated, through fi ne chai ns of i nterest. Bardet and Petit ask
DATAR: "You want to save the ci ty? li mi t the growth of Paris? Then from
now on you have to be i nterested in ki nematics, in transfer machi nes, and
i n the AT-2000. " "You real ly want to profit from the advantages of the
automobil e?" Matra' s peopl e ask prospective consumers. "Then you have
to cl i mb i nto a cabi n that is al most the same, but gui ded, cal led Arami s. "
I n each case you have t o make a t i ny shift, a nearly i mpercepti bl e detour.
I s thi s process of transl ation "fal se, " "mi sl eadi ng, " "rhetorical , " or
"i l l ogi cal "? Does Arami s real l y meet a need? We don't yet know. I t al l
depends. On what? On what happens next, and on how much you trust
the spokespersons of al l those needs and i nterests. Bardet, Petit, and
lagardere are self-designated representatives who speak in the nome of
the city, the future, pollution, and what consumers real l y want. At this stage
there is no di fference beteen Petit, a hi ghly pl aced government offi ci al
who speaks i n the name of al l urban Frenchmen, and the i ndustri al ist
lagardere, who speaks i n the nome of al l consumers. Rather than focusing
on the artifi ci al di fference between State and i ndustry, the publ i c sector and
the private sector, l et' s choose the more refi ned notion of spokesperson,
and find out, next, whether the constituent groups turn out to be wel l
represented by those to whom they have given thei r mandate. The spokes
persons assert that automobil es must be suppl emented, compl emented, by
Arami s. They are the ones, too, who cl ai m that al l thei r constituents woul d
say, would thi nk, or would mean t he same thi ng eventual ly, i f onl y people
woul d go to the trouble of questi oni ng them di rectly. The representatives
surround themselves with unani mity. To hear them, the concl usi on seems
obvious, i rresistibl e: Aramis has to exist, Arami s can exist, and Matra is
the company best positioned to bring i t i nto bei ng. Drivers cannot not want
to give up thei r cars. It isn't a question of bad faith here, or cheati ng, or
engi neers getting carried away with themselves. Are they mi staken? We
cannot know unti l they have explored the world and verified whether the
city, cars, the powers that be, pol l ution, the epoch are fol lowing them or
not. In preference to cumbersome notions such as market forces or the
i rresistibl e thrust of technology, let's choose assemblies of spokespersons
who bring together, duri ng a si ngl e meeting, around a si ngl e table, di ffer
ent worl ds. The hi ghl y placed offi ci al speaks in the name of devel opi ng the
French i nfrastructure and supports the project of the transportation mi nis-
^ ` . / C | | ` ` | ` | ' \/1 `
ter-who speaks in the name of the government, whi ch speaks in the name
of the voters. The transportation mi nister supports Matra's project, and
Matra speaks i n the name of captive drivers, who support the project of
the engi neer, who speaks i n the name of cutting-edge technology. I t i s
because these people translate al l the divergent i nterests of thei r constitu
ents, and because they meet together nevertheless, that the Arami s project
can gai n enough certai nty, enough confidence, enough enthusiasm to be
transformed from paper to prototype.
[DOCUMENT]
Matra' s primary vocation i s systems development for mil i
tary and space applicat i ons . I ts success stories i n cutt ing
edge industries are wel l known . I n pursuit of its objec
tives , it benefi ts from homogeneous mult idisciplinary
teams l ike the ones currentl y applying a tested methodol ogy
to new transportat ion systems . Hatra lS the very model of an
industrial company whose s i ze ar. d dynamic dec i s ionmaking
structures a re perfectly suited C succeed with a proj ect
l ike the Arami s system . [ p o 2 ]
" And here's one more competence, right in the middle, that serves
as an obligatory crossing point," I said with the satisfaction of a pupil
who has learned his lesson well .
" Very good; but notice that what's at center stage isn't Bardet's
competence any more, it i sn't kinematics. It's the high-tech capability
of a company that's getting a foothold in public transportation. We're
shifting from a specifc know-how to a general savoir-faire: system
building. Things are beginning to shape up. Two very i mportant new
actors are backing Aramis now: a business and a market. No matter
that the compan
y
is a newcomer and that the consumers in question
exist only on paper. Somebody who has the prestige of sophisticated
military contracts behind him and ", ho exprcsses the will of millions
of ' captive' car owners can't fail to get everyone's attention, especial ly
/ ` / | ' | ` | ' | `
the ones who hold the purse strings. Yes, Aramis is too beautiful not to
come into being. If it didn't exist, somebody would have to invent it. "
" Well , they did invent it. Look at this document. "
[DOCUME NT]
On April I3 , I97 z , Michel Frybourg, director of the I nsti
tute for Transportation Res earch ( INRETS ) , and Jean-Luc La
gardere, presi dent of the Matra Motor Corporati on, s igned
an agreement to construct an Arami s prototype in Orly at a
cost of around o mi l l ion [ 1 97 3 ] francs .
The actors come in varying sizes; thi s is the whole problem with
i nnovati on.
Before a revolutionary transportation system can be inscribed i nto
the nature of thi ngs, the transports of enthusiasm shared by al l these
revolutionaries, i ndustri al i sts, scientists, and high offi ci al s have to be i n
scri bed on paper. Verba volent. The agreement signed on April 1 3, 1 972,
by spokespersons for the mi nister and Matra was i ntended to establ i sh the
fi nanci al parti ci pation of each party, to define the prototype, to describe
the development phases, to specify who woul d control the results, to decide
who woul d possess Arami s' patents and l icenses i f i t were to come i nto
existence, to agree on how each party would pay i ts share, and fi nal ly, i n
the case of fai l ure, to determi ne how each one would bow out with di gnity,
without trials or litigation . But who are Messieurs Petit and Lagardere? They
do not have an essence that has been fixed once and for al l . They can
speak i n everyone's name, or no one's; i t al l depends. Petit may speak for
al l French people, or for DATAR, or for one of DATAR's departments, or for
a member of one of its departments, or i n hi s own name, either as a
transportation speci al i st or as a private i ndi vidual . He may speak sol el y i n
the name of hi s own i magi nation. Someone else, or hi s own unconscious,
may even speak for hi m. Dependi ng on his relative size, he may capture
everyone's attention for ten years, or that of j ust one person for a mere
i nstant. He may be cal led Mr. Large or Mr. Smal l . Here we have an essence
so el astic that a si ngle sentence, "Mr. Petit i s i nterested in the project," may
be transl ated i nto a whol e gamut of sentences, from "50 mi l l i on Frenchmen
/ ' | / C | 1 | ` ' ' ' ` 'V' | ' |
are solemnl y and eternal l y commi tted to Arami s, " to "Hi s i magi nation i s
runni ng away with hi m, but i n a couple of mi nutes he' l l have forgotten the
whole thi ng. " Now, thi s variation i n the rel ative size, in the repre
sentativeness of the actors, is not l i mited to Mr. Petit; i t characterizes al l
members of a technological project. Mr. Lagardere supports the project, to
be sure, but who can say whether hi s stockholders wi l l follow? He, too,
varies i n relative size. Let hi m be reduced to mi nority status by hi s board,
and the enormous actor who had mi l l i ons of francs to contribute is reduced
to the si mpl e opi ni on of a private person whose i nterest in Arami s commits
only hi mself and h i s dog. I n a project's h istory, the suspense derives from
the swel l i ng or shri nki ng of the relative size of the actors.
Although this variabi l i ty can never be el i mi nated, its scope can
nevertheless be l i mited. Here i s where law comes i nto i ts own. No technol
ogy without rules, without si gnatures, without bureaucracies and stamps.
Law itself i s no di fferent from the world of technol ogies: i t i s the set of the
modest technologies of writing, registeri ng, verifyi ng, authenticating that
makes i t possible to l i ne up people and statements. It i s a world of flexi bl e
technologies comi ng to the ai d of even more flexible technologies of i nterest
in order to al low slightly more solid technol ogies to harden a bi t. A
si gnature on a contract, an endorsement, an agreement stabilizes the
relative size of the actors by lendi ng to the provi sional defi nition of al l i ances
the assi stance of the law, a law whose weight i s enormous because i t is
entirely formal and because it applies equal ly to everyone. Mr. Lagardere
may vary in size, the mi ni stry wi l l change hands ten ti mes-it would be
unwise to count on stabi l i t there; but the si gnatures and stamps remai n,
offeri ng the al l iances a relative durabil ity. Scripta manent. That wi l l never
be enough, for signed documents can turn back i nto scraps of paper. Yet
if, at the same time, the i nterlocking of i nterests is actively mai ntained, then
the law offers, as i t were, a recall effect. After i t i s si gned, a project
becomes weighti er, l i ke a little sai l boat whose hul l has been bal l asted with
some heavy metal . It can still be overturned, but one would have to work
a little harder to prevent i t from righting itself, from returni ng to its former
positi on . In the area of technologies, you cannot ask for more. Nothi ng is
very solid i n this area; nothi ng offers much resistance. * But by accumulati ng
l i tle sol idi ti es, l i ttle durabi l ities, l ittle resistances, the project ends up gradu-
*See N. Bijker aOd ]. Law, eds. , Shaping TechnolofBuilding Societ: Studies in
SOcio
technical Change (Cambrid
g
e, Mass. : MIT Press, 1 992), especially the introduc
tion.
l c / ' | | ` | ` .V/ | | ( |
al ly becomi ng somewhat more real . Arami s is still on paper, but the paper
of the plans has been suppl emented by that of the patents-a plan pro
tected by law-and now by that of the signed agreements. The courts are
behi nd Arami s from this point on, not to say what i t has to become, but to
make it more di fficult for those who have commi tted themselves to i t to
change their mi nds, to hol d onto their money, or to back out of the project
if the goi ng gets rough. Yet "make i t more difficult" does not mean "make
it i mpossi ble. " Woe betide those who trust the law alone to shelter their
projects from random hazards.
" Apparently, " Norbert said, "they all seem to be clinging to the
idea that in guided transportation a mobile system that doesn't have a
site isn't worth much. So we have to go to Orly, just as Aramis did.
What i s an ' exclusive guideway, ' anyway?"
l was beginning to worry about this long l ine of " actors. " If we
had to go into the suburbs, we were going to l ose a huge amount of
time, or else spend a fortune on taxis.
" Keep the receipts for your expenses, my boy. I 'll reimburse you;
the client is paying. Ah, if only you were an ethnologist, you could stay
in your village and draw nice neat maps. Whereas we sociologists have
to drag ourselves around everywhere. Our terrains aren't territories.
They have weird borders. They're networks, rhizomes. "
" What?"
" Rhizomes, Deleuze and Guattari , a thousand plateaus. "
The word "rhizome" wasn't in the dictionary. I learned later that
Mille Plateaux (A Thousand Plateaus) was the name of a book and not
one of Captain Haddock's swear words.
[I NTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
M. Henne, head of the bureau of technological studies of Aeroport de Paris,
speaking in one of a group of prefabricated bUildings on the far side of the
Orly runways. Through the Window, the darker form of a test loop was
identifiable in an otherwise empty lot.
es, |'o|s |e p' oce, Ao~ s vos |ee \'y dd .e ge| c|ees!ed` 'o
| | / ' ` | " | ` 'V ' | ( |
~e, Aramis isn't o |TIpe o'transportati on, i t' s a short-distance transportati on
sys|e~ 'ec|o~e| c, veco | \'e|'e'o'esdeoc' eA po'o' o ssy
vos oe g des ged, ve 'ooed eveyv'ee |o| o |ocspo|o|o sys'e~ s. |
oo' e lo s'o|' d s|oces \e eve se| cp o co~poy lo| ~ov g sdevo s
\e oosed o|evey|' g
''e ve got o ev d ec|o \e gove c pthe poiect, ve so'd off our
eseoc'ocddeve op~e|~oe|s od qc do'ed oJ scos d oy
Hc|s ceve od oee |~e d v g|oce oe' d s'o|ds|occe|ospo|o
| oc, ve 'od oeco~e expe|s o| so's !'o|sv'e|e|'e Ao~ spodcc|co~es

"For you, Aramis belongs to hectometric transportation?"
', yes, co~p' e|eyAyvoy, |s c|'eso~esp'ee ^o|osocg~|csoJ|
\e'odo ~ee| g 'ogodeesol|ce Yoc 'ove|ood~ |'edoeso| e oo
o|se' g ' s podcc|s e |od cs. !'o| |ype o||ocspo|o|o sv'o|vee
good o| . ' e, |s vo|g eo c'o|~, ~ov g soevo's v ' eve~oe
| Yocve cves|ed o o| s'o'ds|oce||ospo|o| o Yoc co' pc ' oc|cov
Sove pc|o ~ o |o ''e deo \e po d d |'e s |e, | s|o'o' , od
the logistical sujport ' vas eod o' |'e dejotment of geneal studies for
Aopo|de o s I vos |'e oev'olo oved |'e |' cg !'ey cov ced cs,
oc|vevee| a vec'o| ~yse'|vossJppo|ve, oc| |vos 'o~ ~~ed o|e
cves|~e|, o yso~e|' gto check out, second-hand.
Yoc ov, I eve oe eved Ao~ so.|sdeo| o po||s As soo osyoc
e|e|'e 'o|s |eg o~, yoc |ove|o c 'ego.|'e'o'dozes o'od~ s|o|ve
ol'ces Yoc eve| ge'oyv'ee Acyvoy, o|'e |'e o c|s s, o ''e s'o|ds
|oce sys|e~s|zzed o.| e oo ' oos He|oe, |'eyve|esp| g gcpo ' ove
e~e~oe |'e `AC- !'ee vee o 'cded scc' sys|e~so||'e | ~e !'e,
1 975, evey'' gg|ocd| oo 'o | eop eve|e oo cglos ~p c |y ''ey
co~e cpv|' y o , o ssy o `ey oe so|s|ed v|' |'o|
Ad 'ove|o|e yocso~e|' ge' se o~|'o|po | o, o |'eco||oc|o|s
ve|ego ~g|'ocg'o|eo,ocovesecc |yssces,I ~eocpossegesecc |y
\|' Ao~ s, |e ssce co~e cp ove| od ove| ' 'eod | dozes o| | ~es
\'o|doyocdo | o cov |~ so~egcyv'o 'oos scsp c oJs-l'ede~od
cs|coved
He|oe 1 975, |'ee vos o peod o| ovo|oev c|es, o ' so|s o|
v ' d gi mIics A'e ! ~ZD, it vos al l over; sec.' y vos |ne only thi ng that
coc|ed Hesdes, oovocs'y, Ao~ s 'od |o oe doe \os |dooo e- |
|eo ydo| ov
Hc'yoc ~ov, s| |e' ~yse''''o| |so~eoody co~e cp v'' |'e deo o|
| c / ' | ' l ` | ` 'V' | ' |
|e oc|o~oo e|odoy od 'od |o go oe|oeo so|e|ycoc~ ss oodexp o ,
I do~' -~ov, e|s soy, ov | o ge| s|o|ed o o ' '
Js| | ' 'ov
co~p co|ed | s. scl||~ggeo|s, csrg|'e'oodo.e,oodsoo. evocd|
s|odo c'oce ed oe |o d |co|oedoe \e , eveyoodyovs'ov
|o s|o||oo ' ' |s|'e so~e v| Ao~ s \e'od|go||e~ o |'es s oJ',
but yes, | | s|vos dooo e o. 23J
To transl ate i s to betray: ambi gui ty i s part of translati on.
For Aeroport de Pari s, Arami s i s not goi ng to replace automobiles,
remodel our cities, or protect our chi l dren's future. It i s "in the same sphere
as, " in the nei ghborhood of, a much more modest means of transportation
that i nvolves a Few hundred meters in ai rports, parking lots, or the FNAC
on the rue de Rennes. It is l i mited to closed sites where one can i nnovate
without competing with the heavyweights, with subways or trai ns. More
over, for Aeroport de Paris, Arami s is not i rresisti bl e. Thei r people do not
commi t themselves one hundred percent; for them, i t is not a matter of l i fe
and death. They took up second-l i ne positions, to see what would happen.
Is this the same Arami s as Matra' s, or Barde!'s? No, and thi s is precisely
how a project can hope to come i nto existence. There i s no such thi ng as
the essence of a project. Only fi ni shed products have an essence. For
technology, too, "exi stence precedes essence." If al l the actors had to agree
unambiguously on the definition of what was to be done, then the prob
abi l ity of carrying out a project would be very sl i ght i ndeed, for real i ty
remai ns polymorphous for a very l ong ti me, especiall y when a pri nci pl e of
transportation i s involved. I t i s only at the end of the road, and l ocal ly, that
the project will acquire its essence and that all the i nterviewees will define
i t in the same terms, di ffering only i n viewpoint. I n the begi nni ng, on the
contrary, i t i s appropriate for di fferent groups with divergent i nterests to
conspi re with a certai n amount of vagueness on a project that they take to
be a common one, a project that then constitutes a good "agency of
trans/ation
,
"* a good swap shop for goals. "Yes, for a mi l l i on francs in
kind, that's not bad. Why not go along? After al l , i t can't hurt. " Thot's what
*bct M. Callon, " On Interests and Their Transformation: Enrolment and
Counter- Enrolment," Sociul Smuc: i Scicncc 1 2 , no. +, ( 1 982): 6 1 5-626; and
M. Callon, J. Law, et aI . , eds. , Mapping the Dynamics ( Science and TechnoloB (London:
Macmillan, 1 986).

/

|
_@_.. __.._....,& .~..
Aeroport de Paris sai d. IF you map out al l the i nterests involved n a project,
the vague or even reti cent i nterests of those who are pursui ng some other
Arami s have to be counted as wel l . They are al l i es. Obviously, such al l i es
are neither very convinced nor very convi nci ng. As M. Henne says, they
are not "vectors," and so they can drop the ball when thi ngs go badly. But
if you had to have onl y associ ates who would stand up under any test, you
would never stand up under any test.
" A concept, an innovation, patents, public authorities, an indus
trialist, an on-site installation at Orly- our Aramis is taking on consis
tency," Norbert exclaimed enthusiastically.
"They say they didn't have a user. "
" No, they had an operator."
" What's an operator?"
" I suppose it's an operating agency, a business that really transports
people, that's comfortable with mass transportation and can guarantee
that the thing isn't dangerous. In France, there aren't many; it's got to
be the SNCF or the RATP"
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
/| 'C|||'J, o e:eo/c| o: o| ||e |/'| ||e dec|o : :peo|g
`~ey eeded o opeo'o| !'eA' so d, \'y o|- ' | vos |os' o'ed oy
| oc o po| c po' oc
ovocsy, |'evoy cos coec|ed ~ode|e o . v s o~ so s|od o
ed, yo.co ~og ceve eo yodo co' s o~ ' .|| o y, |o|~eopeo|o,
|vossedcc|vepeo|osdo~ |' eooc' gs oopeo|os, esoedeo
yoc go||o~oeed| o''eo|eod oocs, pedc .~'os' o c|yo. 'ove
|o 'ove ooccoes |o sevce |~escoc|os Ao~ ssoved o |'o| For .s |vos
o |e|c deo, s ce|soved|'epooe~o'|e|c g''eod cs'~e|o|sapp y
'o de~od.
' | vos eo''y oo ' ovo'oo o' 'e sy:|e 'eve', ' d' d!|ove |o dov'': |'e
| o g|se'', v |co~poe's esdes,^o|o'od so d, \e ' |oseco~poe's
|'o|o eody exs| o |e ~oe| !'e ~ve| o vos |e opeo| g sys'e~, |'e
/ ` : X C ! ' C | ` ' CVA1 ' C `
deo vos |~o||e |ecoogyvoc'd 'oov | vos eo 'y|e possecgesvo
vee|oge|ed, posse.geco~lo, ood o o!'eopeo|o. o ' z, j. ]
" So things are shaping up pretty wel l , " said Norbert. " We know
we don't have to go back before the 1 970s, since everybody all over
the world was making PRTs at that time. We know the chain of interests
that connects DATAR, Bardet, INRETS, and Aramis. We can even
reconstitute-and this is unusual-the little intellectual shift that gave
birth to the innovation: it was the merger of transfer machines and
public transportation, then the eighty-one-box matrix, then the cross
wise division of the AT- 2000. We understand why Matra took up the
banner--it was attempting to diversify, it was getting into VAL, and it
had a better base than Bardet. Furthermore, we have no trouble getting
enthusiastic ourselves, even ffteen years later, over a radical innovation,
since we suffer from its absence every single day in Paris, as we go
about our investigation! We have no trouble understanding why the
people at Aeroport de Paris got their feet wet and even contributed
some land without having a whole lot of faith in the proj ect. And to
top it all off, we know why the RATP had to be involved. "
" It's not always as neat and tidy as this?"
" No, no, most of the time the origins are too obscure. And you
have to go to an enormous amount of trouble to imagine what could
have been behind such crazy inventions. In our lab we often study
incredible cases of technological pathology. Here it's j ust the opposite:
we don't understand why the thing doesn't exist. "
" Yet it really is a corpse, and we've actually been asked to
determine the cause of death. "
" Precisely, my dear Watson, but we already know that the fatal
cause won't be found at the very beginning of the project any more
than at its very end. In 1 973 , if you'd had five million francs, you would
have put them up! "
" Maybe not," replied cautiously. "I probably would have bought
myself an apartment frst. "
"Listen to that! Real estate! That's why everything is going to pot
in this country. And he's an engineer! "
/` . / l 1 ' | ' | ` | \/' `
IS ARAMIS F EASIBLE?
"Now we can go on t o Phase Zero, since that's where they are.
Where's your diagram? Okay! Here's where we are, in black and white"
[see Figure 1 in Chapter 1 J .
" If I ' k " t "
.
f 1 not mlsta en, my men or went on, our engmeers rom
Matra, Automatisme et Technique, and Aeroport de Paris have been out
in the beet fields hy the Orly runways since 1 973, asking three Kantian
questions: ' What can we know about Aramis? What can we hope to get
out of it? What is it supposed to do?' Oh, they're great philosophers!
Nothing exists as yet except beets and a principle of continuous
kinematics. A rather speculative principle, but the time is right and the
arguments are good, so it stirs up some interest. The last step in this
progressive slippage of interest is to translate it into cold hard cash,
sixteen million francs at the time. * The beet field still has to be turned
into a transportation system, which i s roughly equivalent to turning a
pumpkin into a coach. Who are the mice and the fairies? Who are the
actors?"
I had worked with the professor for a while, so I was no longer
surprised to hear sociologists throw theatrical terms around.
*The equivalent of 64 million francs in 1 988. DATAR (representing the
interests, properly understood, of the French in need of improvements) contributed
3 .4 million, Aeroport de Paris and Air France (representing a mitigated interest in
shcr
tdi>tantc transportation systems) invested I million, the DTT (representing thc
Transportation Ministry) chipped in 1 million, the Ile-dc- France region (here is
someone representing local users at last) contrihuted 0. 5 million, the RATP (repre
senting technology) 0. 362 million, and Matra (committing the properly understood
interests of its stockholders \ diversification in all directions) invested the largest
amount: 1 0 million francs.
"According to the notes, " I sai d, "among the 'actors' we ought to
interview is Cohen, who's a graduate of Supacro; he's a satellite
specialist hired by Matra as production head. His classmate Freque was
selected to keep tabs on VAL. What's VAL?"
" It's the automated metro in Lille. Everybody keeps bringing it
up when we talk about Aramis; we're going to have to look into it, too.
Especially because Matra built it. It was begun around the same time,
and the same engineers worked on both projects."
I sighed when I thought of all the interviews we had to do.
Funny-I'd chosen sociology thinking it would be less work than the
Ecol e's other internships, like man-machine interactions or signal analy
bb.
" Then there's Lamoureux, fresh out of the Ecole Poly technique
and Telecom-just like me, if I may say so-with no preconceived
notions about the world of public transportation, again j ust like me.
The RATP picked him to work on the project. Matra hired M. Guyot,
one of Bardet's engineers-he's a specialist in machine transfers- to
head its future transportation branch. "
" What about Bardet?"
"Apparently he kept one foot in the project as technical adviser.
Not one of those engineers had any background in transportation. As
I understand it, they all said to themselves: ' If we can build satellites,
we can surely build a subway. "
,
" But tat's an advantage, too. They were ready to reinvent the
wheel if they had to. Now comes the tricky part, my friend. We need
to move on from easy sociology to hard sociology. It's our turn to
reinvent the wheel . And there's only one way to go about it: we have
to dig into the documents. "
[OOCUMENT: I NRETS REPORT, APRI L 1 3, 1 972]
Arti cl e . : Composi t i on of the Prototype
The prototype wi l l consist of :
-a segment of track 8 0 0 to . , 0 0 0 meters l ong, a fixed sta
ton represented by a plat form, and a movable station that
will faci l itate inexpensive s imulations of various uses : a
. A S c ' '
~
workshop, a control pos t , a reception bui lding, and a park
ing lot ;
-five ful l-scale c ar s : two for pas senger use , three re
served for measuring instruments .
Thi s prototype wi l l i l lustrate one of the possible ways
the Aramis system can work and wi l l demonstrate its adapt
abi l ity t o various real-l i fe circumstances .
Al l the original components of the prototype, both the ma
terial elements ( ha rdware ) and the working processes and
programs ( so ftware ) , wi ll be des igned in s uch a way that
they can be t ransposed to later instal lations intended for
actual operat ion .
Commercial operation of the system should thus be possi
ble as s oon as the ant icipated development work has been com
pleted as specified in the ini tial agreement and its codi
ci l , without further delay or addi t i onal development
programs .
The present codi ci l also applies t o the t ri als and experi
ments carried out with the prototype , in conformity with Ap
pendix 1 of the initial agreement .
The initial agreement i s a continuation of agreement num
ber 7 1-01-13 6-00-2 1 2 7 5 -0 1 , between the prime minister and
t he Societe des Engins Matra .
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
M. Lamoureux, the |-!| engineer heading the proiect at the time, recalls
with feeling.'
\e od ~eve oeec |'ocg o~y|' ~g e |'o| \e ~eve :ee ocy|' ~g
l i ke | ogo ~ . s x ~o~|s, ve ve~||o~ pope|o o po|o|ype \e d d
evey!' ~g |'es |e, |'e|oc, |ecosve ~ve~|ed 'o'
" We tried everythi ng. \e vee a gang of ki ds, applying what we'd
eo~ed ~ sc'oo'|vos |o~|os|c \edvos|' |'eeo|o. |'e~o~ ~g
\evee! us|pe~c ' pus'es e|'eyvee o|eo~ \ewere eo 'y ~|o
| \e 'od |o so've o ' |'e poo e~sosve ve~| o o~g
!'e|ocvoso co~c|e|eods|ee so~dvc'. ossoo~ as 'go|do~p, |e
..

co|s popped oc| e ocse'soo oded l ' ~e|es ovoy \'e

|'eco~~ '
'ee ~e~ces co~ecy ve vee |e|ed |'eyd ce | o ^]
^ Co|e, ^o|o: pojec| |eod o| |'e |ce, :peo|g |: :poco.:,
'ogedoed o|ce ce:o,o
' s o so o oces|o o| |e | ~es, yoc ov 'ove |occ e ~og g o
dcs| o s| |odoy vod soy, \e do| 'ove o ~eo c~ds|oce c''osocd
.p`soy, e|sgo'o've ve|oe !'eeso~o|oo|e ~ose|`
`eve ~ d, ve deve'op oe Ad | vos o e |'o| !oooy, eveycody
s|css|o s ov oo 'eope do ||oe so ~oy ss
Yo. ove|o eo ze 'o| c s x ~o|sved d |'ee|e|eos c |y ~ode'
| vos|o po'o|ype, |oc|, 'vos o |c 'sco e~ode o 45]
^ Bege, |oce |-!| egee |o o: ocq.o|ed || ||e pojec| o|
||e |ce, e:podg |o q.e:|o:.
'o, -oc: o| C'y|o| : |, exoc|'y-
's o 1 , zJJ~e'e |oc v | o sc| g s|o| o, v | |'ee ||'e ye ov
cos-cse| ed' y co~pc|es c g o.ocd | dy veo|'e see o|os
3-5] .
.oc ' '| e co seqc pped v| o o~ |o| e|s ' pcso|'e e||o g'|
gcdeo , o| ooc~. g po|s, so | co |c
'|c|g : | doe o ||e go.d, ||e-
`o, ' sdoeo cood !ec gco' egev|'Ao~ s s|'o|''eco.soe
oc'oo~ocs, |eydo|'occ' eoc~ o|e, ye||'eyvo|oge|eos ||eyvee
po|o|o|o !eyove o~o|eo coc, gso' cg c.|co' cc o| o~s 'o
yoc co ~og e ov oc|oo~ocs |'ey oe
.vey co 'os 'o sov vo | s '' os |o eceve s|cc|os oooc|
speed-'ee yoc co speed cp, 'ee yoc 'ove |o s ov oov | os |o
~o~|o |se'|cos|o| y, cc| | o so os|o ov v'o| co |s |o o g, so |
os|oceoc e|osee, oo| eos||ee , vo|s |o|o| |, |~evoyo co|does
|o'so os'o ovv'o'sco~ ~go' og ce d
!oseeo|o d s|oce,vecoseo ogds|o~cec |csocdseso, |oso|
ds|oces, o o|o|. g ose ccd e e|ec| go|o|voco|odop|es ||'eco ~
|o| s|oo c'ose, occod g| o|'e c |osoc~d secso, ocd|~ecooe d ge's
|. ~essoge o~ o |o , | os |o oppooc ''e 'eoJ co v''oc|oc~p g
|o !
''eye cos|o|d o og.e, s ce |'e . 'osocd seso |o|od|'e
c oso.~d espode |eeo oe co' oc|ve
''e, ve|eyve o ed cp o |o ~, |'ecoco~'o s |se|oy ~eoso'
'

c ' | c . c
|eop' co' sesoso |v ~o |o ocos|o| speed v|oc' esy ~ove~e|s
|o| voc d s'ose cp |e osseges \e : oppooces |e s|o!o | os
cee oss ged |o, o||e pecse ~o~e~|01 cocp' ~g | os |o pc| |s o~ oc|
|o|e g'|o||ee||pov'v e.cocp g|o~ |sco ' eog.eso||eso~e
| ~e[he makes the gesture by turning in his chair]. !e cos oe d 'ove|o
coseoss[he rolls his chair closer to his desk). | |'e | s|co |e |o s |e
oe|o||.s, |ecex|oececo~es|s| ' ~e odge|s'sodes l'ece||o
co~pc|eseeps|ocs 01 ''e'ov ~ |e~s o' possegede~ocd
'oyoc see, |sco||o|eosy .oc'coos' oco cao!e |sov speedod
pos|o, | 'os |o sov vee |s go cg, | 'os|o oeoc e |o oe eode| o
|o'ove, |os' oov ve~ ! os|op o|o s|o| o, oec |s doos, od seep
|ocsoi ossegedes| ~o| os Ad'oseo||ogo ' ||so |s ov, . |cocgo
|a speed oeod As soo os 'sees o co c |o~|, | 'os |o oe eody|o ~ee|
od . c|up. A|thi s, o|cocse, at z' | o~e!ese'o., eve . o. oscov,
o doy, 01 1 c g|, |ocsodso|| ~es, v 'oc|oeos gdovc
'And besides, what you are describing involves only three cars. - real
system would need hundreds of brains like this.
es, ocd v'o|s ~oe, |e v'o'esys|e~ os 'o oe |o so|e
! fnd your characters one-dimensional. They seem fat. They're just
ideas, words on paper. They need to be animated; you have to make
them move, give them depth and consistency. More than anything, they
have to be autonomous; that's the whole secret. And instead they're so
rigid! They'd pass for puppets. Look at that one: he has no personality,
he doesn't know where he is, or what time it is, or where he's supposed
to go, or whom he's supposed to meet. You have to tell him everything:
'Go forward, go back, come closer turn right, turn left, open the door,
go ahead, watch out. ' Your characters are just sacks of potatoes. Give
them a little breathing space, a little autonomy. Make them cars with
minds of their own. You don't know a thing about art: it's not enough
just to treat characters as vehicles for your projects. It's not worth it,
being the best in the world in robotics, automation, mechanics, com
puter science, if you don't take the trouble to breathe some life into
your anemic paper fgures. Good literature isn 't made with noble sen
timents, Gentlemen, and good transportation isn't made with ideas.
either. It has to have a life of its own: that's your top priority. "
.. But what if they start moving around on their own, taking their
lives in their own hands? Maybe they'll get ahead of us! "
_
____

_________

"And what are you getting paid for, may ! ask, if it's not to come
up with a transportation system that has a life of its own
and can get
along without us? If we always have to keep after it and tell it every
thing, if we can't ever hand a system over to our clients, keys and all,
so that they'll only have to take care of upkeep and maintenance, we'll
never make a cent. We're doing business, you know, not writing novels;
we're supposed to outt Jacksonville, Taipei, O'Hare, Bordeaux . . .
These characters have to live on their own, do you hear me? They have
to. You fi gure it out. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Lamoureux:
\e od os ~cc|u os o ooe o' ~oeys \ed o' d o co|odop'e
oc| c |o|o'o co, o~o s|c, od ved soy ee , do, ocd|ecovoc o
co~e g|cp!o|eco|od op|eods|opocod ~e \eve~ovedoeoo,
|vo. d|oov
\eevecddo puo' cde~ocs|o| oc ' |voso/oy3, 1 973-1 ' 1 1 o'voys
e~e~oe |~o| do|ov| .ogode od o ocac ol ou~o s|s .vey| cg
od goes~oo| y cp| ' |e~ |cocse, !e doyo|| ede~o^s|o|o'
ovuysoppes||ethi ng di dn't vo| \edwonted Io doit o. cs| right, o|
ou!o~o|co' y, o |cs, oc|co| ~gvoed
~poss o e |o ge| |e sys!e~ go g .ogode vos ~ys|eco eve
s+oc d ove ogozed ! s, e so d. `ov |e !ecc c ocs v ~ove 'o ' c
!e oceocco|sooo|s ' ' s'ce|o|cp|o |ecve d oeea do ag vo|eveve
vo!ed A'e !o|, ve od!o vos v| |xed oo ec|ves
`o|co' y, cs!osyocdexpec|,o|ev~ c|es o|eve|ocd |e poo e~
evey| ~ cgvoed | e \o vo|ed! oco' ' |e occo' s|sooc, o.| .ogode
voc' dc|eoo| | co. ^, p 6]
I nnovations have to i nterest people and thi ngs at the same ti me; that's
really the chal l enge.
The general di rector i s i nterested; he has no troubl e getti ng j ournal i sts
i nterested, with the prospect of a scoop and some tasty hors d' oeuvres.
Everybody gathers in the beet field that has been transformed i nto a
| o / | / ` ' | : / | b | . `
revolutionary system of transportation for the year 2000. Just the moment
for a mi shap to occur, as so often happens i n projects, although not so
often i n fairy tales: i n no ti me at all, the coach turns back into a pumpki n,
hesitates, turns i nto a coach agai n, then a pumpki n, and when it fi nal l y
turns back i nto a coach agai n i t's too late. The Bi g I nterests gathered round
are always i n a hurry; they're ti red of waiting, they di sappear . . . The hors
d' oeuvres are sti l l there; as for the transportation system, sorry . . .
The problem i s, the i nnovator has to count on assembl ages of thi ngs
that often have the same uncertai n nature as groups of peopl e. To get
Aramis past the paper phase into the prototype phase, you have to get a
whole list of thi ngs i nterested in the proiect: a motor, an ultrasound sensor,
assorted software, electric currents, concrete-and-steel sandwiches, switch
ing arms. Some of these actors and actuators, are docile, loyal, di sci pl i ned
old servants; they don't cause any troubl e. "' say 'come: and here they
are; I say 'go: and they leave. " Thi s is the case with el ectri c-power suppl i es,
bui l di ngs, and tracks, even if the bolts do have an unfortunate tendency to
pop out. But other el ements have to be recruited, seduced, modified,
transformed, developed, brought on board. The same sort of involvement
that has to be solicited from DATAR, RATP, Aeroport de Paris, and Matra
now has to be sol i cited from motors, activators, doors, cabi ns, software,
and sensors. They, too, have their conditions; they alow or forbid other
al l iances. They require; they constrai n; they provi de. For example, in cre
ating the cab, we can't follow the usual patterns of mass transit: the chassi s
woul d be enormous, and too heavy. We have to go see the manufacturer
from Matra's automotive branch. But those people have never bui lt a car
on rai ls, or a car without a driver. So we have to get them i nterested, start
from scratch: we keep the door, and add an i n-transit switchi ng mechani sm
to the cab. The motors, sensors, chi ps, and of course the software-none
of these thi ngs is avai l abl e commercial ly. We have to tie them in with
Aramis: that's right, recruit them, sign them up, bring them on board. I may
as well say it: we have to negotiate with them.
Nothing says that an ordinary electric motor, for exampl e, was
predestined to be used by Arami s, just as nothi ng says that Aeroport de
Paris was predestined to use Arami s. Of course, standard electric motors
can activate wheels, but not always under the very special constraints of
nonmaterial coupl i ng. Of course, Aeroport de Paris needs smal l-scal e
means of transportation, but not necessari l y those particular means. These
I S A R A MI S F E A S I B L E ?
two actors, human and nonhuman, both have to be pampered and adapted
so they can be put together in the project. It's the same task of involvement
i n both cases. The ordinary rhythms of these two actors turn out to be
uneven, variable, i nterrupted. But that's where the danger lies. I f they're
seduced, convinced, transformed, pushed too far off thei r customary tracks,
they may al so become traitors and deserters. The motor won't work any
more, and another one will have to be developed for the purpose. As for
Aeroport de Paris, it will "stal L" Everybody wi l l lose i nterest, will pul l away
from the project. "Say, Aeroport de Paris, are you sti l l going al ong with
the project?" "Oh no, not if you get too far away from short-distance
transportation systems! There's where I bow out ! " "But hey, won't a good
old motor work wel l enough for the project?" "Not a chance! J ust a few
tenths of a mi l l i meter of, and it stops worki ng! " The effort to generate
i nterest has fai l ed. The human and nonhuman actors have once agai n
become admi rabl y di si nterested.
The ful l di fficulty of i nnovation becomes apparent when we recognize
that it brings together, in one pl ace, on a joint undertaking, a number of
i nterested people, a good hal f of whom are prepared to j ump shi p, and
an array of thi ngs, most of whi ch are about to break down. These aren't
two paral lel series that could each be evaluated independently, but two
mi xed series: if the "onboard logical systems" fizzle out at the crucial
moment, then the j ournal i sts won't see a thi ng, won't write any articles,
won't i nterest consumers, and no money or support wi l l get to the Orl y site
to al low the engi neers to rethi nk the onboard logical systems. The human
al l i es wi l l scater l i ke a fl ock of sparrows and they'l l go back to thei r ol d
targets-consumers to thei r cars, the RATP to i ts subway, Matra to i ts space
busi ness, and Aeroport de Paris to its Orly Rai l systems. As for the nonhu
man resources, they'll al l return to thei r old ni ches-the ultrasound sensors
wi l l go back to the l abs, the cl assi c motors wi l l go back into classic electric
cars, the doors and wi ndows wi l l be beautiful ly adapted to the automobiles
they shoul d have stuck with al l al ong. So i f you don't want the transportation
system to turn back i nto a beet field, you have to add to the task of
i nteresting humans the task of i nteresting and attachi ng nonhumans. To the
sociogram, which charts human i nterests and transl ations, you have to add
the technogram, which charts the i nterests and attachments of non humans.
o - | ^ l o | | / o b | .
"For my part, " the motor declares, ` won't put up with nonmate
rial coupling. Never, do you hear me? Never will I allow acceleration
and deceleration to be regulated down to the millisecond! "
"Well, as for me, " says the chip, "I bug the CEO and his journalists.
As soon as they want to break me in, I break down and keep them
from getting started. Ah! it's a beautiful sight, watching their faces fall,
and poor Lamoureux in a rage . . . "
"That's pretty good, " says the chassis. "Me, on the contrary, I let
them move me around with one fnger. I glide right over the tracks,
since I'm so light, and ! actually even let myself be bumped a bit. "
"Oh, stop pretending you're an automobile! "
"Hah! A chassis like that, you really have to wonder what she's
doing in guided transportation . . . "
"Leave her alone, she's a bootlicker!"
"She's right, " says the optical sensor `! help the car, too, and it's
even thanks to me that the motor can be put to work. "
"'Thanks to me'-listen to him! As soon as the laser angle is too
obtuse, he loses his bearings! And he talks about putting me to work! "
"You're the one who's obtuse-you can't do anything but break
down. At least ! authorize linkups, " says the central control panel,
"and furthermore I'm Compatible. "
"'I'm Compatible'! Well, I guess I'd rather hear that than be deaf"
says the base computer. "But all the software had to be rewritten just
for him. "
I was horrifed by the mixed metaphors; my boss loved them. He
seemed to like watching the engineers think about mixing humans and
things.
" It's a confusion of genres, " I said, forgetting my place. " Chips
don't talk any more than Chanticleer's hens do. People make them
talk-we do, we're the real engineers. They're just puppets. Just ordi
nary
things in our hands. "
"Then you've never talked to puppeteers. Here, read this and
y
ou1l
see that I 'm not the one getting carried away with metaphors.
Anyway, do you really know what ' metaphor' means? Transportation.
MOVing. The word metaphoros, my friend, is written on all the moving
vans in Greece. "
..

[DOCUMENT: MATRA REPORT BY M. LAMOUREUX,
END OF PHASE 0, JUNE 1 973; EMPHASIS ADDED]
In order to be abl e to ensure the basic functioning of the
Arami s principle, an Arami s car must be able to :
-follow a speed profile provided whil e it i s moving inde
pendently or as part of a t rain ( "proceeding in a train" ) ;
-take the turnof f to its target station ( " removal of a car
from the train " ) ;
-stop in a station i ndividually or as part o f a t rain
( " stat ion stop" ) ;
-connect with a car that has j ust left a station
( " l inkup" ) ;
-approach a car within a Lraln after an intervening car
has been pulled out , in order to close the gap ( "merger" ) .
*
[ p
o `
Every car thus has t o supervi se itself : the subsystems i n
clude controls that go into "onboard security soft ware, "
which has responsibi l i ty for detecting any abnormal func
t ioning of the car and for ordering an "emergency stop . " The
emergency-stop order is t ransmitted by a security transmis
sion to the neighboring cars and to the "ground security
software, " which informs the central calculator of the emer-
gency stop .
Parallel ing these controls at the level o f the cars , the
calculator supervi ses the normal progression of the se
lected program and can also transmit an emergency-stop or
der to the ground security software .
All the cars i n a train receive instructi ons about thei r
speed, which are forwarded by the central calcul ator . The
"functional onboard s oftware" transmits these instructions
to the automati c guidance system:
-i f the car i s a t the head o f the train, the automatic gui
dance system brings the real speed of that car into line wi th
the as signed speed;
*" Linkups are different fom mergers; i n mergers, both cars are actually moving
at the same speed when the operation begins. There are fewer constraints on mergers,
but the same equipment brings them about. " [po 7 note]
' S A k A /v | 5 | | A S | H | E
-otherwise, it inst ructs the car to follow the one ahead
at a distance of thirty cent imeters . The "automatic pilot"
of the car behind knows the di stance that separates it from
the car ahead, because it has a short-distance sensor ( opti -
cal) .
The " functional onboard software" ( FOS) of each car has
i n memory an aut hori zation for l inkup or merging that is
sent to it by t he cent ral calculator . If merging i s a uthor
i zed, any detection o f a car at less than forty meters en
tails a merger behind t hat car . Every car has a " l ong-dis
tance sensor" ( ul t rasound) with a scope of one to forty
meters that supplies informat ion about distances for the pi
loting system. A "short-di stance sensor" ( opti cal ) i s used
i nstead for distances of one meter or les s . [ p o 9 ]
Certain orders intimately t i ed t o s ecurity are deter
mined "by majori ty vot e . " The FOS carries out a maj ority
vote on the basis o f five consecutive recept ions when it rec
ognizes such an order; these are orders commanding the
switching arms to operate or prohibi ting mergers . [ p o 2 1 ]
Men and thi ngs exchange properties and replace one another; thi s
i s what gives technol ogical projects thei r ful l savor.
"Subordinate," "authorize, " "supervise, " "al low," "notify, " "pos
sess," "order," "vote, " "be abl e": let's not j ump too quickly to conclusions
as to whether these terms are metaphorical , exaggerated, anthropomor
phi c, or techni cal . The people i nterested and the machi nes recrui ted don't
j ust get together on a j oi nt project so they can bring i t from the paper stage
to real i ty. Some of them still have to be substituted for others. Aramis, for
example, can't be control led by a driver as i f it were a bus or a subway,
because each car is i ndivi dual ized; in the i ni ti al stage of the project, each
had only four seats. You can't even thi nk of putting a driver-a uni on
member to boot-in every car; you might as wel l go ahead and offer every
Pari si an a Rol l s. So something has to take the place of a uni onized driver.
Wi l l the choice be an automatic pi l ot, with its "functional onboard soft
ware," or a central computer with its omni science and its omni potence? I n
moving from humans to non humans, we do not move from soci al relations
` / / /| C L / ` | C . L ?
to cold technology. for some features of human drivers have to come al ong
and stay on board, or else they have to come from the center. We won't
keep the humans' physical presence, thei r caps, thei r uniforms, or thei r
outspokenness; but we' l l keep some of thei r knowledge, thei r abi l ities, thei r
knowhow. Col d qual i ties? No, on the contrary, warm and controversi al ,
l i ke subordination and control, authorizations and orders. Because the
automatic pilot i s demandi ng as well-not about retirement and Soci al
Security, but about di stance sensors, orders, and counterorders, i f we
decide to put it on board; about transmi ssi on, road markers, i nformation,
and speed, i f we set i t up at t he command center. When our engi neers
cross the qual ities of drivers with the qualities of automatic pi lots and central
computers, they're embarking on the defi nition of a character. An autono
mous being or an omniscient system? What mi ni mum number of human
qual iti es does that character have to bri ng along? What characteristics
have to be delegated to it? What sensations does i t have to be capable of
experi enci ng? Yes, we're actually deal i ng with metaphysics, and the an
thropomorphic expressions must be taken not figuratively but literally: i t
real l y i s a matter of defi ni ng the human (anthropos) form (morphos) of a
nonhuman, and deci di ng on the l i mits to its freedom.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^. Bege( eodg ||e oooe docc:e| o|ocd A, |'o|s vo| vos
oos cg |o Ao~ s s oc oJ|o~o|ed |ospo|o|o sys'e~ !o| c cdes o
~ox ~c~a~oeo|ooood co|o|:, oso esc |, |os~ ss os ove oeec.|
dov |o o ::.: l'evec esove oeec ~odeco~pe|eyo.|o~o| c, od
! 'eco cc'o|o odde::e: o' | eve c'es pese| o o |.~c| oo |ocs~ ss o
seg~ec| , p 24) . Yes, ove|ood~| 'o|oa d sccss osso~e|~es'oo o
|eoogco d ~es os
"There, Father, you can see in the ground controls a precise model
of God's relations with his creatures. "
"But isn't it rather impious, my son, to represent God as the con
stant repairer of his creatures ' mistakes? The world you propose is
hardly perfect, since, according to you, the Supreme Intelligence has
' ^|
`
c o c . c
not only determined the laws according to which the world works but
is also required to correct them constantly. For my part, I'd prefer a
system more in conformity with that of Mr. Leibniz, one in which
God's creatures would contain the complete recapitulation of all pos
sible actions. It would suffice to enter all predicates in the software. So,
for example, if the creature Julius Caesar' were opened up, an infnite
intelligence could read everything he will necessarily do-from his birth
and adoption to the Rubicon and the Ides of March. In the same way,
by opening up the prototype creature, you could deduce all degrees of
speed, all bridge crossings, and all station stops. The prototypes, like
true monads, would have no doors or windows. "
"A serious drawback for the passengers, don't you agree, Father? "
"There is the problem of the passengers, of course [he chuckles
monkishly] . . . But then, wouldn't a project like that be more worthy
of God's greatness and perfection than your Malebranchean universe,
which achieves harmony only through constant repair? Whereas I
would achieve it through perfect calculations, and all the prototypes
would go their own ways because of the preestablished harmony in
their software; they wouldn't have to see or know each other. Don't
you agree, my son, that this world would correspond more closely to
the picture that piety should draw of God? "
"Of God, no doubt, Father, but how about Matra? Even an inertial
platform couldn't keep its fixed point without being reinitialized from
time to time. You're asking too much of human beings. "
"And you, my son, are not asking enough of God. "
"But what do you do about freedom, Father? Why not allow the
vehicles enough knowledge to take care of harmonizing the laws of the
universe-fixed by God-with the little adjustments that human imper
fection and sin have put in Matra, in the chips as well as in the tiniest
little feas? Why not open up our monads? Let's give Aramis more
autonomy, as befts a divine creature, after all; for won't God's work
be judged all the more beautiful to the extent that His creatures are
more free? Instead of making them automatons, as you do, I 'd make
them living creatures. They'll know how to repair themselves, and
they'll get their bearings from one another. Instead of communicating
abstractly with their Creator as you propose, they'll fnd a new har
mony owing to their freedom. Yes, Father they'll be connected by a
vinculum substantiale. Nothing material will link them together to keep
them on the right path. They'll have to make independent decisions,
check themselves, connect and disconnect, in conformity with the laws
` / l ` L / ` | C | .
of the world system to be sure, but freely, without touching
each other
and without being the slaves of any automated mechanisms. Oh, what
a beautiful construct! How much worthier of inspiring piety in the
atheist's hardened heart than the fatum mahometanum, the predestined
world you depict! "
" You're getting pretty hot under the collar my son. ! detect very
little piety in the culpable passion that makes you want to create living
creatures yourself. "
"Forgive me, Father, ! did get carried away, but the questions
of
freedom and predestination are ones I care deeply about. "
" Where is this chapter on the preaffectation of stations ? "
"Oh-sorry, Lamoureux, ! was thinking about grace. "
"Grace? "
! mean that you can't let passengers decide for themselves where
they're going. The central system has to decide for them. "
"There's still a problem, though, " I said as we left Berger's offce.
" Obviously, the Orly track is only t , 200 meters long, and the bolts do
come loose, but still , the three vehicles really exist, and they get their
bearings from each other by means of optical sensors, and the couplings
are calculated. Why doesn't the story end at Orly," I asked, mystifed,
" since Aramis is feasible? Why do we have to raise the question of its
existence fourteen years after the fact, if it was already completed in
t 973? What's more, some of our interviewees didn't even mention Orlv.
w
For them, the story started in 1 984! "
"That part doesn't bother me too much. The body of a techno
logical object is made up of envelopes, layers, successive strips. A
project never stops becoming real. It's normal for people j ust coming
on board to be ignorant or scornful of the past. What bothers me the
most, you're right, is the impression that we're losing in terms of reality.
Things happened at Orly that no longer look feasible ffteen years later.
The old guys like Lamoureux and Cohen were ahead of the technicians
like Freque and Parlat, who came later. That's much less common. "
' ` / / ^| b l c / ` | O | c
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
M. Lamoureux, responding to questions in his ofice overlooking the Seine:
'At the end of 1 987 when Aramis was rolling, it seemed very hard to get
three cars to move together for more than a few seconds. There was a pumping
effect, and they bumped into each other; the train tended to come apart. Do
you remember seeing three cars working at Orly in 1 973? Weren't there only
two?"
" No, | 'e|ee vee |ee. |e|ssee . `ov |o|yoc oise the q:es|'o,
I ' m scdde~' yoov ~g doco|s, oa|I s| seecsv|'|oe|o|ee \o |o ~ cc|e,
~ go cg |o oss[he phones a former Matra colleague] - . . S'ee~e~oes
|oe|ee co|s qc |eve' , soe soys |~e|e ~Js|evec oeo vdeo|ope
"How do you account for the fact that things could be done in 1 973 that
still seemed borderline possibilities last year?"
,s|e~, vo~||o|e yo. so~e|o cg d |o|oeyocd dc| v|e |o s dovc,
ou|veveedo cgoe||e 1 973 |~o~ ~ 1 987, |oc|ee~yeos.o|e, o~dv|o
p ~ |ve e'ec|.occs. o ^|
Berger:
" There's oco~posocoe|vee 'yodv'o|'od|o oedoceo||evod,
oecouse'yvosco|failsafe. |yoa|oseovoy|oegaoo|ees,youco~ose
ocydeovos, os ogosyoa e o'voys o~ 'ocd |o~oe |epo so~d s|o||
cp ogo c ~ |oc|, voe |ee oe |e ecg cees |o |'ee co|s, |s co| eo y
v'o|yocd co oJ|o~o|o~ ' Hc| |o so|e ~eocsoe g c ega o|cse, se |'e
o s ~e|o, doy o~d ~ g'| , v |~ posse~ges v'o oeo ev|y|o cg, ocd cs|
.egc o ~o ~|e~o~ce !o co~poeo po|o|ype ' se |'e oeo| |yv|' o |eo
|o~spo|o|o~ sys|e~ s ~eo g ess. co. I ^|
In M. Cohen 's office:
"People ofen say that Orly wasn 't representative because Aramis wasn't
failsafe. "
!o|does~ | ~eo~ o~y|~ g c ocy cose, |depe~dso voo| yoc ~eoc
oy|o so|e. ' | ' ~eos intrinSically |o so|e, |'e |'e|es ~o qces| oc. Ao~ s
coc|vo|'o|o' ' oso~ || ~s co' ' y|o'so|esys|e~, |coc' d~ || l|ee~ yeosogo,
|co | ~ov, |co ||ve|y yeos |o~ ov. If | s poooo. ' s|c so|e|y yoae
|o' s cgoooc|, |'e~yes, vevee |o 'so|eo| y \esoveo |'o| |vo|ed
co ^'|
| . M | . | | . | 3 | | `
| M. ||ce o~ce o| ^o|o
vee | yoc o'eody doq o|' ||o| |'J-peo|g ||e co: |on
|ono|o :egg ||en, p.'|g oe o.|, ond |o oe ||o c:| o |e
:ecod:-
A| y, ved d o |cc' oco' de~os|o' oc, oc| o| cde'o so|e cod
| os ~yse|vos'ovoe|'o| |vos'|o so|e I -^ voc||ooe vey
|osoooc| |' s, I eoced |'o'e od|'eeg ees cocceoed ''e |oc| ''o| '
vos | |o so|e, o 'od cs| o| see |- doc | sov c oy cose, I vos~'
ovoeo| | ^o|o 'od o eodyspec| l J ~ ' o|ocsoc ' | . cveyoodyvo.
veypocd, ve 'od sov |o|Ao~ svos |eos c e o z l ]
M. |o'o|
y d d| pove o |' g OJ |s :ce, peop e !'ocg'| ''o| y poved
Ao~ s |eos o |, oce od |o o , |'o| ''ee voc d oe o eed |o go oocs
ove|'o|go.d. o z|
The real ity, feasi bi l i ty, and representativeness of a project are pro
gressive concepts, but they are al so controversi al ; that's why it's so hard
to get a cl ear idea about the technol ogies involved.
"Arami s is feasi bl e; Oriy proves it." "Oriy doesn't prove a thi ng.
Arami s i sn' t feasi ble. " Depending on whom you talk to, Oriy gets lost i n
t he mi sts of time and takes on t he position of a si mpl e idea, as bri l l i ant but
as unreal as Bardet's ei ghty-one-box matrix, or el se it provi des such thor
ough proof of Arami s' feasi bi l i ty that al l that's left to do i s find a few bi l l i on
francs i n order to carry mi l l ions of passengers i n the system-assumi ng a
few mi nor i mprovements can be made.
No one sees a project through from begi nni ng to end. So the tasks
have to be divided up. Let's suppose Bardet says, "The bul k of the work is
behind us. I 've got a patent on Arami s. " Statements l i ke thi s woul d make
Matra l augh, since both Gayot and Cohen start by abandoni ng Matra's
solutions. They start from scratch, and in si x months they do the bul k of thei r
work: they make a l i fe-size model . Let's suppose t hat they decl are i n turn,
"Arami s exists; the hardest part i s behi nd us. Al l we need to do now i s
settle a few mi nor issues and fine-tune the whol e thi ng. " We can hear the
guffaws i n the RATP's rai lway divi sion : "Fi ne-tuni ng? But Arami s doesn't
exist, because i t i sn't failsafe. What you have there is no more than an
i dea that is possibly not unworkabl e. " And i ndeed, i f the project conti nues,
' ` / ^' L / ' ' O ' |
they have to change the motor, mul ti pl y the redundancies, redo al l the
softare, redesign al l the chi ps. But the l aughter may keep on comi ng. Let' s
i magi ne that al l the aforementioned engi neers are congratulating them
selves on their success and breaki ng out the champagne to toast Aramis.
Others, at the RATP, wi l l be l aughi ng up thei r sleeves: "A transportation
system i sn't j ust a moving obj ect, no mater how bri l l i ant; it's an i nfrastruc
ture and an operating system. They're toasting Arami s, but they don't have
a si ngl e passenger on board! A prototype doesn't count. What counts is
a system for production and i mpl ementati on, an assembl y l i ne; and there,
more often than not, you have to start al l over agai n. " Still others, i nstead
of l aughi ng, wi l l get upset and pound thei r fists on the table: "A transpor
tation system exists only when i t begi ns to make a profit and when it has
l asted without a maj or breakdown for at l east two years. "
The frontier between "the bul k of the work" and "fine-tuni ng the
detai l s" remai ns in flux for a l ong time; its position i s the object of i ntense
negotiation. To si mpl i fy its task, every group tends to thi nk that its own role
is most i mportant, and that the next group i n the chai n j ust needs to concern
itself with the technical details, or to apply the principles that the first group
has defi ned. Moreover, thi s way of l ooking at thi ngs i s i ntegrated i nto
project management: by goi ng from what is less real to what is more real ,
you ofen divide up projects i nto so-cal l ed phases: the conceptual phase,
the feasi bi l ity phase, the scale-model phase, the ful l-system site study phase,
the commerci al-demonstrati on phase, the acceptance phase, the phases of
qual i fication, manufacturi ng, and homologation.
I f Arami s fi t i nto thi s gri d, there woul d at least be a regul ar progres
si on. Unfortunately, not onl y are the phases i l l-defi ned, but they may not
come i n order at al l . People who are studying a project may i ndeed
di sagree about the sequence. Does Orly prove that Arami s is feasi bl e? Yes,
i f you bel i eve those who define Arami s as a moving object endowed with
origi nal properties. No, i f you bel i eve those who define i t as a transporta
tion system that can be set up in a specific pl ace that meets certai n use
constrai nts. You can even argue over whether more was being done i n
1 973 than i n 1 987. So i t i s possi bl e to i magi ne that you lose i n terms of
the project's degree of real i t over ti me. Consensus about the l ength,
i mportance, and order of phases is not the general case. It is a special
case-that of projects that work wel l . With di fficul t projects, i t i s i mpossibl e
to rely on phases and thei r neat arrangements, si nce, dependi ng on the
informant and the period, the project may shift from idea to real ity or from
| o / | / || ' | / o b | (
reality to idea . . . Thi s is somethi ng Plato di dn't antici pate. Depending on
events, the same project goes back i nto the heaven of i deas or takes on
more and more down-toearth real ity. Arami s (since it fail ed, as we know)
has become an idea again-a bril l iant onfter nearly becomi ng a
means of transportation in the region south of Paris. There is obviously no
way to contrast the world of technology, whi ch i s real and col d, efficient
and profitabl e, with the world of the i magination, which i s unreal and hot,
fantastic and free, since the engi neers, manufacturers, and operators al l
squabble over the definitions of degrees of reality, feasi bi l i ty, effi ci ency,
and profitabi l ity of projects.
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
At RATP headquarters, M. Lamoureux is still responding to questions in his
ofice overlooking the barges:
"/s Aramis feasible? Presumably, ' some reply, 'since it worked at Orly. ' 'Not
at all, ' soy the others, 'since it isn't failsafe. ' Forgive my ignorance, but / don't
understand the way you're using the term 'failsafe. ' Why does it make such a
difference?"
"I cocexp o ||oyocve.ys. ~p'y\eccde|ooso|'o|ocg'go goo ys s
o||'ecocseso|oeosdov |'es|odod~e|osys|e~. !'o|'odceveoee
doe oe|oe o seocs voy. A| |'e | ~e, |'o| |o~o|oc vos co~p'e|ey
co|de| o'
\e' ' , v'ec ve d doc |o es, ve|occd |'o| sys|e~ oeosdovs ve|e
ve|y |oe 3 pe|cec|. s| ' oove |'e | gces `ex| co~es |oco'e v |' |'e
posseges,|'o|occoc|s|oocg'' yzJpecec|A''|'ees|o||'eoeosdovcs
o|ecocsed oy |eoc|os oe|vee possecge.s ocd |oesys|c~, |'o|occocc|s
|o 77 pe|ce|, od o| |oosc oeosdovcs 'o'| oe dce |o p.oo e~s v|' |oe
doos
''s s|o |oe po|o| |'c os ~e|osys|e~ |'o| c~s oc oc|o~o|c p ' o|,
oc| |'ees s| ' ' o d ve voo |oses ove v'ec so~e|o cg gocs vocg soy,
ov oos o|v'o|'oppes |yoc go co~p'e|eyoc|o~o|ed Covocs'y, |soc|
o||oeqces|o |o|oc oc|o~o|ed sys|e~ |o do essve ' |'oc |'e ~e|o. c
\A', v |'s~o e||o s, ovo ' oo ' ly 'os|o oe cceosed oyL |oc|oo| I JJ |
|'ee oe|ooe co ~oe oeosdovs !'o|s ood, oc||sdooo e
|vevee| ogo o| oAo~ s, voco o|| 'e| ~ecoed|oc|peop'e pe
co|, ovo 'oo lyvoc'd oovelO oe cceosed oyo|oc|oo|', JJ' codd | oc,
| ` / ^| o | L / ` | b . L ~
there woul d be a lot of new functions to take care of: the l i nkups, as wel l as
the motor, whi ch was new.
"And even though mi croprocessors were becomi ng more common, they
weren't rel i abl e. I sai d so at the ti me: we don't know how to do it, we're runni ng
up agai nst technological l i mitations. We coul d have bui lt in redundanci es; but
i f you do that, t he costs get out of hand .
"The rest of the story is a series of steps backward by the deci si onmakers,
who were hi di ng behi nd economi c studi es. I n the development of a system,
especially one l i ke Arami s, there's a huge component of specul ation . Economic
studies have thei r place, but you shouldn't do too many of them at the begin
ni ng. To start wi th, al l you shoul d have to do is stay withi n some l i mits.
"In any event, Gi raudet went around the table and I sai d that Aramis wasn't
general i zabl e i n the absence of a technol ogical mi ni-revol uti on. It wasn't worth
doi ng economic studies, si nce the thing was technologically unworkable. " [ no.
^, pp. 9-1 OJ
M. Berger:
" You have to understand i ntri nsi c security. That's the underlying phi l osophy
of the S`C|and the RATP. What it means is that, as soon as there is any sort
of problem, the system goes into its most stable configuration. It shuts down.
Broadl y speaki ng, if you see the subway trains runni ng, it's because they're
authorized not to stop! That's al l there i s to it: they're always i n a status of
reprieve.
"As soon as thi s authorization stops comi ng through, the trai ns stop runni ng.
The emergency brake comes on, and everythi ng shuts down. So everythi ng
has to be designed from A to Z-everythi ng, the si gnals, the electric cables,
the electronic ci rcui ts-with every possi bl e type of breakdown in mi nd. "
"That's why they cal l it intrinsic: it's bui lt i nto the materi al s themselves. For
example, the relays are specially designed so they'll never freeze up i n a
contact si tuati on. I f there's a problem, they drop back i nto the low position;
thei r own wei ght pul l s t hem down and they di sconnect. The power o gravity
is one thi ng you can always count on . That's the basic phi losophy.
"Even if you're deal i ng with electronics, you have to be absolutely sure, not
just relatively sure, that al l possi bl e breakdowns have been identified, in the
hardware and software both . And here's where it's tricky, because we don't
know how to check software-ii's too compl icated.
" We've been checking switches and electric si gnal s for hundred years.
There are procedures, committees, an incredibl y precise methodology. Even
| o /|/ ||o | |/o | b ||
so, eveyyeoves| | d ~ s|oses 'oyoc co ~og e, ~ so|\oe |~o|os
|o.sods o| cs|cc| os ocd |o| s coooed |oge|'e os |os'os poss o e oy
co~sc |o~|s . ' o l ^
M. Cohen, at Motra heodOaItes in Heso~,o~
!ee vos o ope |o Ao~ s . |yoc od |o og |e p c p es o|
. |. s. csecc !y `o'o coce
| thought that was the basic philosophy i n transportation. "
'o! o| o . A o p oe does | 'ove ! ~sc seccy|Js| ~og ce vo|
voc'd'oppe oo p oce.|evey''. gco~e!oo o | v~eeve!'eevos
o ~ o . c de!' \e' ' , peope |ose p oes, |'ey occep' |e ss, |.s s
probabilistic secJ|y !vos|'eso~ev!Ao~ s
Ad 'e| ~e|e yoJ so~e|~ ~g |e A vos eody! o!ose! 'e ss 'ey
vee ~.c' ~oeope!opeopeoveso d, |'eyveeeody'oc'oge|e
p osop~y
' cov |e|'eeqco|.o~ |oyoc[he takes out a piece of paper and writes}:
'oooo s|. csecc'y" Ao~ s .s poss o e,
| s. csecJ |y" Ao~ s s ~poss o' e
' | s os s ~p' eos |~o| Hc| ve | o y co~c cded |'o| |o:po|o|. o, |e
o~y p' osopy |'o' o 'ovs o dec s o~ose |o ~ose a decso s ~| ~s:
seco||y. Not for technological eoso~s When you say ' i ntri nsi c,' it mes |'o|,
.| ''ees oc occde|, peop'e co soy :veyoe ~vo'ved dd evey|~ g
'u~o'y poss o'e |o povde o espose for o' ' | eposs. o eoeo|dovs |ey
vee oo'e to ~og e !. svoy |edec s oc~oses oe coveed `ey co|
oe o o~ed |ooy| g
' poooo . |y |eoy, yoc soy s. ~p y. '| eve| 7 oppe~s, od .| eve| y
|~e occcs, |'ee s o s| o| ~ l , JJJ o| o |o|o occ dec| Ad | s s
oc.ep|ed oecocse|~epoooo |y. ss g'|. ! soppooc scoccep|oo e|o
o dec s o^~o|e . |e |ed o| pco' c|ospo|o| oc * o ^', p zj
M. Chalvon, managing director of Alsthom at the time of the Aramis project:
"Of cocse, od ~y |ec'c co' sevcess|adyAo~. so' |e oeg g oc
o voys 'ove |o cecsv'e|'e yoc co~pe||os oe 'oooc|!o ge|oeod o|
yoc e~e~oe |'e |ecc co' epo|
*The small number of deaths per year that can be blamed on public transpor
ttion all make headlines. The ! Z , UUU annual fatalities in France that can be blamed
on automobiles a transportation system whose security is probabilistiC or eyen
random!-don't make headlines. Hence the obsession wit security characteristic of
gUided transportation systems.
' A A || > t A S . | `
le deo vos |oo| | vos sedJcve, o.' ~poss o e g vec |e cocs|o c|s
|oo| c'ooc'eze ~oss |ospo|o! oc In so~e o|e c v zo| o peoops, oc|
o|o||'e ed o||'s po| c. oce|cy
^o|o d d| .eo'ze o| |oe |~e vo|vos voved |evod o| pco c
| o^spo|o|o ''ey'od||e oppe|ces' pv |\/. A|A|s|'o~, veve oee
voved gc ded|ocspo|o|o sys|e~s |o o ocg | ~e !ee oe |o ~oe
constrai nts on them than on satel l i tes.
\ee csed |o ioc|o g |eso|o|cos|o|s!oo| oe oocg||o oeo
o osys|e~oy~ oso||edcpposseges `o|oydoyoa ove|opo|ec|
yocse|ogo s| ~pc sve oc|s, oc||oevodo' s~ s coe' evoo e Yoc ove |o
oe oo' e|o de|e~d yocse'iogo cs| '
Cosoe og|o dv duo' s, eveyoeooksoc||o|e~ H.|Ao~ svoc d
ove oee co ec|ve pope|y !oe | s' | ~e oy| cg vec| vog, peop'e
voc'd ove oovc |e voo'e| g cp o 46]
We are never as numerous as we thi nk; thi s is precisely what makes
technological projects so di fficult.
Not onl y do the actors vary i n size, so that they may represent fewer
al l ies than they cl ai m to stand for, but they may al so bri ng i nto play far
more actors than antici pated. If there are fewer of them, the project loses
reality, since its real ity stems from the set of robust ties that can be estab
l i shed among its actors; i f there are too many of them, the project may wel l
be swamped by the erratic intentions of multi pl e actors who are pursui ng
their own goal s. For a project to materialize, it must at once recruit new
al l i es and at the same time make sure that thei r recruitment i s assured.
Unfortunately, di sci pl i ne i sn't the strong point of Pari si ans, programmers,
deci si onmakers, or chi ps. There are breakdowns, there are damages, there
are i mpulsive acts, there are dead bodi es; there are trials, deci sionmakers
on the stand, articles in the newspapers. "We hadn't antici pated thi s, " say
the operators. "You shoul d have," repl ies the angry crowd. "We hadn't
taken al l these problems into account," say the people behi nd Arami s. "You
have no choice but to take them i nto account," say the people i n charge
of security, i mplementation, si ti ng.
A transportation system is no better than i ts smal l est l i nk. If i t i s at the
mercy of a vandal or a programmer or a parasitic spark, i t i sn't a trans
portation system-it's an idea for a transportation system. To the task of
| ` P | ^ | ` L / ` L | | -
generating i nterest, whi ch l i nked up a crowd with a project, is now added
the task of protection; thi s consi sts i n rendering harml ess the behavior of a
di fferent crowd, made up of i ntruders, bugs, troublemakers who've shown
up uni nvited. The system has to be made i di ot-proof. This appl ies to rela
tions among human bei ngs-you have to prevent passengers from comi ng
to blows. It also appl ies to relations among humans and nonhumans-you
have to prevent people from getting caught in doors, and from being able
to j am the doors. It applies as well to relations among non humans-you
have to prevent bugs in the chi ps from conti nual ly setting off the emergency
brake. It appl i es to a completed transportation system that is actually
worki ng ful l scale, and it appl i es to a project for devel oping a transporta
tion system that is designed to work full scal e. The di fference between the
two i s precisely the taking into account of an infinite number of unantici
pated detai l s that have to be mastered or done away with one by one. Thi s
i s the begi nni ng of a new set of negotiations whose success or fai l ure wi l l
make it possibl e to modify the relative size of the project over ti me.
Human error i s everywhere; so i s diabol ical wickedness; and i mbe
ci l ity is common. As for software programs, they go ri ght on maki ng
mi stakes without anyone's being abl e to identify the bugs that have i nfested
them. Here is the di fference between a project that is not very i nnovative
and one that is h ighly i nnovative. A project is cal l ed i nnovative if the
number of actors that have to be taken i nto account is not a given from the
outset. If that number i s known in advance, in contrast, the project can
follow quite orderly, hi erarchical phases; i t can go from office to offi ce,
and every office will add the concerns of the actors for whi ch it i s respon
si ble. As you proceed along the corridor, the size or degree of reality grows
by regular increments. Research projects, on the other hand, do not have
such an elegant order: the crowds that were thought to be behi nd the
project disappear without a word; or, conversely, unexpected al l i es turn up
and demand to be taken i nto account. It's l ike a reception where the i nvited
guests have fail ed to show; i n thei r place, a bunch of unrul y louts turn up
and rui n everythi ng. I n thi s sense, Arami s i s unquestionabl y a research
project.
The i nnovator's work i s very compl icated. Not only does she have
to fight on those two fronts, deal i ng with supports that are removed and
parasites that are added; not onl y does she have to weave humans and
nonhumans together by i mposing the pol itest possible behavior on both;
not only does she have to attach nonhumans together; but she al so has to
| ' / | / N' | c / o | o | |
know who, among the engi neers, executives, and manufacturers speaks
for the good actors that need to be taken i nto account. Shoul d the manag
i ng di rector order a market study-whi ch would speak in the name of
consumers-when hi s technical department is declaring that the project is
not technol ogically feasi bl e wi thout a revolution i n microprocessors? Whom
shoul d he bel ieve? Hi s safety divi si on, whi ch i s clai mi ng that you can't
make a transportation system wi thout intrinsic security, or hi s commercial
developers, for whom vandal i sm rul es out sophi sticated systems? Of course
you have to "take i nto account" al l the el ements, as people say ndively, but
onl y the not very i nnovative projects know in advance which accountant to
bel i eve and which accounting system to choose. We use the term "i nnova
tive" precisely for a project that requi res choosing the ri ght accountant and
the ri ght accounti ng method, i n order to deci de which actors are i mportant
and whi ch ones are dangerous. By thi s measure, yes, Arami s i s decidedly
an i nnovative project.
" But we have the same problem, " I said, rather discouraged, after
reading his commentary in the train that was taking us to Lille to visit
the VAL system. "Who are we supposed to take seriously? Lamoureux
places a lot of stress on the failure of the demonstration with Lagardere
at the Orly site. The others tell us that that had nothing to do with it.
Not until the forty-fifth interview, the one with Cohen, do we hear
that the connection between probabilistic security and Aramis is an
absolutely crucial link that explains the whole project. Other people
are telling us that ' in any event, in the Paris region, you can never
introduce radical innovations in public transportation. ' ' In any event, '
others say, 'it's not a transportation problem; you can never innovate
across the board, and Aramis involves innovations across the board, in
everything: components, functions, manufacturing, applications. And
te other guy, Chalvon, is telling us that you can't do anyting about
vandalism. It's really kind of discouraging. How can you claim to explain
an inovation by taking into account the determining elements if there
are as many lists and hierarchies and ways of accounting for these
elements as there are interviewees?"
" We are dc-sorcerers, my friend, not accusers. We deal in white
| o / | o | : / o l H | c <
magic, not black. Each of these accusers is pointing a fnger and blaming
someone or something. Our j ob is to take all these sorcerers into
account. If the proj ect had succeeded, they'd have more to agree about.
Look at VAL: everybody is rushing to shore up its success, and every
body agrees about the reasons for it, even if they divide up the credi
t
differently. It's only because the project failed that blame is fying in all
directions. No, these discrepancies don't bother me. We aren't going to
settle our accounts in their place. What we have to understand is why
the fate of the project didn't allow them to come to an agreement even
on the same accounting system. Why isn't there any object which they
can see eye-to-eye on?"
" Wait a minute, do you mean you're not going to tell us after all
who killed Aramis? You're not going to find the guilty party? But that
was the deal ! You're cheating! Columbo always fgures it out; he gets
all the suspects together and points his accusing fnger at the one who's
guilty. He holds up his end of the bargain. "
" Fine, but in the first place Columbo i s a fctional creation, and
in the second place he deals with human corpses and their murderers,
whereas our job is to look for dismembcrers of assemblages of humans
and nonhumans. Nobody has ever done that before. Except in a couple
of nineteenth-century masterpieces-which you have to read, by the
wav. One is bv Mary Shellev . . . "
w w
" Mary Shelley? Isn't she te one whose imagination ran away with
her? The one who succumbed to her own fctional creatures?"
" Yes, she was the daughter of the frst great feminist, the wife of
the poet, the mother of Frankenstein. "
"And the other one?"
" Butler's treatise. In Erewhon they got rid of all the machines
because, like all good Darwinians, they were afraid that machines would
take over. Erewhon, my friend, is Paris and its intelligentsia. They've
wiped out all technologies, large and small; intellectuals never give
them a thought. And it works out perfectly: our fnest minds, our most
exquisite souls really do live in Erewhon. "
We arrived at the train station in Lill e. Al l day we had the pleasure
' / ^ | . | | / ' | n |
of admiring the architecture, the sl ow, steady glide of dri verless trains,
the remote guidance from the command post [see Photo 7] .
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
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so~evoy o 4z]
" I ' m ~o|ee| o|e ' yoc ''e'c|, cs|ovve |e|oco.|| ~ ~gso|''e| ~e
o J]
oc sov, ocose se|' s, yoc Js|ove|ospeos|oyoJse'|, s ceo.
ov gecps do| ogee H ocd oe c |e so~edepo|~e|, ve see
| gs ~oe o ess |e so~evoy YoJ ove |o ge| g~| dov |o d v d.o
op o~s jo JJ|
About technologi cal proiects, one can only be subjective. Only those
projects that turn i nto obj ects, institutions, al low for objectivity.
Is the Arami s story al ready over, or has it not yet begun? The
i nterviewees can't settle thi s i ssue. After al l , we can step aboard VAL, in
li l le; we can't step aboard Aramis, in Pari s. Hundreds of thousands of li l le
residents head for VAL every morni ng: they go to its stati ons, follow its
si gns, l earn how to pay, wait on the platforms in front of cl osed doors,
sense the trai n gl idi ng past the glass windows i n a white bl ur; they see
doors openi ng, cl i mb i nto the trai n, l i sten to announcements made by a
synthetic voice, and look at the doors that close before they are carried off
i nto dark tunnel s. Actually, that's not true; they see nothi ng, feel noth i ng,
| ' :` ^ ' ` : .` ' | H | :
hear nothi ng. Onl y tourists are sti l l surprised to see a si mpl e
pl acard i n
place of a driver and are a little shaken up by the station stops required
by the i ntri nsi c security system. Lille residents have come to take VAL so
much for granted that they no longer thi nk about it, no longer mention it
when they want to go from one place in the regi on to another. VAL goes
without sayi ng. "M. Ferbeck? M. Fi cheur?" No, those names mean nothi ng
to them. Yet those are the names of VAL's creators, i ts developers, i ts stage
managers! "No, really, we don't know a thi ng about them. " More fortunate
than Pari si ans, Li l le residents don't even have to recall the existence of
humans on strike days, since the automatic pi lots aren't unionized. Only
on those rare occasions when the system i s down do Lille residents remem
ber that "they" exist and that "they" are about to come and fix thi ngs.
No one takes Arami s i n the thi rteenth arrondissement i n Paris, or the
fourteenth or the fifteenth, or in Nice, or in Montpel l ier, or even at Orly in
the mi ddle of a beet field. Few people thi nk about Arami s-not because it
has become so obvious that i t no longer counts, but because it has become
so i nconspicuous that i t no longer counts. I n 1 988 Arami s exists as a thorn
in the side of the RATP, Matra, the Transportation Mi ni stry, and the Budget
Office, which i s still wondering how the adventure ended up costing nearly
half a bi l l i on francs. Arami s becomes a textbook case for the Ecol e des
Mines. It tugs pai nfully at the memory of some thi rty engi neers who have
given i t the best years of thei r lives. Di spersed among thousands of gestures,
myriad reflexes, and i mmense know-how on the part of Matra and RATP
engi neers, it survives, but in a state that l eaves it unrecognizabl e. People
say, "Let's take the Arami s case. " They don't say, "Let's take Arami s to the
boulevard Victor. "
VAL, for the people of Li l le, marks one extreme of reality: i t has
become i nvi si bl e by virtue of its existence. Arami s, for Pari si ans, marks the
other extreme: i t has become i nvi si bl e by virtue of its nonexistence. The VAL
project, ful l of sound and fury, arguments and battles, has become the VAL
object, the i nstituti on, a means of transportati on, so rel iabl e, si lent, and
automatic that Li l l e residents are unaware of i t. The Arami s project, ful l of
sound and fury, arguments and battles, has remained a project, and
becomes more and more so; soon i t wi l l be nothing more than a pai nful
memory i n the hi story of guided transportati on.
The VAL object gathers to itself so many el ements that i t ends up
existi ng independently of our opi nion of it. Of course, the descriptions by
the Li l l e residents, by Notebart (who i s its father), by the supervisors i n the
| ' ^| ` | | / ' ' o | L
control room, by Ferbeck (who is al so its father), by Lagardere (who is also
its father), by the RATP (which cl ai ms to be its father), by Aisthom (which
al so cl ai ms to be its father)-al l these descriptions are goi ng to vary, and
especially on the question of paternity! There are as many poi nts of view
as there are heads. But these points of view are all focused on a common
object, as if, whi l e wal ki ng around a statue, each person were offeri ng a
di fferent description that was neverthel ess compatible with the others. Ex
cept for the point of view, the description is the same. VAL, because it exists,
unifies poi nts of view. It transforms people's opi ni ons of it into "simpl e"
poi nts of vi ew about an obj ect that remai ns i ndependent of them. With
Arami s there i s nothi ng of the sort. Since i t does not exist, it cannot uni f
points of view. There are as many possible Arami ses as there are mi nds
and poi nts of view. Matra's poi nt of view and the RATP's and the mi nistry's
are irreconci l abl e; withi n the RATP, withi n Matra, withi n the mi ni stry, i ndi
vi dual opi ni ons are equal l y irreconci l able; the same Matra engi neer, from
one i nterview to another, or the same mi nistry offi ci al , between the begin
ni ng of an i nterview and the end, will al so have i rreconci l abl e viewpoints.
They really don't know. Their opi nions can't agree, si nce for want of
agreement among them the object has failed to exist i ndependently of them.
Schooled by my professors in the culture of objectivity (Norbert
called my school the College of Unreason, in allusion to Butler's
book), I had trouble getting used to the idea that the Aramis actors
were all telling us stories. At Orly, however, they had tried to tell a
story that held together. To do so, they had gone ahead and developed
bits and pieces in their workshop. They had gone to hangars , to
catalogues , to manufacturers looking for electric motors, auto bodies,
laser and ultrasound receptors, chips, concrete-and-steel sandwiches,
feeder rails, electric circuits, emergency brakes, doors, and-to make
1\ all work-activators with little electric motors. They really did try
\O bind all the different elements together. But Aramis didn't hold up.
It turned back into a heap of disconnected scrap metal.
I had my own private interpretation, but I no longer dared express
it to Norbert. Aramis didn't hold up because it was untenable. Period.
From the very beginning, it was a fction, a utopia, a two-headed calf.
` / H /l\" | C L / ` | C |
Instead of that, my professor insisted -and with such arrogance! -that
one had to live with variable degrees of obj ectivity! And wasn't it
Unreason pure and simple that he was teaching me in his school? I had
a name for his variable-geometry reality: I called it playing the socio
logical accordion!
No one can study a technol ogical project wi thout mai ntai ni ng the
symmetr of explanations.
I f we say that a successful project existed from the begi nni ng because
it was well conceived and that a failed project went aground because it
was badly conceived, we are saying nothi ng. We are onl y repeating the
words "success" and "fai l ure, " whi l e placi ng the cause of both at the
beginning of the project, at its conception. We mi ght just as well say that
Nobel Prize wi nners are born geni uses. This tautology i s feasi bl e only at
the end of the road, when we've settled down by the fire, after hi story has
di sti ngui shed successes from fai l ures. A comfortabl e position-but only i n
appearance, for as time passes the positions may be reversed: Arami s may
become, i n Chicago i s goi ng to become, the transportation system of the
twenty-first century, and an obsolete VAL may be wiped out by the economic
downturn in the Lille regi on. What does the pi pe smoker say i n such a
case? Don't thi nk for a mi nute that he's deflated: "Aramis was wel l thought
out, you could see that right away. All you had to do was look at VAL to
see that it was ol d hat. " The i ncorrigible know-it-al l s! They're always right;
they always have reason on their si de. But thei r reason is the most cowardl y
and servi l e of al l : it's the one that flatters the victors of the day. De Gaul l e
after Petai n; Queui l l e after de Gaul l e; de Gaul l e after Coty. And i t's the
fine word "reason" that they distort for bootl i cki ng purposes. Vae victis,
yes, and tough l uck for the vanqui shed!
No, honor and good l uck to the vanqui shed. Fai l ure and success
have to be treated symmetrical ly. They may gai n or lose i n degrees of
real ity; one may become a utopi an project and the other an object. Thi s
does not modi fy thei r conception, or thei r bi rth, or day 3, or day n. Al l
projects are sti l l born at the outset. Existence has to be added to them
conti nuously, so they can take on body, can i mpose thei r growing coher
ence on those who argue about them or oppose them. No project is born
profitabl e, effective, or bri l l i ant, any more than the Amazon at its source
| o / | /N o | : / o | H | c ?
has the massive di mensions it takes on at its mouth. Without modi fying the
explanatory pri nci pl es, one has to follow projects lovingly through thei r
enti re duration, from the ti me they're just crazy l i ttle ideas i n the heads of
engi neers to the time they become automatic trains that people take auto
matical ly, without thi nki ng about them. Conversely, one has to stick with
them whi l e the automatic trai ns (on paper) that passengers (on paper) take
as a matter of course turn back i nto wi l d ideas that float around, that have
floated, in the heads of engi neers. Yes, from the extreme of objectivit to
the extreme of subjectivit and vice versa, we have to be capabl e of
travel i ng without fear and without bl ame.
Let's not make a vertical separation between what exists and what
does not exist. If we reestabl i sh symmetry, then there i s agai n transverse
conti nui ty between what exists and what does not exist, between VAL and
Arami s. The project that does not exist i s both easi er and harder to explain
than the one that does. To study VAL, cl assical rel ativism suffices-everyone
has hi s or her own point of view on the thi ng; it's a question of perspective,
of i nterpretation . To study Arami s, we al so have to explai n how certai n
poi nts of view, certai n perspectives, certai n interpretations, have not had
the means to i mpose themselves so as to become objects on whi ch others
have a si mpl e point of view. So we have to pass from relativism to relation
ism. The war of interpretations is over for VAL; it no longer shapes the
object; VAL's paterni ty, profitabi l i ty, scope, mai ntenance, and appearance
are no l onger at i ssue. The war of i nterpretations continues for Aramis;
there are onl y perspectives, but these are not brought to bear on anythi ng
stable, si nce no perspective has been abl e to stabi l ize the state of thi ngs
to i ts own profit. Arami s i s thus easi er to follow, si nce the distinction
beteen obj ectivity and subj ectivity i s not made-no "real " Arami s i s the
sum of the virtual Aramises-but it i s also harder to fol l ow, precisel y since
i t i s never possibl e to give thi ngs, as we say, their due. Everyone, even
today, stil l tel l s us stories about i t.
[DOCUMENT: TECHNICAL DESCRI PTI ON BY MATRA OF THE ARAMIS
PROTOTYPE AT ORlY, J UNE 1 973; EMPHASI S ADDED)
Report on the end of phase J .
The Orly Aramis prototype : technical description .
The fol lowing pages are the outcome o f a synthe s i s of t he
S ~ - ~ V S c ~ S 3 . `
reports and numerous explanations provided by Matra engi
neers during the Orly t rials .
They should not be read as the descript ion of a t ranspor
tat ion system, but rather as that of a prototype of a trans
portation system-that is , of a coherent but essentially
changeabl e set of solut ions , often quite original ones , to
the problems rai sed .
This "technical description" t hus emphas izes the pro j
ect ' s original features and neglects other more classical
sets which have nevertheless been used and even sought after
in the ef fort to avoid a "race toward gadgetry . "
To study a technol ogical project, one must constantly move from si gns
to thi ngs, and vice versa.
Arami s was an exciting di scourse. It became a site at Orly. And now
i t has become di scourse agai n: text, reports, explanati ons. What would
Aramis' story be i f it held together on its own? It would be a story that
would work; it would carry away, would transport, without breakdown,
those who gave themselves over to it. The door closes, the passenger
punches in her destination, and the vehicl e, without a hitch, without stop
pi ng at i nterveni ng stati ons, at 50 ki l ometers an hour, watched over from
on high, del ivers the traveler to her destination and opens the door. A whol e
program! But i n 1 973 Arami s i s a narrative program, a story that i s told
to the decision makers, to stockhol ders, to local offi ci al s, to future passen
gers to "bring them on board, " but it i s al so a work program, a flow chart,
and a di stri bution of tasks, so that Matra can be an enterprise that works
wel l . These programs are transl ated in turn by a computer program in 1 8-bit
series: " 1 1 1 , gi ve the number of the car; 01 1 1 , check the message; 01 ,
open the door; 1 0, release the emergency brake; 00, displ ay the number
of the target stati on; 1 1 , parity." Fi nal ly, al l these mi ngled programs, al l
these trial s, al l these attempts produce a real story, written down: a pon
derous text, the report on the end of phase o. With Bardet, we were sti l l
at the point of daydreami ng on paper, scri bbl i ng calcul ations on the back
of an envelope; then we moved on to more serious writing, to patents. Next
came protocols, signed agreements. Then we went on to hardware, to Orly,
to grease and sparks and cement mixers and pri nted circuits. Now we've
| o / | - | o : / o b l :
come back to pri nt. The whole passage through hardware helps make the
written hi story a l i ttle more credi bl e. Bardet's affai r was a tenuous dream:
we weren't goi ng along with it, i t di dn' t work, they're pul l i ng our leg.
lamoureux's story and Cohen's and Gayot's is a story that works: people
bel i eve in it, Orly is behi nd it-yes, unquestionabl y it all hol ds togethero
The account of a fiction is general ly easy to follow; you never depart
from i ts textual form and subj ect matter. Wherever you look i n the narrative
of The Three Musketeers
,
Porthos, Athos, and Arami s always remai n
figments of the text itself. The account of a fabrication i s somewhat more
di fficult, si nce any one of the fi gures may move from text to object or object
to text whi le passi ng through every i magi nable ontological stage. In order
to follow a technological project, we have to fol l ow si multaneously both
the narrative program and the degree of "real ization" of each of the
actions. For exampl e, the rendezvous of Arami s' platoons i s an action
programmed at the time of Bardet's earliest ideas, but its degree of reali
zation varies accordi ng to whether we go from the earl iest di scussi ons with
Petit to the patents, to Matra's pl ans, to the Orly site, to the i mprinti ng of
the chi ps, to the reports on the experi ments, or to the report on the end of
Phase o. Dependi ng on the point at which we l ook i nto the acti on, the
" meeting of the branches, " we wi l l have ideas, drawings, l i nes in a pro
gram, trai ns runni ng before our eyes, statistics, seductive stories, memories
of trai ns runni ng before the eyes of our i nterlocutors, photos, plans agai n,
chi ps agai n. For the engi neer substitutes for the si gns he writes the thi ngs
that he has mobilized; he attaches them to each other so they'll hol d up;
then he withdraws a l i ttle, delegating to another self, i n the form of a chi p,
a sensor, or an automatic device, the task of watchi ng over the connection.
And thi s delegating al lows him to withdraw even further-as i f there were
an object. I f onl y we always went from si gns to thi ngs! But we al so go i n
t he other di recti on; and we soon find ourselves not i n a subway trai n but
i n a conference room, once agai n among si gns speaking to humans-as
i f there were subjects!
Alas, VAL speaks well for itself holds up all by itself Why can't I?
Oh, why did you never come to an understanding that would have
endowed me with the same depth, the same weight, the same breadth
as VAL? Why did you argue about me instead of agreeing on a unique
object? Why was ! words, and never the same ones, on your lips? Why
' o / / o | / b | b . L
can't put identical words into your mouths? Proceed in a train! Move
ahead! Split up! Behave! Go! Stop! Merge! Haven
't ! carried out all
these orders? What more do you want? Do you want me to become
embodied, to take on fesh? Action? That I am. Program? That I am
.
Verb I am as well. Why, oh why have you abandoned me, people? What
do I have to do with prosopopoeia? Will you ever console me for
remaining a phantom destined for a work of fction when I wanted to
be-when you wanted me to be-the sweet reality of twenty-frst
century urban transportation? Why didn't you give me my part, the
object's part? Why did Lamoureux, Gayot, and Cohen treat me as
cruelly, as ungratefully, as Victor Frankenstein?
"It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accom
plishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony,
collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark
of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in
the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my
candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extin
guished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed
hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.
"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how
delineate the wretch whom with such infnite pains and care I had
endeavored to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected
his features as beautiful. Beautiful!-Great God! His yellow skin
scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was
of a lustrous black, and fowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but
these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery
eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets
in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips
. . . He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may
be called, were fxed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some
inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have
spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to
detain me, but I escaped, and rushed down stairs. I took refuge in the
courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited; where I remained
during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest
agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it
were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I
had so miserably given life. " [From Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or the
Modern Prometheus 1
__

/ / | | ` ` c / o H |
"Do you comprehend the crime, the unpardonable crime?" Nor
b
ert asked me indignantly. "Victor abandons his own creature, horrifed
by what he has done. Popular opinion has got it right, because I! has
righ
tly given his name to the monster, who didn't have one in the novel .
Frankenstein, all stitched together, full of hubris and remorse, hideous
to behold. The monster is none other than Victor himself."
| . - M / ^. . | : - ' | n | :
SHI LLY- SHALLYI NG
I N THE S EV E NTI E S
" We're making progress, my friend-we're crossing suspects ofT
our list one after another. The cause of death can't be located in the
fnal months; that much we've known all along. According to all the
witesses, it was inscribed in the nature of things. We know it can't be
found in the initial idea, which everybody was excited about. We also
know that it can't be found in the Orly phase, which went pretty wel l,
all things considered, since it didn't commit the project to go in one
particular direction or another. So let's move on to the other suspect
phases. "
"There's at least one point on which everybody agrees, " I said,
consulting the fi les. " After Orly, there was a period of shilly-shallying
"stop and go," they called it in Frenglish. You can see it in the chart
of annual expenditures. Here: this goes from 1 972 to 1 987. I 've marked
where we are in black" [see Figure 1 in Chapter I ] .
"You should have added the cost of our postmortem study in
1 988. "
" It's such a trivial amount, in comparison; it'd be invisible-a thin
line at best. "
"Yes, but i f we'd done i t fve years earlier, tey would have saved
a small fortune! "
We have to overlook my boss's weakness for thinking he's useful
and efficient, even though he himself of course criticizes other people's
notions of usefulness and effi ciency . . .
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS)
At Matra headquarters M. Etienne is speaking.
Ao~ s eve 'od o~ e~g ce loo| vos |'e eo poc e~, the congenital
defect, o ' |ose yeos
'An engine?"
"I ~eo o 'oco e~g e, o d v g |o|ce o po |c o~, o~ e ec|ed o||co ,
so~eoodyv|' p. vovoa d 'ove ~ode | 's co.se, v'ovo. d ove J|
's s'o. de 'o ''eg ds|oe, so~eoody devo|ed ecocg', s|cooo eo.g'
'o~eoody ' se `o|eoo|, v'os.po'ed \A. ~ . e
zvey p.c c |o~spo|o|o~ sys|e~ s so exe~sve | 'o| i t ceeds o 'oco
po |co eg ~e, o oco' oose, |o ~ose | poy o||ove'oeyeos
H.!Ao~ s~eve'od|'o| ''egod|osose~essvodeed|o~ o~ee~d
o| o~ce |o |'e o|'e| o~d eded cp ~ `os, v~ee, os | 'oppe~s, |'ees
~ocody c'oge o| c|co~ |ospo||o| o~ c os, |s |'evos|o| so a| os,
od|c||'e~oe |ood'o|o' c~de|'e|o.~oo||oeA', v' c' soe~o~o.s
~oc' e
A technol ogical project i s neither real i stic nor unreal i stic; i t takes on
real ity, or loses it, by degrees.
After the Orly phase, called Phase 0, Arami s i s merely "real i zabl e";
it i s not yet "reaL" You can't use the word "real" for a nonfail safe 1 . S-kilo
meter test track that transports engi neers from one beet fiel d to another. For
thi s "engi neers' dream" to continue to be real i zed, other el ements have to
be added. So can we say that nothing i s real ly real ? No. But anythi ng can
become more real or less real , depending on the continuous chai ns of
translati on. It's essential to conti nue to generate i nterest, to seduce, to
translate i nterests. You can't ever stop becomi ng more real. After the Orly
phase, nothi ng i s over, nothi ng i s setled. It's still possible to get along
without Arami s. The whole worl d i s sti l l getting along without Arami s.
The translation must be conti nued. What has to be done now is to
recruit a "l ocal engi ne" for this automated transportation system. And this
engi ne i n turn wil l attract l ocal users, who wil l have to give up their cars
and their buses i n favor of Arami s. I n order to obl i ge them, seduce them,
compel them, Arami s will have to go exactly where they are headed; i t wi l l
______
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___ `
have to hel p them get there faster and more comfortably. Each one of us,
by taking Arami s to reach our regul ar destinations, wi l l contri bute a bit of
reality to this transportation system.
Obviously, Arami s won't fi nd itself "up and runni ng, " ready to trans

late my crosstown itineraries, unless the local offi ci al s, after many others,
become excited about its prototype and decide that Arami s transl ates their
deepest desires. The task of maki ng Arami s i nteresting never ends. For
technol ogy, there' s no such thi ng as inerti a. Here's proof: even an ordinary
user can make Arami s less real by refusi ng to get i nto one of its cars; or,
if she' s a l ocal offi ci al , by refusi ng to get excited about it; or, i f he's a
mechani c or a driver, by refusi ng to work for it. No matter how old and
powerful , no matter how i rreversi bl e and i ndi spensabl e, thus no matter how
real a transportation system may be, it can always be made a l i ttle less
real . Today, for exampl e, the Paris metro i s on strike for the third week i n
a row. Mi l l i ons of Parisians are l earni ng to get al ong wi thout i t, by taking
thei r cars or wal ki ng. A few hundred shop technici ans have stopped doing
their regul ar mai ntenance work on the system, and a few dozen engi neers
who've benefited from the Arami s experi ment are pl otti ng to make the next
metro completely automatic, entirely free of drivers and strikers, thanks to
the Meteor project. You see? These enormous hundred-year-old technol ogi
cal monsters are no more real than the four-year-old Arami s i s unreal : they
all need al l i es, friends, long chai ns of translators. There's no inertia
,
no
irreversibility; there's no autonomy to keep them al ive. Behi nd these three
words from the phi losophy of technol ogies, words i nspi red by sheer cow
ardice, there is the ongoi ng work of coupl i ng and uncoupl i ng engi nes and
cars, the work of local offi ci al s and engi neers, strikers and customers.
So i s there never any respite? Can't the work of creating i nterest ever
be suspended? Can' t thi ngs be al lowed j ust to go along on thei r own? I sn't
there a day of rest, afer al l , for i nnovators? No: for technol ogies, every
day is a working day. You can forget the work of the others, but you can' t
manage i f there's no one left worki ng to mai ntai n the technol ogies that are
up and runni ng. People who tal k about autonomy, i rreversi bi l ity, and i nertia
in technology are cri mi nal s-never mi nd the puri ty of their motives. May
the ashes of Chernobyl, the dust of the Chal l enger, the rust of the Lorrai ne
steel mi l l s fal l on their heads and those of thei r chi ldren !
' ' | Y ` | Y | ` | " | ' : V : ` ' | c .
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ |o|o|, poec| |eod, :peo|g o| |-|| |eodq.o|e:
e|oe oy|' cg e se, A|o~ s s o se es o| s|opo~dgo ~ove~e~'s l'o|
|oc|'os p' oyed o ~o o o e |yoc ooso||'e ' s|oyo||'e poec|, yoc see
co~| ~co s'o||gcpods'c|| ~gdov~ ^o||ooosecp|s|eo~sseve|o| ~es
ovco~yoc'ope|oge|o~y co| c|y ccde|'ese cod | o~s-co z|
^ |||ee, d|ec|o o| ^o|o, e:pod|g |o q.e:|o:
!|d ||: :||'y:|o|'y|og :o|e ||ng: |od |o yo.-
`o, vedco~e|o|e~sv|'|'esovpoce,|'e ~|e~o eoso~,|oo,v' c
co covoe eveoed, vos|'o|ve vee scpposed |oseep|'ecos|s dov~
As eo yos 75 o 76, \A. 'od p o |y|o as `o|eoo| 'od ' ss'ou' de||o
|'ev'ee , ve d d| 'ove|'eso~eso||o| pessc|ev |~Ao~ sexcep|||o~
|e~o, o~d |'o!vos o|e ocd d d| os|ve|y 'og
\ed dc|g vecpocAo~ s, oc' `o'eoo|sep|o||ecs \e 'o~ded |'e
s'ovdov~s v |'oa| |oo ~ac' |occ e, oc| |s |ce ''o| ~ ' -// ve o ~os|
e~| e'yd s~o~'' ed |'eAo~ s|eo~. o z l |
^e::: Be|e od ^oey, :peo|g o| ||e |-i| o.eoc o| ecoo:c
:|.de:
A| ' ' e |'ee vos L |eo co|oc' cg oc|'o|y 'ee 'AC.^ 'os o~e os
ve Hc| Ao~ s ~eve 'od o~e o 'A'^, ve 'ove o eed ocd vee
| gc ~g oa|'ov|o ~ee| |, |oAo~ s, ve 'od oc oo ec|o~dvee |y cg|o
see v'ee |o pa| |, cs| os veve doce v'' !A' .| Ao~ s | co y go|
| ~ s'ed.
|||:|ed o|| yoc :g|| :oy' j|ocg||e
!'ee vos o o| o| |dd' g oo.d, o sees o' s|ops o~d s|o's ''o|
co~p co|ed | ' ~gs
A|| |s|, ve|'ocg'|ved cse|~eHcs. v s o~, so|vou'd~ ' ge||oo 'eovy,
se |'e ~e|o ,Ao~ svos s.pposed |o oe ' g~| , seoc|o~oo es, !'e |'ey
so d ~o, |vos go cg|o ce c |'e 'covoy . v s o~, s ~ce |vos |eo'y |ocg'
vos|o~|'e|ec'~o og co s|odpo ~' .
!'eopeo' ~gogeccyv |' ~| 'eA! voscosc''edo y~og ~o' 'y !'e
opeo|os d dc|ge| ~voved ''ep|oec|c~| |~e e~d, o~d + ~yop ~ o~ |
o: |oo 'o|e
'e|eedoocsoopsoe'.ee~ c| zo|o~cocs|o c|so~d|e.+~o og co co~
s|o c|sveee'o've'ysov|o||~e|. s||e~yeos A|''e so~e| e, v|'odeo'
SH ' 'Y o / . |Y | ` ' ' | !l S |\|1! | |S
os covo|ve os |~s oce, yo. co| e| yo.se | oe deo ed oy peope v'o
oe|.sed |o |od v'oocc o JJ
The ti me frame for i nnovations depends on the geometry of the
actors, not on the calendar.
The hi story of Arami s spreads out over eighteen years. I s that a long
time, or a short one? I s i t too long, or not long enough? That depends. On
what? On the work of al l i ance and transl ation. Ei ghteen years i s awfully
short for a radical i nnovation that has to modi f the behavior of the RATP,
Matra, chi ps, passengers, local offi ci al s, variablereluctance motors-what
an appropriate name! Ei ghteen years is awfully long i f the project is
dropped every three or four years, if Matra periodically loses i nterest, if
the RATP onl y bel i eves in i t sporadical ly, i f offici al s don't get excited about
it, if mi croprocessors get i nvolved onl y at arm' s length, i f the variable-re
luctance motor is reluctant to push the cars. Time really drags. What
happens i s that actors get i nvolved and back out, blend together or set
themselves apart, take or lose i nterest.
I s VAL's ti me the same as Arami s' ? No, even though 1 975, 1 976,
1 977, 1 979, and 1 980 are critical years for both. It's no good taking out
a chronometer or a di ary so you can measure the passage of ti me and
bl ame the first project for goi ng too qUi ckl y and the second one for going
too sl owly. The ti me of the first depends on local sites, on Notebart's role
as engi ne, on Ferbeck, and on Matra, just as the ti me of the second
depends on the absence of sites, on hesitation over components, on the
motor's fits and starts. All you have to do i s reconstruct the chai n of
permissions and refusal s, al l iances and losses, to understand that a project
may not budge for a hundred years or that i t may transform itself completely
i n four mi nutes flat. The obsession with cal endar time makes hi stori ans
spri nkl e technol ogies wi th agricultural metaphors referring to maturation,
slowness, obsolescence or germi nation, or el se mechanical metaphors
havi ng to do with acceleration and braki ng. In fact, time does not count.
Ti me i s what i s counted. It i s not an explanatory variable; i t is a dependent
variabl e that needs to be expl ained. It doesn't offer a framework for
expl anation, si nce it is an effect that has to be accounted for among many
other, more interesting ones. Grab calendar ti me and you' l l find yourself
A l Y | ` ' | 1 c ' | ` | ` 1 |
`
empty-handed. Grab the actors, and you'll get periodization and temporali
zation as a bonus. Here i s sociology's sol e advantage over hi story.
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
M. Gueguen, the RATP's director of infrastructures, is speaking at company
headquarters, in the cramped office he has occupied since the dismantling of
the Aramis team.
A|o~s s po ||opo |, | sode~odse|vce.!o|s |e ~o d ||eece
oe'vee !s od o' ' o|e| |ospo|o|o sys|e~s !ees o |xed e Hc'
|o| po| od |o oe gvec cp g'| ovoy, oecocse o| ~pe~ e|o|o ssces
lo|vos|evo epoo e~ioAo~ s, 'ose|e~yeo|so||eC'y 'evey
| g|~o| ~odeAo~ ssod l|ee', |socec|eo e, vosscJ||edo||es|o|
\o|cos|s|e ~os| o gc ded|ocspo!o|o sys!e~ ' eAo~ s|o| 'os
o~ exc csve gcdevoy- ' |s |e c||os'Jc|ce|e odges, |e | a~e' s, |e
voduc|s, |eocs
Coy, A|o~s 'os o o g odvo~|oge oe g s~o' od g', oc| oo,
ees|epoo.e~ [He tokes out a piece of paper. } !eyvoc|ed|ogvegood
sevce, so 'ey so d. .e|s pc| o s|o!o ocg'yevey JJJ ~e|es `ov
|e ~e|o, | s evey ^JJ o ^'J~e|es \o |, 'ocg|e s|o|o s oco
s' d' og, oecocseyoc co|vo| |o o'oc|e co|s oe' d|o|oeu|s|opp ug
!o|s|evo edeo. o|o s g es|op c' 'e| o' des| o| o~.
Hc||eco|s |o|sto
p
ove |o oveo sc~| e|o sepoo|e |o~ |e|o
!ey oso eed |oo~ |o s'ov dovc, p cs o po||o~ 'og eocg |o occo~
~odo|e |~e J~oeo|cos, p cso~o|escc| eso |eycocspeed ap od
|e o |e|o ~, v c su go|so^o|ovossoygo||e| ~eo|oooc|
'Js o~e|e|s o oc|v|oc|s|opp g .oyoc see-
Cveod s!occeo'JJJ~e|es ' gce|, |yoado|vo||eposse~ges
|o oe'|ovo' ' oveeoc o'e ,od posseges oec|co'dges ooo|||esI
| |eocceeo'ococddeceeo|o~oec|posso'e . Yoa see'e poo.e~-
\e' , yoJ gJessed |. |e|eoeoc|co' ytwo |ocso ~os||evo evoy
'oeve |Ao~ sso ~o|ovgocgesys|e~, yoa ove'ocove oc||c~e sod
~oe |e~c'es |o| o vey v de gocge' ! s s ovo o||c,|ve odvo|oge
|cs|ood sodvo~|oge!o|sv'y|epoec|c'ocged soeso|os|, |vos
~poss o e.
'o|eyso d, Coy, !sevce seo y|vo | gs. o |-~ed o|es|ops,
o'|os|es. !eyep||eseco~d, oJ||eygove cp|es! .|svo|scoed
o poys|o|e 'o~es|o'o~soe o|| e, so~eoe |
' | | | . ` ' - . | Y l ` ' | ' | ' | V | ` 1 | | '
Station l
C

--
Station ,
J ClC|:
l _o| e C.
Hc'o||eso~e| ~e, 'o|odo~ ~poc|o|edeoo|se|vceode~od
A|| s|, |e deovos|o'|voc'dce eo ozo|o e evo|o .veypossecge
pesses oceou||o|osoy es |ee, vo| ~g, od oo|eoe|osoyv'ee
e voc|s 'o go !e eevo'odecdes o~ |e ces| oc!e Hu|o !|ospo|o|oc
sys|e~ so voys osy~~e| co' `eope o go oed ec| oc, |e |e o|e|
|yoJ e| peop'e d ec| |e| ov co|s |o |e des| o|ocs, o! |~e ed o| |e
doyo ' |e co|s vocd ce o||eed o| |e ce, ov vocd |ey ge| coc
C| e se yoad ove |o ove so ~oy cos, |e sys|e~ vocd ~ove |o ce
so eo~ocs, |o| | voc d cos! o |o|c~e 'o peope so d \e ove |o
ped ec| |'e cos !e vo e sys|e~ os |o ce Con|o'led by the operating
agency; vevoc|eed|odooy| ~gca|pos||edes|o|ocs 'epossege
ge|s|o|eco |o|d sp oys 'e des|o|o evo|s
Hc| yoc co see |o| | ge|s co~p co'ed ' | o' posso'e po||opo '
des|o!os oe pos'ed, |~eeoe poc es v' |e || eo es, v| |~e s g
:ys|e~ 'ovegoveu
p
c:e|control of co: dUr' g c:oc|:,veke
p
t | |oQl,
|o g|| ~e
'o o| |e |oc deosves'o||ed oc|v| [he counts on his |ge:]oe,
posseges do |ove|o| , 'eys |dov~ocd o yove|ooo Jpve~
teyve eoced|e des' o| o, |vo, |eyco|o'|e des| o|oc|e~se'ves,
|ee, |ee oe o c|e|~edo|e s'ops, od |oc|, |ee oe o ||os'es, o
c~ocgesve ep||e|oc|oeod vo||'ed o~|eo|es. |eeoe c|e~e
d o|e s|ops, cc| co| so ~oy
'And moving as a | What does that depend on"
^ov ~goso|o so ~o|'e|o| vo c~e ' ||ecosoesepoo|e, v||'e
secc|y ~og s, |ee s ~py s | eocg vo c~e Yoc ove |o ove|xed
goap gsod gve|e~ cosde|oc'ec. s cgspeed
\o|s ~oe, do| |oge|, s|o| |- posseges o|e seo|ed, |o|s o
odvoc|oge, o s|.og poc|o| |esevce, o p as|o|veep|o ~os||o' eed,
ca| |s o so, |yoc ' podo !~e expess o~, o | cg ~g~|~oe
' ' | | | Y- o | / . | Y | | ' . | 1 | c ' ` | | 1 c '
'o |~e A!', e~e~oe, 'e o|y voy |o odop| |ospo|o|o scpp' y |o
de~od s|o |oe odvo|ogeo||e co~pess o |yo||e c~o oody .c g
cs 'oc|s, yocco~pess peop e, |o|voy |ee o| oo| s.pp y|ode~od
|e~o se'os|c Hc!| so ogeopp' es'oAo~ s, s ceeveyoody ss |! g
dov ' |yoa e eve o~eseo|so|, yoa ove|ooveo~o|eco| jCo.|g
o |: |ge: ogo] Ce, |e poo e~ o| cos|, |vo, |e p|oo e~ o|sys|e~
~o~oge~e|
`Hc| eve |'e poys|o|e vosso co~p' co|ed |o ~ooge!'o|^o|o| o y
poposed o s ~p |ed Ao~s, oo~~ oas' o| s|opped eveyvee
C|| ~edeoves|o!edv |~, o~ y|'e e ~ o| ool|oslesvose| |'e
odvo|oge s|o|ve co o~geodoy s|o'oso s d gs, so ve go| ooc
|e s ge |ocs v ! |e odvo|oges o| o oovgocge sys!e~ \e os!
so~e| g, oc|ve o so go ed so~e| g
Hc||e~ |o| oocg'| ap o ev p|oo e~ ' cce ve ov 'ove o~ ocses,
|'eeoe |eve des| o| os, od |eoy ~o|epeop e pe des| o| o, oso
esc |,veco~ 'ove ogecos \e s|o|edv||o.posseges, |'e veve~|
|os x, |e|e, od|e, o|'e l -o l , veod|ve|yposseges' .o~ ||oge|
|o| |e ~o|e peop'e yo. ove pe co|, |e ess | cos|s pe seo| `ee vos
oo|e odvor!oge. ' cceosed secu|!y, cut dov o|eoo c ~e
C'y ees| e| g. o cov!' ~oe possecgesoc| o o|ov gocge s
' oge, od | ! s ocge|does~||c eos y, od | |does||ceos ' y |os
o o|d| ~e| || g ~|o|es|esA~ddo ||o|ge||o| ~|'eoeg g, |'o|vos
|e po~seAo~ s 'ed oc|. c'oseyspoceds|o| os, goododop|o! o|os|es
'|coc d |. |e o|oves| s|ee!s
\e , |e oy voy |o ~oe sop |.s s |o ove ||o| v'ee's |o! co
|c ' | s e c scpe~oe|co|s le lo|vees goo|| |'e g|d ec'o
o ''eov, o~d !o|e ps|'eocoood s|ee gsys|e~ Hc| |yoc ove|o|
v'ees 'ol lu||, |'e co !se|ico ! go ocyvee but lovod. Ad !|o|s o
|e~edous cocs|o |, |ey 'od |'e so~e poo e~ . ' ev | \A. `oc ove
|o ove |c~oocds eveyve|e |o ge| |e do~ | gs po ~

ed ooc |e
g|d ec|o. o 1 0]
Projects dri ft; that's why they're cal led research projects.
To follow them, it's i mpossible to trace a target, a starting point, a
trajectory. Point-ta-poi nt service by a programmable carriage taki ng to or
four people without stopping al ong a network with mul tipl e origi ns and

|
`
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`
desti nati ons: that's the idea that got them al l excited-Bardet, Petit, la
gardere, and thei r constituents. There it i s: the goal for modern transporta
tion . Now, this is precisely the idea that has to be given up first, because
i t is, their engi neers i nsi st, uni mpl ementabl e. let's say rather that it's "i n
contradiction" with other ideas that they al so want to keep. Si nce these
ideas confl ict, they can't al l be kept together withi n the same project. One
of them has to give i n. "Please, you go first." "No, by al l means, after you. "
"Out you go! " let's give up poi nt-topoi nt and modify the goal s.
Wel l , wel l ! The engi neers don't know what they want? The essence
of technol ogy i sn't meeting obj ectives? There's a war of ideas going on in
the heads of these peaceful engi neers? There are internal contradictions?
Tri al s and tribul ations? That's right; because to relate means to ends i s
possi bl e onl y i n peaceti me, when the engi neers know where they're going
and when they know in advance who agrees with whom, who al l ows what,
who forbids or authorizes what. Now, Arami s i s a research project because
the engi neers haven't yet compl eted their l ittle sociology of ideas. Unti l the
calculation was made, no one had noticed that stati ons on si di ngs every
300 meters woul d mean two continuous tracb and thus woul d wipe out
the advantage of a narrow-gauge system. This i s where the battle started.
locked up in the Matra engi neers' crani ums or computers, Station-on-a-Sid
i ng keeps Narrow-Gauge-System from enjoying its advantages, or el se
Speed has to shi ft from 50 ki l ometers per hour down to a snai l ' s pace, or
el se the passengers have to turn i nto cartridges or pawns, or el se the State
has to give Matra an i nfi nite sum of money, or . . . Everywhere, people are
beati ng thei r head agai nst the wal l ; no one wants to give i n. Unti l the day
when-but of course, the whol e probl em is those blasted stations! After al l ,
why not give up Station-on-a-Si di ng? "Out of the questi on ! " i t yells i ndig
nantly. "Without me, Arami s is pointless! " Wel l , let's work out a compro
mi se. We' l l have one station out of three on a si di ng. The rest wi l l be l i ned
up omni bus fashi on. That way we're holdi ng on to the goal-though maybe
it's a l i tle tarnished now. The speed i s sti l l acceptable; the narrow gauge
comes back i nto Sight, and we can hope to transport flesh-and-blood
passengers without knocki ng them about. Cal m down, ideas! You see
you've now become compatibl e. See i f you can't get along together . . .
unti l the next cri si s. Whi ch comes al ong very soon, when some sly fellow,
taking advantage of Si di ng' s demise, proposes to make the cars l onger
they're now al most omni buses anyway-so as to lower the costs of auto-
' ' | . | 1 ` |' / | . ' ' | ' | ` ! l c ` , V , | | c '
|| _o c rom a

ri' nctvork to a ranchcd s

)
tcm.
mati on (they' l l be divided by ten i nstead of four) . "Out of the question ! "
exclai ms Curve-Radi us. "I f I go from ten meters to fi fteen, what wi l l become
of my buddy Si te-Adaptation?" A new di l emma. New squabbles i n the
barnyard of ideas. They don't subside until Steerable-Front-End i s i ntro
duced; however, thi s creature wi l l agree to move i n onl y if her fiance,
One-Directional-Car, comes al ong; and he' l l cooperate onl y i f his mi stress,
Compl ete-Loop-at-Every-Termi nus, i s part of the picture as wel l . That makes
for quite a crowd; it costs a lot to keep them al l fed, and they add up to a
lot of problems for our engi neers, whose i ni tial ai m was si mpl y to produce
Arami s.
" Watch out, now, this is a very important shift, " Norbert said.
"They started-on paper-with a dense network, lots of pickup points,
small, reversible, four-passenger cars summoned by passenger demand
and connecting all points of the network with no intermediate stops.
They end up-still on paper-with a line on which nonreversible
ten-passenger cars circulate omnibus-fashion. The passengers are still
seated, it's true, and branching points allow the system to maintain a
worthwhile volume at the ends of the line. Still, this seems to constitute
an enormous transformation, a tremendous downgrading [Figure 7].
" But here's the hitch. In fact, in spite of the severe limitation of
` l | . | 1 ` ' | | ' ' | ' | | 1 ' c , c V c | | , `
the network, all the problems of automation remain. The complete
Aramis system is a little less problematic, but individual Aramis cars
still have to be able to move together in a train, merge, demerge, and
come together again. I have the impression that there's a fundamental
problem here: no matter how much the implementation is simplifed,
the moving component remains as complicated as ever. "
" I may be dimwitted, " I remarked, "but even if we give up the
agricultural metaphors 1 don't see how we're any better equipped to
study innovations. 1 certainly learned how to calculate traj ectories in
school, but I had moving objects to work with, and degrees of speed,
accelerations, measuring instruments, differential equations. How am 1
supposed to study Aramis, when there are no moving objects, no fxed
points, when there's constant drift, when no one agrees with anyone
else, and when 1 don't think you're in a position to come up with very
many equations?"
"Stick to the actors, mv friend, stick to the actors. If they drift,
w
we11 drift along with them. "
" But that's what you always say." I t was actually one of my boss's
little weaknesses: to stick to the slogans of his discipline no matter
what, as if by repeating them he found himself less at a loss in
confronting the technological arguments where we didn't understand a
thing.
"Always simplify, " he continued. "When things get too compli
cated, when the actors wear us down, we resimplify. After all , linguists
describe all the sentences of a language through paradigm and syntagma;
these are their words. ' The barber, ' 'The barber left , ' ' The barber left
for the pond, ' 'The barber left for the pond with a fshing pole. ' You
see, I 'm following the syntagma, the syntagmatic dimension, the asso
ciation, if you like; or, to make it even Simpler, I 'm using 1 as in
programming language. But if you replace the barber with ' the grocer'
or ' the butcher' or ' the programmer, ' and if you change ' left' to
'returned' or ' arrived' or ' spit, ' and if you replace ' for the pond' with
' for church' or ' for the oven' or ' for the mill , ' and if instead of ' with a
fshing pole' you say ' with a pen' or ' with a soldering iron' and so on,
` | | | | ` , ' / | | 1 | ' | | l c ` c V , | 1 | : o
then you're descending, digging in; you're exploring all along the
paradigmatic dimension. You're creating, setting up, the list, the series,
the dictionary of all words and all expressions that could be substituted
without altering the sentence's meaning, its plausibility. ' Spit, ' for
example, can't be substituted in this sentence, so it doesn't belong to
the paradigmatic-that is, to substitution, or (if we simplify again) to
J as in programming. 1 and OR association and substitution: it's
as easy as pie.
" It's the same with Aramis. All the technological projects in the
world couldn't make a set larger than all the possible sentences in a
language. If linguists don't get discouraged, why should we? With these
two dimensions, the paradigmatic and the syntagmatic, OH and 1
we can follow all the drifts. At first, everything goes along fine; sentence
elements are added. ' Aramis is point-to-point, ' ' Aramis is nonstop
point-to-point, ' and then, bang, you suddenly run into a statement that
doesn't make sense: Aramis is feasible, but at infinite cost. End of the
syntagmatic line. It doesn't hold together any longer. So you have to
replace some of the sentence elements by other ones. You have to
replace 'nonstop' "ith 'with some stops, ' and ' stations every 300 meters'
with ' polystate. ' And that's how it works: you keep on drifting until
you have a sentence, a project, that makes sense. You see, we're getting
our bearings perfectly wel l , there's nothing to panic about. "
Norbert took so much pleasure in enlightening me, he flled in
his charts with so much satisfaction, that I would have felt guilty
sounding skeptical . Student engineers (like engineers themselves, as I
was soon to learn) can maintain a little peace of mind only if they
respect the technological manias of their bosses and patrons.
In any event, I had learned something from M. Gueguen that was
more important to me than that mishmash of paradigms and syntagmas.
Every time I was squeezed in the metro at rush hour, I now knew that
this was the RATP's way of adapting the supply of transportation to the
demand. What gives an economic function its elasticity is the flexibility
of my body! I found it easier to put up with the long rides our
investigation required.
o l . | Y o | / | . ` | ' | ` | c o : ' : | | c o
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ ||enoe, |eod o| ^o|o |on:po|
l -^,|e!ospo|o|o^ s|ydes go|ed|'eA!`os|eco'oc|g
o.|o |y|o|epoec| `e A! vos| ocs g o'|e'~e 'osevee|'e
doys o| Co.de|, |eogecy vos ~ode z g |'e ~e'|o, do g ovoy v|
|ce| pccces | e~e~oe| |e |ce| pccce o| |'e 'o|e des . os s|o| o~
,
|edeco|o| cg s|o' os, s|o cg oc oa|o~o|ed sys'e~ |o 'e ps|ee 'e 'o ~s
Co.de| o: |og so :ony p/oo|e:: o| ||o| |e, || ||e ed.c|oo
||e o/| |oce, ||e o|||.de |oo/d c|onge \|y dd |e pc| |: eg|| oe|od
o poec| o: :op|:|co|ed o: /o::-
e odc |e o~o'ves C|ocde'd d|oe eve A|o~ s, oc| | d d|cos'
~ ve|y ~.c |o scppo|' |, ocd e od o good exccse. \ee ~ode
|J|.eo e~|ed '|d d~' cos| ~cc, |e A! od |e co||oc|cg o.|o |y |o
z'J, JJJ |o~cs `o, ego| od o||e| g ode |o scc||e |
\'e ' co~eo |e scee, | od o eodycos|^o|o l J ~ o|o~cs
Ccce |s |eos o :y od oee de~ocs|o|ed, ve 'c~ed |o |e A!od so d,
^ Cocde|, vo|oeve go g 'o do v| |- Acd e so d, , vee
go g|odo |e 'oc| . e 'o|vos |s deo: e
C|ocde| ev pe|ec|yve |o| ' vos~||eos o e !e |' cg ~eocdeed
oooc|, |o |o~ ce!o 'o| s. |ee vos|~ac'||o||c, |eevee|||ys|o| os,
~oyoe|e posse~ges o oc, o~dyoc od |o p oc o ov g z, JJJ cos
A||e |o|, |e A' so d, vey os|c|e y Ao~ s s co~p co|ed \ee go ~g
|o ceo|e so~e' cge seAoocs ! svos o s'espec|c ocs sys|e~
ov oasy, oy do g co~poo|ve s|cd es, |ey de~os|o|ed 'o|Ao~ s
vosc||eos o e !' s s veveoego | oq.es'o |e poc||opo | |eo|..e,
ocd |e deo o| pepogo~~ed co|o !s s vo| ed 'o |e deo o| |e
poys|o|e, o||'e| ~e
\oc|d Cocde| de|oeo|e|y |oe |ed yo. don ||e gode po||-
`o, 'o|s poooo y pc||cg | |oo s||ogy, oc| eodecocg' cs g| |o
*The " contracting authority" [maitre d'ouvrageJ is in charge of spearheading a
project and has overall responsibility for it; the " contractor" {maitre d'oeuvre] is
responSible for carrying out the project, for its actual realization. Normally, the RATP
also plays the role of contractor for its projects. It turs to industrial subcontractors
{ensemblersJ for specifc tasks, but maintains full decisionmaking control.
t
The Paris metro works on automatic pilot, in the sense that the driver's job
i s only to make sure everything is running properly. The only decision he makes is
the decision to start up agai n, when he gives the order to close the doors. In VAL,
as in Aramis and the Meteor, there is no driver at al l , or, to be more accurate, the
"driver" supervises the ebbs and flows from afar, from the control room.
` l ' . | 1 ` ' . . 1 | | ' ' | 1 ' c ` c V L | 1 ' , `
os |o |e Soc|~ ' e oc|e, ovg |J ve | vos||eos o e vos o ||e
d scocoged, od dd| de | [|oc:e
C |~eo|e| od, yes, 'es qc |e o g|eocg' 'o ovexoc!y v'o|
esdo g ` -oJ odo eve o|o. |esoc|'ecpo||o||'e 'e||e Ce |ue
o s ~evso~eoceo||e S`C', Co es, v'ovos espocs o' e|o||~e
scocos e|o d ~eco| de| o 'y, ~o g ~e po~se o||o cse s o~e.
' vego|odeo | s|ee||e Ce |ce, |e'C ' | soee c osed s ce l -J-,
|'e|es po|e| o | o ||o|'c |so| do g| eS`Coygood,so~oyoe|eyd
e|yoc cse | |o'd |~e A!, ~pe||ysue |vos oocd ' -oJ| , \'y o|
|ee||eCe ~|ce- o z l , see |~e ~op |e||o'~o'|e|
/| ||e |o:|||.|e |o/ |oo:po|o|oo |e:eoc|, ^ !e:c|ee: ond ^ ||ev|o oe
:||og o o |oge :.noy o|ce ove/|oo|og |oo: ood |o.o|oo: |o ||e d:|ooce,
ooe coo |eo/ ||e /.:o|og o| |o|||c on ||e |cop|e |eodog :oc||
^ !e:c|ee:
!e poo e~ v|' Ao~ s s |o| ''ey ooed o ove |o| o p oce |o pJ|
|`ce, ^o|pe e,* |~esoc|e scocosod|'ey| co' y~ode|evos|
co ceo| o . s deo s |se'|
\|y o: ||o| ||e o:| c|oce- ' ||o.g|| | | o: |nd:pen:oo|e o: o
|ec|oo|ogco| :|oco:e
`o, |s |e vos', oecocse |ees o ov eoced o'|e yeos v |~ |e
~ s|y. yo. co eve ||odJce ~o o ~ovo|os cco~|ospo|o|o
o s 'o|ee|eosos.
' s!, oecouse |eco og co y speo cg eve|y| g ge|sve|y co~p co|ed
g|ovoy. |ee oe ovoys cge' cc|co|os c vo' c~e, oJ yoc|eovoys
g| o| |e oc|e ' ~|s |o~ |e vod go Yoc co| s|o| so od expod
pogessvey.
l'e secod eoso spo |co 'o s, yoc eve ov vos c'oge.
|ees | e ~oyo|, | e|eg oo' oc|'o | es, | ~epe|ec|, | 'e~ cs|e' . `o
*It was in Montpellicr that the preliminary studies went farthest. Georges
Freehe, mayor of Montpellier since 1 977, a leftist and a great modernizer, wanted to
implement a revolutionary public transportation system. The loop he wanted to insert
i n the old city was well adapted to Aramis, because it was not in competition with
4 existing metro. When the project was abandoned in 1 987, Freche wrote a virulent
pamphlet in protest.
t
Because of its size and importance, Paris is a very complex entity from an
administrative standpoint. There arc administrative agencies at the city level, the
departmental level, and the regional level (the Seine Department is also part of the
lIe-de-France Region) . In addition, since Paris houses the national government, many
administrative functions are carried out directlv bv a prefect at the State level. There
are
also numerous ad hoc organizations linkinPris with the suburbs.
o | | Y o | / | ' Y | | ' | ` J H | o . ' . l | : o

body coc 'ocI t hi msel f; it's i mpossible. So by the same token there's never
oy sJppo|, ~eve oy oco' u v g'oce
! d, `o| syou're ecesso| ydeo' gv'' |e Al, od|'e A!' s|
copoole of a de|o| g oy technological i nnovoti ons v'ee |'ees o 'ig'
'eve o| : ` s s o| oecocse |'e peop e oe cec|'cs os| c, oc| cecocse
|e A!' s o 'cge e|e|pse v'ose oo | s |o '|o~spo| ~ | o~s o| peope
so|ely 'o|goesoveooo|d, |eyepe|ec| o s|s''ey|oeso ~oyp|eco.
'| o~s, |'eyeso 'ypecoe|c' , ypepo|ec| os|, |'o||'ey co||oe oy ss,
espec o y ||'e ovo|o s|eo yo|'ecJ|| g edge Ad 'so good| ' g
|'ey do' |oe ri sks, oc|co y, | so| | 'e |oo
'o,, oc| | do | .de:|od | | v|o| yo. e :oyg oooc| ||e |/|| : |ce,
vny dd | |o|c| o |o ||e co:| cocp|e, co:| o.o|.e, co:| odco| :y:|ec,
od v|y d|d | o|voy: oppo:e e||o|: |o :|cp| ||e :y:|ec, |o co|e || :|cd|e,
|e:: o.o|.e-
M. |e.
|' yo. 'ove |o s|o| v |' |'e 'ypo''ess |'o| |'e A!vos ocoo'e|
about i t . 'ove o |ee g |'o| | |e oeg c cg''e A'vo|ed |o s cs\A.
" VAL, VAL's success, Matra's success, wos expeeceo o: o toQedyoy!'e
Al |s|'e' s' | ~e |oce''o|o ~e|o os oee deveoped v |o.||'e
A!`, o| |o ~e|o o |. y oc|o~o|ed one. Hi gh |ec' !'e |eoy i s o o'
Machiavel l ian, oc|yoc co | .' e |oc|
'c p/oooo|y oeg ove, o.| | :||' do | .de:|od. \|y o| pod.ce o
\-', ||e, :|eod o| /oc|:-
M. !.
`o, oc |'e coc|oy, ''e A` co. d| ge| |e|es|ed c \A., \A. s ~.c
|oo c|o:e |o|'e~e|o\'o| s~oe, \A'voseo e|goesooc|o ' -
o~ |'e s|o', | 'e A' |' |ed v | ' \A' | . e 'o~e o| | s oge|s oc|co y
'e ped deveop | . e
"But \A.voso docedeo' , |od|oec ol' \'eeosA|o~ s, v e 'vos
|ec'~o og co y ~o|e odvo~ced, vos 'e:: de:|oo|zg odc:|o|.e|y
!'ey coc d| ge| c|e|es|ed c \A' v |'o.| dec' o cg |'o' |'e e|o o| |'e
'or ss|ye ~e|o, v|' dves, vos ove Ad |'eycoc d | occep||o|
M. !e:c|ee:
\|' o dvess|e oo~ cg, od|'e v'o e~ ~eyo|ds `eo', . v
is right: \A' co^cs ~ythree laws . it's '' ' e |sgot |e .ooc sUppot
o||'e po |c os ''s o' cdeAl co|o' Hesdes, s|oo close |o oe go
~.|o. 'oco|'y od :||c|oo'|,, |o| oes | coccep|oo'e |o |'e A!` |s
o | | | . Y : / . | Y | ` ' | | 1 c ' . V ` | | `
oy cov, |eyeos 'o|e, |o! |eye |o gope y c 'osooo.|oc|o~o| g
the ~e|o They've ski rted |e ssJe|o|ecyeos A||e| ~e, |vosc'' oo e
C|oy ' co :ee v|y \/' |: .occep|oo'e 5.| v|y c|oo:e /o:
po|c.|o-
^. !e.|
l'ee vos s ~p y o|||g e':e o ||e o|e| o| ''e ' ~e |'o| vos o' o'
covo'veo exc | g
| |od |o oe ^o|o, oecocse |e Al |od |o ge| o d o|^o|os |eco
' og co co~pe|ece, |~eco~pe|ece |'eyde~ocs|o|ed | ' . e
\|A's|o~, 'eyve|voyooc, |~eyd d| eed Ouo oce Hc| v '
^o|o, v| o cevg ~~ c, s~o 'sco e, 'oco , v c vos|\A. 'o, |
vo: ||e oe:| po::o|e o|'oce, ||e oe:| copo:e
Ad oeyocd |'o|, o |e o'e s de, |e ^o|oA` ~o oge vos vey
~po|o~||o^o|o, |o |e~, |vos o |oc|os|c p ag o 1 1 ]
" We're onto something here, " said Norbert. " For the frst time
things are getting a little clearer. The delegation of the contracting
authority to the RATP in 1 974 and the choice of a site inside Paris in
1 980 -these were both crucial decisions. They entailed commitments,
they determined outcomes, they constituted the project's destiny. "
I didn't dare point out to him that after each interview things " got
a little clearer," only to get muddled again during the next one.
" Do you play Scrabble?" he asked me suddenly. " Il l play you for
your salary."
The onl y way to i ncrease a project's real i ty i s to compromise, to
accept sociotechnol ogical compromi ses.
The good Scrabbl e pl ayer i s not the one who uses permutations to
get terrific words on hi s rack, but the one who succeeds i n maki ng good
pl acements on the board, even if the words are shorter and less i mpressive.
A few letters i n a strategi c position can bring more points than a ful l y
spel led-out "Aramis" that you can't place anywhere and that forces you to
give up your turn so you can keep it i ntact whi l e you wait for a better
o l | . Y o || / . | Y | ` ' | ` ' c ' : ' . | l : o
configuration on the board. Besides, ski ppi ng your turn won't solve any
thi ng, si nce as the game progresses your chances of pl aci ng your word
without any alterations or deletions may decrease i nstead of increase.
Competitors prol iferate. The board gets saturated. A wrenchi ng moment
for the engi neer, as for the player entranced by his fine word: "Arami s"
has to be abandoned for another combi nation, or worse sti l l , has to be
tossed back i nto the pool at the ri sk of drawing "zyhqhv"! It's thi s moral
crisis that leads the pure Arami s-the first Arami s, the one that coul d do
everythi ng-to be cal led nominal, whil e the series of altered and compro
mi sed Arami ses is referred to as the simplified Arami s, or the degraded
Arami s, or the VS (for very simplified) Arami s. If the player is reluctant to
compromise hi s construction, he has lost. He'l l be l ucky if he can place the
prefix "mis-," or the word "rat. " like the overly fastidi ous heron of the fabl e:
"Hunger gri pped hi m; he was quite happy, perfectly del i ghted / To come
upon a sl ug. "
The compromise i s al l the more difficul t to bring about i n that i t really
should blend social and technologi cal el ements, human and nonhuman
agents. Behi nd the actors, others appear; behi nd one set of i ntentions there
are others; between the (variable) goal s and the (variable) desires, i nter
mediate goal s and i mpl ications prol i ferate, and they al l demand to be taken
i nto account. The engi neers responsi bl e for establ i shi ng Aramis i n the
southern suburbs have to take i nto consideration platform length, passenger
flow, the number of mobile units, curve radi i , and the fact that the cars are
nonreversi bl e. As i f that weren't enough, the engi neers al so have to reckon
with the age of the captai n, as it were: the RATP di rector' s ulterior motives,
the corporate culture of the engi neers, the hi story of di sappoi ntments bui lt
up by the VAL adventure taki ng place 200 ki l ometers away. The mai nte
nance of Nomi nal Arami s requires so many si di ngs that the system ends
up costing twice as much, i t appears. But giving up Nomi nal Arami s would,
apparently, i nfuriate the RATP engi neers, who are looking for a new system
that is as di fferent as possi bl e from VAL Where is the technol ogical com
ponent? Where is the social component? The onl y questions that count are
the follOWi ng: Who is compatibl e with what? Who agrees to stay with
whom, and under what conditions, accordi ng to what hi dden i ntentions?
*"Nominal" here means in conformity with the original functional specifica
tions. The dictionary offers other, more conventional definitions that fit Aramis
better- - -e.g. , "existit;g in namc only, not in reality."
| | | | Y ` A . | Y | ` ' " J | ' ` | | l | ( o
"I embrace my rival-so I can crush hi m. " In order to solve the problem of
doubl i ng the tracks without givi ng up stations on si di ngs, let's i ncrease the
di stance between stations from 300 meters to one ki l ometer. I mpossibl e,
for Closely-Spaced-Service i s furious and pull s out: How can you make
passengers wal k half a ki l ometer, when you're aski ng them to use Arami s
the way they use their cars? Too bad, we' l l j ust get along without Closely
Spaced-Service; let's i ncrease the size. But if we abandon Small-Size,
Arami s starts looking l i ke nothi ng so much as an automated metro. Al l the
RATP drivers, under the heading "Project Arami s, " wi l l read "wholesale
automation of the Paris metro" as an entirely di fferent project, "conquest
of Paris by profit-hungry Matra, through an al ready-obsolete mode of
transportation, " and they' l l al l be furious to be treated as i ncompetents or
underdeveloped types. After al l , up to now haven't they been the best metro
bui lders, the only ones?
But wait a mi nute, some wil l object, we' re deal i ng with technol ogies,
not passions; with drawi ngs, not pl ots; with logic, not sociol ogy; with
economic calcul us, not Machiavel l i an cal cul ati ons. Ah, but they're wrong!
The two sets come together in research rooms and admi nistrative counci l
rooms. The pertinent question i s not whether i t' s a matter of technology or
societ, but onl y what i s the best soci otechnol ogical compromise. Neither
the RATP nor Matra can agree at the time on a mi ni-VAL i nsi de Paris, but
they can agree on an Arami s that must be neither too si mpl e (or it wi l l
i nfuriate the RATP) nor too compl ex ( or i t wi l l cost a fortune) . It must be
neither too far from Pari s (or i t wi l l i nfuriate Matra and run i n the red) nor
too cl ose ( or it wi l l have too many passengers and be burdened with too
many tedi ous regul ations) . Thi s is i l logical ? No, socio-Iogi cal . Arami s i nside
Paris i s an al l i ance, a compromise. The "best possibl e al l iance, " said our
interlocutor, M. Lievi n, a modern-day Pangloss. Let's say i nstead that there
are as many possible Aramises as there are possible compromises among
al l those-humans and non humans-who have made themselves necessary
to its gradual real ization. The only i mpossi bl e solution is an Arami s that
would accept no compromises; that would suspend the work of recruiting,
of generating i nterest, of translati ng; that woul d expect the Orl y Arami s to
come i nto being al l by itself, on its own power, from the feasi bl e prototype
*Even though the Meteor project today constitutes a new compromise ctvccn
MatTa, VAL, and the classic Paris metro, since it is automated like VAL but with the
\olumtof a metro. As vc shall see, scmc observers credit Aramis for this compromise,
Whch i\ l\na!! madc acctgtah!c.
` | | | | Y o | / | | ` ' | c o . \ . ' ' | . `
to the real transportation system, as if the words in a Scrabbl e game j umped
al l by themselves from the rack to the board, as i f the characters in a novel
coul d go out i n the street without their readers, as i f the monsters of Victor
Frankenstei n's l aboratory coul d si mply ski p town.
" Well, Norbert, are your syntagmas and paradigms sti l l working?"
" Of course, chum, of course, how can you think they might not
be? Studying a technological project isn't any harder than doing literary
criticism. Aramis is one long sentence in which the words gradual ly
change in response to internal contradictions imposed by the meaning.
It's only a text, a fabric. Look:
.
Established in Orly.
Established south of Paris.
Established in Marne-la-Vallee.
Established at La Defense.
Established in Montrouge.
Established in Toulon.
Established in Dijon.
Established in Nice.
Established in Montpellier.
Established on the Petite Ceinture in 1 980.
Established on Victor Boulevard in 1 984.
Established nowhere in 1 988.
2 passengers i n 1 971 .
4 passengers in 1 972.
4 passengers.
4 passengers
6 passengers in 1 974.
6 passengers.
6 passengers
0 passengers in 1 977.
10 passengers.
1 0 passengers in 1 982.
20 passengers.
passengers in 1 988.
The passengers are seated in 1 973 .
The passengers are seated.
The passengers are seated.
The passengers arc seated.
Some passengers are also standing in 1 987.
There are no passengers in 1 988.
"There's the declension of our Aramis, the paradigms. And here
are the long sentences of the Aramis story, which hangs together better
and better. Here are the seguential syntagmas:
" 1 . Aramis is a programmable bench that interests all city-dwellers
and especially M. Petit of DATARj
` | | . | 1 ' l .`, ` | | | | | c ' ' V ' | 1 | ' `
" 2 . Aramis is a machine transfer system that obeys the laws of
kinematics and interests M. Bardet;
" 3 . Aramis is an original means of transportation that follows the
fas
hion of PRTs and that interests Matra, which is attempting to
diversify and which is applying automobile and space technologies to
g
uided-transportation systems;
"4. Aramis is a small car that has four yellow seats and electronic
couplings, that can link up, separate, and merge, that has probabilistic
security, that is tested at Orly, and that is fnanced by Matra, the
Tra
nsportation Ministry, Aeroport de Paris, DATAR, and the RATP;
" s . Aramis is a revolutionary transportation system that has 2, 200
non
reversible cars with six seats each, onboard steering, and sixty
stations on sidings , that allows passengers to go where they want to go
without transfers and without intermediate stops, that serves the south
ern suburbs , and that costs a fortune. "
(Gasping r breath like a Singer. )
" 6. Aramis is a new transportation system that has cars with ten
seats, that is equipped with variable-reluctance motors, that uses the
omnibus format, with stops but no transfers, that has branching points
requiring separations, mergers, and couplings , that serves the Petite
Ceinture in the south of Paris, that has the RATP as its contracting
authority.
"And so on.
"The story gets longer and longer. It's a sea serpent, a more and
more complex sentence, but one that's more and more reasonable, since
through trial and error it has rejected or eliminated everything that
didn't make sense. It becomes so complete, so comprehensive, so
enveloping, so detailed, that volumes of reports and specifcations are
needed to contain it. "
Since the 1 960s, French intellectuals have had a certain weakness
for seeing texts everywhere. For my mentor Norbert, educated in the
era of Barthes and Lacan, Aramis was becoming literature; it was a
poem to be composed by modifying sentence components, trusting to
luck, as with Raymond Queneau's 1 00, 000 poems.
S H i l l Y- S H A l l Y I N G I N T H E S E V E N T I E S
As a young engineer, I refused to confuse motors and railroad
tracks with words.
" But which one of those sEntences tells the right story?"
" All of them, none of them. The one you get carried away with;
the one that would really carry you away, from the boulevard Victor
to
Bercy-that's the one that would be the right story."
" But then the right story would be endless ; the sentence would
be so long you wouldn't have enough breath to say it, or enough paper
to write it down."
" No, because the more reality we take on, the more the arithmetic
changes. An infnity of stable elements becomes a single element. For
you, for the user, the sentence becomes: ' I 'm taking Aramis and I 'm on
my way. ' Not even. The sentence i s: ' I 'm on my way, I 'll be at the
boulevard Victor at 4: 30. ' You don't even mention Aramis' name anv
" more.
~
A text so long that it becomes a mute thing, a text so long that
i t ends up recruiting enough things and endowing them with enough
meaning to keep quiet and make me speak, me, the animal endowed
with speech-this mystifed me even more than the puzzle we were
supposed to be solving. Now that my mentor no longer dazzled me,
I 'm sure the reader will understand why I took steps at that point
unsuccessfully, alas-to change my internship and enroll in the program
in Man-Machine Interaction and Artificial Intelligence.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ 5ege( :peo|g o| |-|| |eoo
7
.o|e:
"Throughout 's vo e peod, yo0 ~.s| e~e~oe, |ees so~e' g |o|
voss eo y ve , |: o ~o o covo|o~ ~ tal ki ng ooo.| |e |o|o.y ~o|o,
|'e vo oo' ee' .c!occe ~o|o It sc| |0c|oo , !s co| e'o|ed to |'e '|os,o
'o|o sys|e~, |s o| e ec|oc c H.| oyce |' s s pecsey why | s o geo'
s.ccess ~o ' ^|
' ' | | . o | / . | Y | ` ' " 1 | ' ; V c ` 1 c o
Position of the fi el d
at a given moment
| _o a o.
I n fact, ot this moment
the fi el d has shifted;
thus, the movement
conti nues.
" We still really need to understand what this rotary motor is all
about. Everybody says it was Aramis' biggest success. You're a real
en
gineer, so that's your area, chum; it's your j ob to understand that . "
" According t o vhat I 've been told, it's an electric motor that
doesn't involve a power transfer. You don't have a shaft or a sprocket;
there are no mechanical parts except for the rotor, which is the axle.
You have little notched wheels that allow very fnely tuned displace
ments" [see Figure 8] .
" Okay, we can leave i t at that. Anyhow, it's a black box that looks
pretty isolated in the project. If nobody goes into it, we don't need to
go into it either. It's independent. It's not what scuttled the project. "
You can see that my boss transformed his rules of sociological
method into convenient devices for absolving his own ignorance and
his intellectual laziness . = .
[DOCUMENT: CONCLUSI ON OF THE CET REPORT)
The motori zation of Arami s with the vari able-reluctance
motor, which has been homol ogated by the RTP , represents an
important innovat ion as a new mode of propul sion .
o | l . ` o / , , Y | ` ' | ` l l o | V : ` ' c '

[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS)
| ^ 'ec|o: o|'ce o| ||e |e:eoc| 5ceo. o| ||e :o:po|o|on ^:|y
'|'|, | vo:| o cocp|e|e vo:|e, ||ee vo: ||e vooo'ee'.c|once o|o
Ycs, oc|do yoc ov o s ~g eopp co| o|o | .oyo: sov oce peso
v~ovo~|s |
|o, yoc c g|| 'n ooo|c:, ||ocg|, don| ||ey ||| | |g|| oe .:e|.'
'oes | ~ove |e g~|pove `
J||, no
'oyo. see, eve~ |e ~o|o, osoy, 'vos, ,c| ~ocodyvo|s | Co yoc
co' |o scccess, ||ee oe o |oe|s
C|oy, ' :ee yoc pon| /yvo,, yoc co | c:e ||e o|o |o c:|f ||e v|o'e
/o: poec| |ve |cnded |'on |oc: |o o o|o ooody vo|:||od
oe pe||y epe:e
g|' o J l |
I n the first pl ace, a project i sn't one project. I t's taken as a whol e or
as a set of disconnected parts, dependi ng on whether ci rcumstances are
favorabl e or unfavorabl e,
I n the first place i t' s abstract, * si nce each el ement, once drawn i n,
once "i nterested, " pursues i ts own goal s and tries to conform as l ittle as
possibl e to the common transl ati on. I t becomes concrete onl y gradual ly, i f
i t can count as one i n the eyes of al l i ts users, who are si mpl y content to
"take Arami s" on the Petite Ceinture so they can go about their busi ness.
But i f ci rcumstances are agai nst it, then the project decomposes, and each
el ement, di si nterested, goes its own way, making Arami s more and more
abstract, That's why the sum of the el ements that constitute i t can never be
fixed once and for al l , for it varies according to the state of the al l i ances.
I n 1 971 Arami s i s a programmabl e bench al lowing poi nttopoi nt service
with ondemand user control . The word "Arami s, " the character cal led
Arami s, seems to be unique and unified. It real ly does designate a project,
an i dea, a concept. Yes, but it is sti l l no more than an idea, not very real ,
not very real i stic, not very ful l y realized, and it i nterests very few peopl e.
*In Gilhert Simondon's sense; see Du mode d'existence des objets techniques (Paris:
Aubier, 1 958; rpt. 1 989).
' | . | Y o | | Y | | ` 1 | : ` | \ |1l : o
In 1 976, on the other hand, it i s composed of hundreds of membra dis;ecfa,
each of whi ch is evolvi ng i n terms of its own al l i ances and prohibitions.
The variable-reluctance motor hol ds up, but not the stations on si di ngs; and
not the polystate. Matra sticks with it, but not Aeroport de Paris, whi ch has
long si nce dropped the whol e thi ng. Fi nal ly, i n 1 988, there's no l onger
anyone who can explain what constituted Arami s' unity, si nce it has been
di smembered once agai n, si nce the teams have been di sbanded and the
research center destroyed, and si nce there's talk of "spi l lover": the vari
abl e-reluctance motor i s now isolated, abstracted from the whole, saved
from the shi pwreck to become one of the positive el ements of Arami s
endowed retrospectively with a l i fe of i ts own. "At l east there was the
motorization-a great technol ogi cal success, even if it's a l i ttle costly and
hasn' t yet found cl i ents."
To count these successive states, a very pecul i ar arithmetic i s re
quired, si nce each el ement, by vi rtue of the pressure brought to bear on it,
can become either an autonomous element, or everythi ng, or nothi ng,
either the component or the recognizabl e part of a whol e. The question of
how many el ements compose a technol ogical system cannot be answered
by ordinary arithmetic. When there are breakdowns, accidents, strikes, the
components separate i nto i ndi vi dual s and prol iferate; then, when the sys
tem starts up agai n, they di sappear, and literal l y do not count any l onger.
The l ack of fl exibil ity of the space shuttle Chal l enger's O-ri ngs after a cold
wave became apparent only after the explosi on-from that point on, i t was
necessary to reckon with col d temperatures. The lack of flexi bi l ity of the
mai ntenance-shop workers in the Paris metro after an action by the CGT
[Confederation General e du Travai l , a l abor uni on] became apparent onl y
after the l ong strike i n 1 988-from that point on, the workers had to be
reckoned with. Before the catastrophe, di dn' t i t ever get cold at Cape
Kennedy? Before the strike, weren't there any bi tter young non uni oni zed
workers? The cold and the young workers were absent and present at the
same time. Yes, it' s a weird arithmetic that can't pi n down the numbers.
*Thomas F. Gieryn and Anne E. Figert, " Ingredients for a Theory of Sciencc
in
SOCiety: ORings, Ice Water, C Clamps, Richard Feynmann and the Press," in
S.
Cozzens and Gieryn, eds . , Theories of Science in SOCiet (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1 990) . See also J. L. Adams, FIin8 Buttresses, Entropy and ORin8s
(Cambridge, Nass. : !ar\ard On\crsiI lrcss, 1 991 ) .
o | | . | Y o | / | . ` l ` H o . v c | . o
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ |o|o| : :peo||g ||e :o|', c.:ed :no|y o ||e ooc'e.od 'c|o
\e 'es |o|ed o o^g | ~eove |e |ocs~ ss ocs \e s'o||ed v| op|co
soges |o s'o|| d s|oces ocd c |oso c oes |o |e og d s|oces l'e
cocp gs ce|ee co|s vec| |ocg o 'o| o| c'oges ^ l -^ ve ood
. |oso.^d |o ocg d s|oces od op| co cocp' gs|o|s'o||d s|oces, |e
in 1 083, evey|' cgvos a |oso^ c, ' o 'y, ve od 'ype|eqceces 'o ocg
ds|occesod c |osocd |oso|oes ^o z|
The topology of technol ogi cal projects i s as pecul i ar as their arith-
metic.
I f a project were made up of Russian dol l s, everythi ng woul d be
si mpl e, You would take the big dol l , knowing that there were other ones
i nside, but you'd l et the experts-who are more and more h ighly special
ized-open up the dol l s, one at a ti me. So you' d have a transitive series
of dolls, each of which would hi de and protect the next one down, and
al so a transi tive seri es of speci al i sts, each of whom would hi de and protect
the next one. You want to know how the rotary motor works? Ei ghth door
on the left after you get out of the el evator: see the assi stant head of the
suboffice of motorization. You want to talk about a site for Aramis? That's
the big dol l that contai ns all the others, smi l i ng, friendly, atractive. Go see
the di rector, the fortunate M. Eti enne. Division of l abor, di vi si on of prob
l ems. A good flow chart to handl e al l the embeddi ngs, and we' l l be al l set.
A technol ogical project would thus be neither complex nor si mpl e; it would
be a wel l-organized series of Russi an dol l s.
Unfortunately, arrangements of thi s sort are val id onl y for fi ni shed
obj ects that need si mpl y to be supported and mai ntai ned. The lovely series
of successiv

tasks and embedded specializations i s not val i d for projects.
The dolls aren't Russi ans but savages, or Russians l i ke the salad of the same
name, or l i ke the nationalities l i berated by perestroi ka , Thei r topology is
so nonstandard that the very smal lest one may, from time to time and for
a certai n period of ti me, contai n the larger ones. I s nonmaterial coupl i ng
Arami s' content or its contai ner? Hard to say. If Arami s were in operation
today, its transi tivity would be easy to observe: Arami s would be the
transportation system of the Petite Cei nture, which woul d control a dense
' | . | Y ' | / | Y ` C | ' ! | : ' : ' | | | c '
network, whi ch would control detachabl e mobi l e units, whi ch woul d control
nonmaterial coupl i ngs, whi ch in turn would control communications and
programs for l i nki ng up. From the general to the parti cul ar, the l ogic would
be easy to fol low. But i n the real Aramis, preci sel y the one that does not
exist, we see that nonmaterial coupl i ng becomes, for some people, the bi g
dol l that contai ns and j ustifies al l the others: "It's the bi ggest i nnovation i n
gui ded-transportation systems. " The dense network i s onl y one of i t s con
sequences; as for the Petite Cei nture, it i s only an uni mportant experimental
site. From footsol di er to general : the chai n of command i s clear, but
reversed.
For projects or obj ects that have broken down, this sudden mutation
may take place at any poi nt i n the ol d chai n. I s the eighth mi croprocessor
that controls the movement of trai ns in its turn contai ned by or contained
in the nonmaterial coupl i ng? Here's a new uncertai nty. And i t grows larger
as i t's exami ned careful ly, to the point of bl ocking the entire Arami s project.
From two cars to three, from three to four, the logic i s no l onger so sound.
There's no possible generalizati on. At the thi rd car, the trai n i s di sturbed,
starts bunchi ng up l i ke an accordion, gets di sl ocated . . . The last dol l
becomes the first one, the one that hol ds al l the others: the nonmaterial
trai n doesn't hold up more than a few seconds.
" Engineers think like savages, my friend, as Levi-Strauss docs not
say. It's a matter of tinkering with what you have on hand to get yourself
out of terrible muddles: what was only a stage becomes an infinite
number of stages, a real labyrinth. What was once a command chain
becomes an unruly mob, a true case of every man for himself."
" But wait a minute, " I exclaimed, indignant at so much bad faith
and because, by chance, I had read Levi- Strauss for my exams. " Levi
Strauss contrasts modern engineers with mythical tinkerers. * We engi
neers don't tinker, he says. We rethink all programs in terms of projects.
We don't think like savages. "
" Hah! " Norbert muttered ironically. "That's because Levi-Strauss
*Claude Levi-Strauss, Savage Mind (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1 968;
orig. pub. 1 962) .
o ~ | | . ` o | / . | Y ` | ` l c o : ' : ` | : o

did his field work in the Amazon rain forests, not in the jungle of the
Paris metro. What he says about tinkerers fts engineers to a T, his
ethnologist's bias notwithstanding. "
" But there really are experts in the feld, " I replied, letting my
exasperation show, "engineers who don't tinker, who don't compro
mise, who don't translate, whose instrumental universe is not closed
J
who
7
" Of course there are, my friend," Norbert replied calmly, "when
everything is running like clockwork, when the project is over, when
everything is going along swimmingly; of course, then it's as if there
were ' experts' quite unlike tinkerers and negotiators. But at the end,
only at the end. And since Aramis wasn't lucky enough to have such an
end . . . No, believe me, you don't have those who tinker on one side,
and those who calculate on the other. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^. C|od, v|o |o: :ce |e|| ||e |/|/ oc| v|o vo: e:po:o|e 'o /o:
|o|e v|e |e vo: c|e| eecc|.e o||ce
Ao~ so'voys s.||e|ed ||o~ oeg ood'y |ego|ed |o |e A!`c. |.e
\e~ vos |e o . v s o~ o||e A!', I vos~||e 'eos| o| ~o'vo|ed oy
Ao~ s, veeos d d o coa d |o A ^!|e vo'eso e o.|o~o' oc o|
saovoy 'o s
Ao~ svos c|ees|g oecocse o| |s edezvocs od 's decse cetvo
v |' ~c | p eo g ~s od scgges|ed |o|eHcs . v s o |~o||'eys'oc' d |oe
ove |e oec| |s g've g|, |s oa|o~oo e |eco' ogy, i n |e|~s o' |s
co~s||cc| o, |s o~| es \e od pc' ed o.! o |eveg ees, oc| |eeogc

||e |/|| cc||ce vo: |o:||e

By ::p|g |, ve deo|ced |, vec ve ooo~doed |e po ''opo |
p cc p' e, ve |||ed ||e pojec| | g' |ee, od |'ose vo s ~p |ed | dd |
eo'ze |'e coseqaecces |'e dec:o: voc'd ove co I o, j. ^|
" Here's the first trai l , my dear Watson, the frst serious trail. ' We
killed the proj ect by denaturing i t, by simplifying it. ' They shouldn't
have abandoned point-to-point, the dense network. "
` | | | . ` ' ^ | Y | ` . | 1 c o : ` c ` 1 c `
" But everybody else says just the opposite: ' The thing was doomed
because it wasn't simplifed enough, it wasn't feshed out enough, it
wasn't changed enough, there was no local force driving it. "
"That's i t: we're getting hot, we're closing i n on the major
ar
gument about what is negotiable in a project and what isn't. One
group says that the initial idea had to be abandoned right away because
it wasn't feasible, and the other guy claims that giving up the initial
idea is what did the project in. "
" Guess what I just found in the Larousse Encyclopedia! An article
OD
Aramis! A long paragraph-listen to how it ends: 'Adoption qf the
system was considered on the basis i studies undertaken by several French cities,
Paris in particular. ' "
" Well, well ! If your name appears in the l.arousse Encyclopedia, you
exist a little bit after all . "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
l :|ee, |eod o| ^o|o
'o~e good eg ees cov ced asocd |ey vee g||o|yoc od
|o poceed s'oges, s|o| g v| s.osys|e~s
^c'e yoocg, eod o|I NRETS o||'e| ~e, 'odcovced eveyoody,
~yse| ~c cded | vos o eoc|o ogo cs| |'e He! c s'y'e o| ve| o He|
ve|ed o v'o esys'e~ ooucd o s g eco~poe|, |e eo| ~o|o, od '
voso dcd
'oveso d, oy, e|s do | s|oges \e sev, |o exo~p' e, ''o|o'
yved d|ove| 'e g'|~o|o, |o!sv'e| edeoo| |evo oo ee'.c
oce ~o|o co~e cp, v| |e}o~e| oo|es
\e dd |e oc o| `'ose l o |e ~o|o \esod |o o.seves, \ee
o'go g|o |y|o ~p' e~e||esys|e~a| veove|eco~oec|s ocd |e
s.osys'e~s teyoooy o: ecocogg c: |o o| |e:: o| :co:y:|e::
!'eyvee|e' g cs, \evo|co~e o oood |yoc~ove|oo'os' 'vey
oody ogeed, od | vos|s|cp d, ' vos os covced os o~yoe, od s| '
o~
^oyoe ve ~o.'oc'.es oe ~oeo| o 'cy |o eveyoce ese H.'
ve vee ~ov g s ovy `veyoody vos ecocog g .s |o poceed sovy
\o|c o.|' \o|co.|'
o | | . | Y o ' | . Y | " | 1 '

o c V c ` 1 | c o
What counts, in a technol ogical project, is deci di ng
what has to be
negotiated, and deci di ng on an offi ci al doctrine that wi l l make i t possibl e
to proceed with any negotiation at al l .
To hesitate i s not necessari l y the same as to renegotiate. I n Scrabbl e,
too, a pl ayer may hesitate before pl acing the perfect word that she's
composed so lovi ngl y on her rack. She can even break it in two and resign
hersel f to pl acing onl y hal f of the word-for exampl e, "Ara" ("cl i mbi ng
bi rd-Platycercides-scientific name ' sittace, ' l arge South Ameri can parrot
with bri l l i ant pl umage") i nstead of "Aramis" or "Ararat" ("vol cani c peak i n
Turkey where Noah's Ark l anded after t he Flood") . But hesi tation and
breakup do not l ead to t he same solutions as does t he renegotiation of the
whole word according to the positions to be occupied on the board and
the leiters avai l able on the rack. Intel l ectual ly and emotional ly, the two
operations remai n di fferent, even i f, for the other players, they are both
translated by a period of anxious waiting and a lot of head scratchi ng.
Shoul d we hesitate to i mpl ement Arami s, or shoul d we completely rebuil d
i t?
At thi s poi nt, between 1 974 and 1 980, nothi ng yet proves that
"Arami s" i s a good word. Nothing yet proves that i t shoul d not be com
pletely reformul ated. However, the people carrying the ball for the project
make a major decisi on as to what i s negotiable and what i sn't. I mpl emen
tati on, size, operation, fi nanci ng, the dense network-al l these are open
to di scussion; the mobi l e uni t with nonmaterial coupl i ngs i s not. Now, such
a decision constitutes a commitment for the future, si nce i t bri ngs to the
negotiating table players who don't have freedom to maneuver-freedom
that they'd need i n order to be able to rethi nk the entire project as ci rcum
stances change. They're obl i ged to mai ntain the mobi l e uni t i ntact (i t has
become the heart of Arami s, i ts essence), whereas everythi ng el se i s subj ect
to change. Now, how can one make a clean break, in a transportation
system, between the uni t that moves and the network in whi ch it moves and
the city i n whi ch the network i s to be i mpl anted? Yet the deci si on i sn't real ly
a deci si on, since it remai ns i mpl i ci t. No one entrusts the negotiators with
a l i st of priorities and a margi n of maneuverabil ity for each item; further
more, no one recognizes that there is negotiation goi ng on, with a nego
tiating tabl e, priorities, and maneuvers to be carried out successful ly. On
the contrary: i n place of such a l i st, we fi nd a doctri ne of "common sense, "
a piece of strategic advice offered by M. Frybourg, who recommends
careful ly di sti ngui shi ng between fi ndi ng si tes for the system and perfecti ng
' | ' | . Y ' / . | Y | " ' ' | c ` c V c ` 1 | c '
its components, such as the motor, the mobi l e unit, the transmi ssion systems.
Thi s hard-won "wisdom" acqui red after the fai l ure of a few grandi ose
projects-l ike Berti n' s aerotrain-may turn i nto "fol l y" i n Arami s' case. No
retroaction i s goi ng to make it possibl e to redefi ne the mobi l e uni t i n l i ght
of variations i n i mpl ementation or operation.
People who study technol ogi cal projects take too l i ttle i nterest i n the
offici al doctri nes dealing with the actual management of the projects. Thi s
metal anguage appears parasitical . Yet i t plays the same essential rol e that
strategi c doctri nes play i n the conduct of wars. I n the course of a battle or
a project, ideas about the way to handl e battles or i nnovations play a
performative role. To separate the perfecti ng of the components from the
perfecti ng of operating conditions and sites, i n the name of the hard-won
wisdom acqui red in the board room of the Department of Bridges, is to
make a decision as i mportant for Arami s as the deci si on to reinforce the
Maginot Line in the name of the hard-won wisdom acqui red at mi l i tary
headquarters. Writing a project's hi story also means writing the hi story of
the ambient theories about project management. The hi story of technolo
gi es has to i nclude the hi story of these doctri nes, j ust as mi l itary hi story
incl udes the hi story of the strategies taught i n war colleges and at general
headquarters. *
" But engineers don't play war games, Norbert. In fact, they don't
play at all ; they work. They're not ' sent to the negotiating table' ; they
perfect the most effective technology possible. In fact, they don't
' negotiate' at all; they calculate. They don't pay any attention to ' chang
ing circumstances'; they leave that up to the politicians and the mar
keting strategists and other busybodies. What engineers do is think
about the optimal solution. They have no use for ' priority lists' or
' maneuvering room, ' or all the rest of the hoopla thrown around by
rhetoricians and business schools. Don't forget, engineers aren't trained
at Sciences Po [Ecole des Sciences Politiques] . They're honest and
upstanding, and they don't give a hoot for the ' doctrines' of merchan
dising and compromise. "
*For military examples, see J. Keegan, The .1!Jk '! CommJnJ(New York: Viking,
1 987) .
' l Y ' / | Y | ` C | ` l | | o : ` : ` ' | | o

" That's an interesting theory all right, and i t's often come in
handy," Norhert replied ironically. "In fact, that may be exactly what
kil led Aramis. It would give us a pretty good crimina\ . "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
/| ||e |:||.|e |o io:po|o|o |e:eoc|, ^ !e., o|'oo|e od :oco:|
c
|: :Qeo|l_ oce ogo
'~ee s|e ~o d ||ee~ce, ~ g'' soy, oeree Ao sod\A. \A.,
. ' e, s'o|ed s~o , od god.o ' ygo| cop co'ed occodoce v| oco
de~ods
A| | s| |vos e|eed 'oos |e v'o|co~oco' | ''o| s'oc dgveyo: o
deo vos |'ee v'e ' s'o|ed cp, l -o-. \o|c' | , cov, do ' go
o~dco' ~e o^eo| \A.s|o|es, |o eody 'oso o| o| |o|es
'e:, |: o| ||e /o: ||ee oe | oy po|e oo|||e: o.e|o|ce:'
cxoc|y soy,soved d|~es|cdesocdveveedeo gv''o |eo'
|oso|o|ocsys|e~ \ ' e~eavedAsq o' |e, oeg ee|o~''eCeeo
Co.c o .dges od oods, ossed .s|o do o s|ady, 'e eo y|oo.s oy
s. se''edoy 'e ossed .s'o ex|ed |'esys|e~ so | voa' d go o |'e voy
'o |e . ' es|o! o
\eveevey~.c | ceced oyoSvss 'o ^, |'e 'ooegge,v' c'
s|. ex s|s l'e~ o 'e godao y pese|ed ' s poec| os''e oeg go|''e
. 'e ~e|o
A co' |o ods vos pa| o.|, `o|eoo| 'od ossced .s ''o' ''e coo
co~~. |yvoc d go o og
' l -z, v~ec''eo dsveeexo~ ced, ''eevee|vepoposo' s ^o|o
e| , Soc' , ' co' e~e~oe|'e o|es | s'o. d o' 'ove oee o.|o~o| c
`'eevoso ~ee' g !'e^o|o o dvoso'' c o 'y dec'oed ''e oes|
A| ''o| po c|o|esso Coo od, |o~ ' ' e, o ye|eq.eccy sec o s'
o~d veyoc|ve oc |e ' oco scee, o ve sov | g.e, O o'o o~, sesed
''o||e ..ves;co. dpo|||o~ |'es |co| o~, od 'eo|'ed o|o|'edeo
e'osc |e' go, e |'e, 'ess| ' |'ee Yo. eo y 'ove!o go see ' ~
e pc||'e 'ooeggeod^o'ospoposo'|oge|e sdeosove oee
rs|ed oocdseveo | ~es, o.| 'evoso veye||ec|ves| ~c .s !'e poes
*Villeneuve-d'Asq was a newly created town on the outskirts of Lille where a
new university was being established. A novel transportation system was to be added
to the novelty of the town itself.
`| ' |( Y S' ^ ' l / | ' ' | | '
`
__

_

vee |a ' o| o| c es oc |~e ' ' ' e ~ve| ocs ~ |e~s o| oco' ~ e~ec|o: oc,
ve co. d|'ovedoeoe||e, o~o cesdes, ve ~oveo |o~ so~e|~ gs ~, e
|o so~e| cgco~ co|ed jco 1 5]
"If I understand correctly, to write the Aramis story we have to
rewrite the VAL story."
" Yes, since it's the same company, Matra was working on both
systems during the same period, and the two project heads had been
classmates. Furthermore, this gives us an admirable point of compari
son: a failure, a success, the same men. There's no way to say the
industrialist is no good, since he succeeds in one case and loses in the
other. With the comparison, we're compelled to see the symmetry. And
technologically speaking, one is as complicated to produce as the other,
even if Aramis is even more on the cutting edge. No question about i t:
I sense that we're about to add a chapter to Plutarch's 11c:, and if you
still think it's impossible to be both a good engineer and a good
negotiator, get ready to squirm, Mister Young Engineer."
" But I 've been squirming all along, Mister Literary Graybeard! "
As you can see, over time I had become rather cheeky.
" Right. So our next meetings will be about VAL?"
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
/| ^o|o |eodqco|e:, ||e o||ce o/ ^ |eqce, |o o|ed o ///
oe|oe gog ooc| |o /|o:: 1 98 | . ||e :o:e po:|:ode ,eo:c oc'dg
||e :o:e c|o:g |o:|e::e:. ||e /o:: coo : :||' ||e |o'' |e|g||ed
|o oe oo|e to |o|| oooc| |: o|':pg '/| ogo, ^ |eqce co:poe: the |o
p
riects |o o hour without vo/g for questions.
Yes, |s |ae, 'e coc|os| oe|vee~ Ao~ s od \A. s s| ~g ~ oc
eso~se|o|'eco ' |oo ds, veod poposed o: g e ~ev 'oc|O ~e|vo
\eodco~eveso'ec~|sv|' 'oopso~dodooo|eoc:. de, |o'e,cpose
o's| ap' 'co|| o 1'e'oc| ouo' spec'co|osof |he co~pe||ovee e/y |e
c:oe o oe~ ^c'e c|evo' dc g as~ o.s, o~d o |o y ov ex|eo
~o se eve , |o:e s |e !e geo|es| posso.e |ec~o og co ||eedo: vos 'e||
:o |'e ~o.'oc:ce !~o|vos :o|o co~'os| v:' Ao~ s
_
o

\ | \A,, ve ~oved god.o 'y |o~ so~e| g::p|e |o so~e|' g con

p|ex ''e sys|e~ . deve| 'vo ~o o .'oges de| c | oo, oe |cc| oo
odoc|ec'o'ogco
l'e ~os| ~po|o|cy'ooccced l -, o||e||'e! o .so |e |es'
|ocsv| |'e po|o|ype!'ee vos o en, .s| os |ee vos 'o Ao~ s
`oeoo|s 'oved .,'e ~od! s'ov ~..' |ees| A: 'epo,ec| .p|o
|'o' po |od so d, |s o ~ ss o |o |'e|.'cc, 's o vey good ~oge o
|'e po |co |o|, |s|eeo|o| p.o c'ospo|o| o Aoc'e |'e evc ',
s geo|, o.| | ve csed ||o coec||'e ev c |, od ' ' e |se |, |vo.'d oe
oc||e ye| \'o| vo| s o e|o/| \'o' do yoc 'ove |o c|ooge yo.
v'o|c'o~oco | |o do o e|vo|s *
o cs ! vos o ex'ood oy oppo|c|y eod |oe oo odv se,
. ~o, o cco'e o'y'ec'qcegodco|c, v'o p'oyed o vey .se|. o e, 'e
vos o A' e|ee A| |s| ve |oos ' ~ |o| o o d |o|, !s ||ce \e vee
yo.g, veso d, \~y s 'e 'og go|o.d oo''e g .s v| o' ' so d|os
oed deos
S| , |'ecoo|/oo|o|oo o| deo: go||. y p'oyed o.' ' !voso cosco.se
Ac|.o y, 'e vos qc!c depede|~ dcd od 'e o|!e d sogeed v|' |'e
A'', |'oseg.ysd d | oe' eve v'o' eso' eo.'o~o' o 'evosogoodg.y,
. ~o, oeco.se 'e ovoys so d, Yo. 'ove |o !o! sv'o| |'e expe|s
o voys so d Yoc 'ove|o ' o voys oosed |o|ec'o ogco .s! | co| os
oe'. d |'e Yo. 'ovc|o, |osee | |~ g'| oe cs!o q.es|o o| 'oo |.
Sove'odsc.ocs'oss' esoeco.sc|'es' ||o~|'e'|t'c . ~cIO!'e~e:vo-
d d|gos~oo|y\e'od|ogo||o~ oooeve/:o|e |oee/:o|e sovecoc d
ex|ed |'e es , od|'o| ed |o |eo ' y ~o oc'oges
!'e co|oc| g oc|'o|y|o |'e ev c!y s|.csv |~ cs, |'o| vos ' c'e.,
o |e|cg.y, |eo ydyo~c, v'o .|o|.o|e yd ed q.|eyo.g
A| | s|| 'epcop'eo| \ ee.ve d d| se |c deo |'o|vevee co:p|
co|og ||e/ sy:|e:, oeco.se|'o| c|eosed |e cos|s od !'e | ~c|o~e, od
|'c''espec|co|osc'oged H.|Coo od, v'ovosogo s| |o|| s!'e
ovoys so d, `oc e go g|oco~p co|e | gs| o y co~e o.| |ovoo|
|'ec'oge, od||o~ |'e o o |e o|'es |o oved o og
\| sx~o|'s, oe|o|e|eedo' l -, cvcy|' go|'e|es| e'od
oee edoe c~e~oe, |vos oe|oe|'eedo|.ece~oe !'eevee
v o e| o|gc~e|s, o.| sx ~o|'s | ~eve od od .s|ed |o |e specs ''e
*On the administrative history of the project, SLC the somewhat self-serving
book by Arthur Notebart, Le Li vre blanc Ju metro (Lille: Communaute Urbaine de Lilie,
1 983) , 1 90 pages with photographs.
' | l . Y ' l Y l C | J | ' | ` | ' 1 | c o
sys|e~ voso || e ~oe co~p co|ed. | ~oved |o~ ex|e~e :p|c |ood
ceo:ed co:p|e|y !'o|, |oo, s |e oppos |e o|Ao~ s
ecoe|. 'ee,yo. ~.s|~!! ' !'o||'epoec|deve'opedd ||ee~|y|o~
A|o~ s oecocse |vos ess ^ovo've \A. vos cs' os ev, o' |e | ~e '
A| o|o, \es| g'o.se'odpodcced ooc|o~o|ed ~e|o, o.| | 'ed s|o^ces
veevey s'o', o~d ''eyd o' so pa| o ~ovcg sdevo s . cose o| o|eos
dov~s Ad |vos o ' |ce s, v'eeosve 'od oo''v odJc|s od | .~e s
!'o|~oyo|see~ eo o gd ||e|ece, oa| | oc| ao yc'ogeso o|o|| ~gs
`o oe oe eved c \A. '|voso | s| !'e A'` peop e 'od so d, \e
doc!voc oc| co~e ~voved co | ' cg |e |'o| l'ey evec vo|eo letter
ocv oas y|'ey ege' ''odoy cv' c' |ey so d !'ey co. d 'oe o espo
s o | |yvosoeve if voeso|e oc!o~o|ocvos cvo|ved
'eop evee soy ^g, |s o evCo^code, o ~evoeo!o ^
zveyoe ogeed |'o| | voJ d| vo `o'eoo|s oppoe|s vee |'e
oes soyg |'o| \A. s opa|, os |'ey c o ~ cp ''ee ' 'ove |o soy |o| c
|ospo!o|o, !'ee oveoee~ qc|eo |ev ovo|os|'o|ove|o 'ed
!'e secod ~o o|c'oge co~eoooJ| l - | o|ced |o|!'e C^.
|o o ~ o ceose c pe'o~oce oo.g'| ''e cos| .p |e~edocs'y '
poposed |o |'e ' eoJ|'o | es|'o|ve s'oa d~od |y | o|'e |e co|oc|vos
s ged d|oJg'|o || eoooJ||oe|oe, c.| d d|voc!|os| .p oy'o.o e'
| voso ~ co dovgod ^g, oeco.se v'e ''ees o oeodov o.|o
~o|c docs g s ooodoed | vos ~oe cs|c, o.! ess o||oc|ve |o o
|ec~ c o^
' c'e. v ced o| |' s, ' e|'oJg'! oco.| | |o o |ev vees, od | o y
gove |'egoo'eod 'ove |o soy|'o|oc|o~o.cdoc g coseo|oeodov
vos c cded |'eo g ^o' specco' os ~yse|odsJgges|ed|o|veg ve
updoc|cgco~pe|ey oud sed soreoce . d so d'o!o |'e ocg|co!'ee
voc' d | oe ~oy oeodovs Hc| !'e oeg g !'eed oe |oo ~oy
oeodovs|o secd peop|e|o |x |' gsoy|od
1'o|s o voys | 'eqJes' o . .oyo.sze | ' gs|o ! 'e|os | oco pose,
o |o |'e pe|~o~ec|p'ose
YoJ see, ve eo y cJ||ed eods v' |'e . ' e oc|'o| ' es. ' p.o' c, ve
vees|cooo| veeseds, ve |o sed |' gsove ~o|e co ~y
' o y, 'e!~yse'|oecov cced \e ep| |'e doc g, o.| co||'eC^.
|'e og cc, |soeeo p' .s. \ee !|y ^g|ose |' s p osooood, oc| |s
*For a long time, the only entirely automated systems that were really opera
tional were at the Atlanta airport.
' ' | | . ` ` | - | . ` | ' l ` | | ' . ' ' | l . `
'o.d, yoad ceeo o o. 'd |o the specco| os, od|o|s co| eosy ve
yo.edeo g v | o|eco.'es
s'oc d soy |'o| |'eevee o y oooc| |||ee eo e coge ''ee
veec|o 'o|o| eoc' co' eve s |o |ee peop|e vee vo'ved |ov ''
Ao~ s Hood yspeo cg, v'e Fi cheur, c ~oc, o^d vee ogee~e|,
p cs `o|eoo| |'e po | co' oeo, p cs |'e ^o|o oosses, |'e |o| vos
enough.
''e Iosphere vosc| sec|o o, o~d, ~oe ~po|o^|, eoe eeo |
|oo|g |o |ec|o|og:o| pe/o/cooce. ' Ao~ s, o|ecolrory, 'ecco og
co pe|o~ocevosoed c !se |
"The poss oe excep|o v'' \A. vos |'e oe~ c|e i nterval Fi cheur
cs s|edooso c!e yo|'o| 'o~ti me 'o| ~e d soy|o ~ ~, Cve :e o ~ c.|e
odo 'o |, oo cos ~p |yyo.v'o' e|h cg l'eeyocgo, eqce, yoce
downgrading ay vo' e sys|e~ 'es|.c to hi s guns; ' admi t ~e vo: g'|
' o' yve go|t'ere
!eogc~ec|s so~e'~esgot prett vey Yoc 'eodevey|' ^g. Ceedy
dcs| o s| ' o|!ees' Ass'oes' But c |'e ocg ccve eoceo o~ ogee
~e|
!'epoo e~v | Ao~ ss |'o| o| e^ocg' peop eye' edo|eoc' o|'e
Heovo ce'o eve, |'o|s o|gooo
Yoc see, so~e|~es ~y deos got rejected, o|'e | ~es co~e oc' |'e
v ~^e, so~e|~es| gsgo|s ~ iied, o|'e| ~es|'eygo|co~ co|ed ''o|
poves |vos o eo deoo|e, o /eo| oego|o|oo jco 4 l ]
There are two model s for studying i nnovations: the l i near model and
the whi rl wind model . Or, if you prefer, the di ffusion model and the trans
lation model.
The two trajectories are quite di fferent. In the first model, the i niti al
idea emerges fully armed from the head of Zeus. Then, either because its
bri l l i ant i nventor gi ves i t a boost, or because i t was endowed from the start
with automatic and autonomous power, it sets out to spread across the
world. But the world doesn't always take it i n. Some groups, bl i nded by
their pety i nterests or closed-mi nded when it comes to technological pro
gress, are jealous of this fi ne idea. They downgrade it, pervert it, compro
mise it. Sometimes they put it to death. I n certain mi racul ous cases, never
theless, the idea survives and continues to go its way, a fragi l e little flame
' | | ` o| | / | | Y | ` | " | |

that burns in people's hearts. Fi nal ly, with the hel p of some courageous
i ndividuals who are open to technological progress, i t ends up tri umphi ng,
at the price of a few adj ustments, thus coveri ng i n shame those who hadn't
known enough ei ther to recogni ze i t or wel come it. Such i s the heroic
narrative of technol ogical i nnovation, a narrative of l i ght and shadow in
which the ori gi nal object i s complete and can onl y be degraded or mai n
tained i ntact-allowing, of course, for a few mi nor adj ustments. A rel igious
narrative, natural l y: a Protestant narrative, a Cathar narrative.
In the second model, the i ni tial idea barely counts. It's a gadget, a
whatchamacal l it, a weakl i ng at best, unreal in pri nci pl e, i l l-conceived from
bi rth, constituti onal ly i nefective. A second di fference stems from the first:
the i nitial gadget i s not endowed with autonomous power, nor is it boosted
i nto the world by a bri l l i ant i nventor. I t has no inerti a. A third di fference
stems from the first two: the i nitial gadget moves only if it i nterests one
group or another, and i t i s i mpossibl e to tell whether these groups have
petty i nterests or broad ones, whether they are open or resolutely closed
to technol ogical progress. They are what they are, and they want what
they want. Period. So how, under these ci rcumstances, can the whatchama
cal l i t i nterest anyone at al l ? By transl ating, as we know, from another mode
and into another l anguage, the i nterests of these groups. Hence the fourth
di fference: every ti me a new group becomes i nterested in the project, it
transforms the project-a l ittle, a lot, excessively, or not at al l . In the
transl ation model, there i s no transportation without transformation-except
in those mi racul ous cases where everybody i s i n total agreement about a
project. Hence the fifth and last di fference: after many recruitments, di s
placements, and transformations, the proj ect, having become real, then
mani fests, perhaps, the characteristics of perfecti on, profitabi l i ty, beauty,
and effi ciency that the diffusion model located in the starti ng point. A
Catholic narrative. A narrative of i ncarnati on.
There i s somethi ng i n the Arami s narrative that l i nks it wi th the first
model, and something i n the VAL story that l i nks it with the second. VAL
starts smal l , and gradual l y becomes more compl icated as i t recruits local
authorities who are al l i nterested i n the project as a way of advancing both
thei r own affairs and the VAL l i ne: Vi l i eneuve-d'Asq's EPAL is developi ng
the i mage of a new ci ty al ong wi th VAL's cutting-edge technology; i n a
si ngl e breath, Professor Gabi l l ard, a recrui t hi mself, talks about hyperfre
quency, the university, hi s own career, and VAL; Notebart, i nterested,
pushes the li l l e community, hi s own career, the prestige of the regi on, and
' | . | Y ' | . | Y | " ' ' | ' ' ' | V l " 1 ' | `
al so VAL; Fi cheur, the contracting authority, excited about the project, i s
al so pursui ng hi s own al i-tao-short career, automated transportation sys
tems, and VAL; and of course Fn3que, Eti enne, lagardere, and Matra are
advanci ng thei r own careers, thei r capabi l ities, thei r company, thei r stock
holders' money, and VAl. All these i nterested people transform the project
and put conditions on thei r i nterest: Notebart wants a network that obl i ges
the nonreversi bi l ity of the earl y VAL to vani sh; Fi cheur hol ds stubbornly to
hi s one-minute i nterval ; Freque doesn't want the CMD, which is maki ng hi s
l i fe too compl i cated. What do they al l do? They argue. They i nsul t each
other on occasi on. In short, they negotiate and transform the project as
often as they have to for it to end up holdi ng i ts ground: the one-minute
i nterval stays, the CMD goes, the network gets l onger, the cars become
nonreversible . . .
With Aramis, the general trend of the negotiation i s quite di fferent.
The i ni ti al idea, an exci ting one, of a poi nt-to-poi nt network served by a
mobi l e uni t with nonmaterial coupl i ngs is downgraded, but it is not rene
gotiated; i t hesitates to locate itself somewhere, but i t i s not recombined
from top to bottom. Arami s l ooks l i ke a utopi a, in the etymol ogical sense
l i ke an idea that has no place to l and. "Where are we goi ng to put thi s
bloody mess?"
" I don't understand any more, Norbert, " I confessed, increasingly
uneasy. " Is it because Aramis is not negotiable that it isn't negotiated
during that six-year period, or is it because it isn't negotiated energeti
cally enough that it isn't negotiable and that it stays in its unfnished,
hesitant state, stuck between being a mobile unit that is reaching
perfection and a system that drifts with the wind?"
" Everything is negotiable. "
" Not necessarily. If the very idea of Aramis is a take-it-or-Ieave-it
affair, if it's all or nothing, it can be downgraded, modifi ed, compro
mised without ever being renegotiated. That's what Girard implies: ' By
giving up the point-to-point principle, they killed the project right
then. ' "
" But there can't be an intrinsic idea of Aramis; that would mean
returning to a diffusion model, to the autonomy of technologies, to
' | | | Y ' | - | Y | ' ` 1 ' o c \ c | 1 c '
their irreversibility, their inhumanity. Everything we're doing in our
research center runs counter to that idea. We might just as well say
that Aramis has an inherent flaw. "
"Well , why not?"
"I 've told you a hundred times: because perfection is never inher
ent; it always comes at the end of the line. Talking about inherent flaws
is the easy way out-it's a retrospective accusation. 'The thing doesn't
work because it couldn't have worked. ' It's a tautology. It's immoral ;
it's kicking a thng when it's down. It's the only crime our sociology
can't forgive. "
"Well, forgive me, but what i f Aramis were in contradiction with
your theories?"
" Impossible. "
I felt like laughing, but when I saw that my mentor was serious,
I bit my tongue and began to have doubts about his ability to solve the
riddle of Aramis' death.
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
In an urban research bureau run by the lIe-dFronce Region, Mssrs .
Grinevald and Levy, ore delighted to talk about Aramis.
"I'd like to reopen the question of technological feasibility, in relation to the
question of profitability. "
^ Grinevald:
A s ~p |edA|o~ s, dovgoded, o ||e o gge, | |ss g~ | co| ydov
goded v!' |ve ~ ss ocs| might have worked. Intellectually it's not incon
ceivable, oc| ve vo. d 'ove ove cves|ed s.pp y oeco.se o| |'e ocs o|
'ex o |yod, c oy eve^|, |vosveyexpe^s ve
l'o|s oc| p|esde|s po ~| o| vev. | voss, o.| |s expe~sve es
covced |'o| |so q.es|o o| po||oo |y, |'o' |s se |e.ocode ~y
op c o, oveve, |so|oeco.seAo~ s s|po'|ooe|'o|| s| opeo|oc
|odoy, 's eoc.po||oo e.ocode, |'o|s|.e, o.|one that also functions
at subsonic speeds!
Ao~ ss |e ec|.o ycoccevoo'e ~ o dovgoded pose, o.' |'e o~
~o Ao~ s is not ~'e'ec|.o y co~cevooe c~ ess it i s |eo y o.|s.zed o~d
o | l | Y ' l / | l l | J | ' l Y | l 1 | c '
o+'e|eygcoesecoo+ccod |osodvosos .lvoc'do|C o |, v|o.|
~oy eo oo cood
.|e|'e sys|e+ os |ooes +u | ed, od''e 's lC ogeo '!, oe se
| 'os |o oe o. | os o '', od ''e ||ospo|s ooody, o. od y oyoody,
''eed oe o voe o|o|e~y cos oo u odd | o, |s o .po||oo|e od
po::ege|e:s :.o:oc Co:ooe' j!o.d |ocg||e/]
^ |evy
`es, /.o~ svos pc| to |esvecoe, the |'i cgvos oc |. |e >coo|
'o, |o yoc, ||ee: o my:ey ooo.| |, oecoc:e | o: |ec|o'og.o||y
o|eoso/e`
C|evo'd
!'e p.ool e~ e| ~e |e yoc, s |o| Ao~ s s o |ose ve' oc, o |o se
nnovo| ou !'e '`, 'o+ |e oeg c g, vos o |eo:o'e deo 'o |'e
oooo| o~o s|odpo | o. JJ]
"There you are, sir! " I gloated. " Wasn't I right? Congenital defect!
I 'm not the one who savs so; it's the actor himself, as vou put it. It's
v w
quite simply an inconceivable idea-that's what I 've thought from the
start, because I 'm an engineer and you're not. I t's perfectly self-evident
that it's a false innovation. "
" I 'm telling you that's impossible. Grinevald and Levy are bitter.
You aren't born feasible or infeasibl e; you become so. "
In the Aramis story, as in mv mentor's obstinacv, there was a
~ ~ ~
mystery that eluded me, a source of incomprehensible resistance. On
the one hand, the engineers didn't want Aramis to be downgraded; they
held to its essence come hell or high water-though they had progres
sively improved the essence of VAL. On the other hand Norbert, a
perfectly preserved existentialist in the year 1 988, was asserting that
existence preceded essence; the absolute cynicism of his translation
model looked to him like the only source of certainty and morality.
I am not yet among the powers that be. I am only M light breath, a
feather drifting with the winds, a murmur in an engineer's ear, a wasp
' ' | . ` ' / . | Y | ` ' ' " 1 | : . ` . ` | c :
to be ficked impatiently away, an attractive idea that fits from seminar
to colloquium to investigatory body to research report. "Aramis " is an
argument, a story that grownup children tell themselves: " What if
were an automated car? . . . " It's an anecdote that moves from hand
to hand and stirs up engineers; a rousing possibility. As a story, it is not
yet cast in lead. It has not yet been replaced, in each of its words, each
of its lines of blueprints, by a steel bar, by an aluminum plate, by a
printed circuit. My story is told in words and drawings; it is not yet set
in hard type. What the account book foresees is not yet accounted for,
inscribed, engraved, burned in forever in the amorphous silicon. People
stammer out my name. Nothing happens between two elements of
Aramis that the engineers aren't obliged to relay through their own
bodies. The motor breaks down, the onboard steering shakes and
shatters, the automatic features are still heteromats overpopulated with
people in blue and white smocks. Chase away the people and I return
to an inert state. Bring the people back and I am aroused again, but
my life belongs to the engineers who are pushing me, pulling me,
repairing me, deciding about me, cursing me, steering me. No, Aramis
is not yet among the powers that be. The prototype circulates in bits
and pieces between the hands of humans; humans do not circulate
between my sides. I am a great human anthill. a huge body in the
process of composition and decomposition, depending. If men stop
being interested in me, I don't even talk any more. The thing lies
dismembered, in countless pieces dispersed among laboratories and
workshops. Aramis, I, we, hesitate to exist. The thing hasn't become
irreversible. The thing doesn't impose itself on anyone. The thing hasn't
broken its ties to its creators.
o | | | Y ' | / | | Y | ' ' ` ' . ' | ' | " 1 | '
INTERPHASE :
THRE E YE ARS OF GRACE
"We must be closing in on our target by the sheer process of
elimination, " Norbert announced with a confidence that struck me as
excessive. " Neither the very end nor the very beginning nor the Orly
phase is to blame. And that whole horribly confused period from 1 973
to 1 980 can't be suspect either: when the engineers-yes, I do mean
the engineers-do their summary report, whatever you may say to the
contrary, just look at what they write! "
[DOCUMENT: RATP GENERAL REPORT ON THE END
OF PHASE 3A, JANUARY 1 98 1 ; EMPHASI S ADDED]
c. Techni ca` Sumary of Phase 3A
Despite a five-month del ay i n s ig:ng the agreement , and
despite the many modi ficat ions requi red by the vehi cl e, the
technological verdict on thi s phase is very pos i t
i
ve for the
foll owing reasons ;
-the t rack and its various components exist in a quasi
def
i
n
i
t
i
ve vers
i
on;
-the maintenance setup i s operational and the automatic
sequencing of tests has been denorsLrateO and implemented;
-the test runs of the car have shown that its various sub
components work roper and perform as a:t i c ipated
I n conclusion, the result s observed during Phase 'A Jc
not inval i da t e any of the hypotheses proposed during the
earlier phases .
However , the devel opment of a s u f f i cientl y powerful mo
tor , the reduction of the minimal turn radius to ten meters ,
and control of the cos t o f the electronic component s require
progre s s or fine-tuning. [ p o l . _
d . General Concl usi on
8 . 1 . On the technologi cal level, the results o f the vari
ous tests lead to the conclusion that the completion of the
center for technological experimentation can be undertaken
in view of homol oga t i on of the Arami s system .
8 . 2 . Comparing various pos s ibi l i t ies led to the reten
t ion of the Petite Ceinture site in Pari s , along the boul e
vard Victor, for the creation of the Center for Technologi
cal Experimentation, with an eye toward developing, on the
bas i s of thi s initial infrastructure, a first l i ne for com
mercial experimen tation leading to the Exhibition Park at
the Porte de Versai l l es ; this line wi l l be des igned so as t o
allow for a s i gni f i cant extens ion all along t he southern
part of the Petite Ceinture .
8 . 3 . The search for sites and \e Cnara\iC studies un
dertaken el sewhere conf i rmed the hypothes i s that Arami s
might constitut e an interesting sol ut i on for fi l l ing in the
gaps in service in cert ai n sectors of the greater Paris re
gion , either by improving the feeder l i nes to the rail road
network, or as an alternative to an extension of the metro,
or by f i l l ing in the gaps i n the rai l network, or by creat ing
a local network that either would be focused on a s uburban
center or would provide internal service for a ma jor equip
ment zone, or CiSethrough a combination of these func
t ions .
8 . 4 . Given that , as i n the earl ier phas es , the various re
sults of the work undertaken in Phase 3A have once again been
evaluated favorably, the RATP support s the rapi d completion
of the development of t he Arami s system and thus considers
that the next phase must now be inaugurated, l eading t o the
....
cOnSttctiOn OI the Center for Technological Exper iment a
ti On cn the boulevard Victor . [ p o 3 3 J
" So for them, contrary to what Grinevald and Levy say, everything
is going along swimmingly. For the RATP, the decision is imminent.
All
that's left is to construct Aramis while refning the details that will allow
it to go into production. "
" Yes, Norbert, but if you look at the chart where we sum up the
phases (the line shows where we are now-see?), practically nothing
happens between this euphoric document and the July 1 984 decision
to create the CET [see Figure 1 in Chapter 1 ] . What could they have
been up to for three and a half years? They were dragging their feet,
weren't they?"
"Tat's true. It's odd, they want to get it done quickly
" And they wait forty-two months! "
" And in 1 987 they finish it off rapidly. Poor Aramis. "
?
" You said it! In three months, a quick thrust to the j ugular .
?
" It's an extraordinary case, " Norbert continued. "The project is
completely ready to go, according to the engineers, but it's also
completely stalled. The whole thing must have played itself out in this
interphase, right after the presidential election, during the Socialists'
period of grace. "
" Ah! I 'm fnally going to sec the connection between technology
and politics that you've been beating me over the head with for three
months. "
" If that's what you think, my friend, get ready for some surprises."
The more a technol ogi cal project progresses, the more the rol e of
technology decreases, in relative terms: such is the paradox of develop
ment.
As a project takes shape, there i s an i ncrease i n the number, qual i ty,
and stature-always relative and changi ng-of the actors to be mobi l ized.
Petit was j ust one hi ghly placed ofici al . Now mi nisters and presidents are
` ' c | | | / ' :
i nvolved. By moving from conceptual phases to preproduction phases, you
move from saints to the God they serve. Si nce the project is becoming more
and more costly, si nce i t is agitating more and more people, si nce it i s
mobi l i zi ng more and more factories, si nce the nonhumans i t has to l i ne up
are numbered i n t he thousands, since it i s a matter no l onger of plowing a
beet fiel d but of teari ng up parts of southern Paris, actors capabl e of
provi di ng resources adequate to the new scale must henceforth be reck
oned with. Ten times as many actors are now needed for the project, and
they cannot be recruited one by one-one pi pe smoker after another, one
iron bar at a ti me. We have to move from those who represent smal l
numbers to those who represent large numbers. I n other words, the actors
who are recruited and i nterested have to be spokespersons who al ready
aggregate resources that are themelves mul ti pl i ed: the regi on, the Paris
mayor's offi ce, the Left, the Right, France, i ndustry, the country's bal ance
of payments, exports. But the more the fate of the project is bound up with
these new participants, the more room they take up, comparatively speak
i ng. The onl y thi ng a technol ogical project cannot do is i mpl ement itself
without pl aci ng itse/f i n a broader context. I f i t refuses to contextual ize itself,
i t may remai n technol ogical ly perfect, but unreal . Technological projects
that remai n purel y technol ogi cal are l i ke moral ists: thei r hands are cl ean,
but they don't have hands.
Thi s change of scal e makes a project resemble an oni on i n whi ch
each layer of ski n woul d be ten ti mes larger than the one before, and i t
accounts for the i mpatience of the publ i c. So: I s Aramis fi ni shed or not? I s
it real or not? The answers to these questions depend not on the earl i er
stages but always on the latest one, which i s al so the most expensive, the
most troublesome, the fussiest, the most compl icated. Every two years the
project bets its l i fe on the red carpet, double or nothi ng! Ni nety-ei ght
percent of projects di sappear i n this game of roulette-so much for the fi ne
fol k who compl ai n about i rreversi bi l ity and the autonomy of technol ogy.
How the Matra and RATP engi neers would l i ke Arami s to be i rreversi bl e
and autonomous! Woul d to heaven that the fine fol k were ri ght. The project
engi neers would l i ght candl es to Sai nt El l ul-never mi nd that he's Protes
tant-if it would hel p Arami s lose a l i ttle of its di scouragi ng reversi bi l ity.
| ` ! . | | | / '
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
/| ||e ^o:|y o| ioo:po|o|o, o |ec|oco| oov:e |: :peo|g
"I ~ove |oco'e seecgv'yyocedo g'' ss|.dy, |'ees eo y~o~ys|ey
'ee. ^oy ` -o l yoa do ~ov v'o| ''o' vos o ooo.| A~d ^oc' l -o
osve * l'e e||o gsAo~ s ooc|o |e o~d|'e g'| ' s |o||
.oc~| ~e, |~eevoso ogooyeoovo, |'o|s~o~o , g vec|'es~o s
poce o| v' c' |'ey deo' v |~ dosses !'e |ec'o ogs|s s|cooo~ y sep| o~
v |'|'e vo `o||'e po ' c o~s, v'odc~o~ged|'e ~ ~ds !'o| 'oppes
o ' o| `o!' ~gco~ oe do~e ~ |' sco.~|yv|'oc||'e s'ocvoves povded
oye ec| ocs l'epo | c ocs~oveoee~ co~p e|ey ~co~ss|ec| ~ deo g v|~
|' spoec|
Bc| | :eem: |o me, :ce |: geeo| oo opp|e: |o o|| pojec|:, ||o| o
ooovo|oo ocg|| |o oe oo|e |o |o'o cp ogoo:| ||e:e c|oge: o po'|,o|
pe:oooe| \/| |veo ||ocg| |o c|ooge: o| oomo:|o|o, :/CL^ o|o, |oo
oo :o oo ||e |omo2, ||e |o|o'e, ooo |o |oo: |o| e|:e
Yes, oc' Ao~. s vos ~cc' ~oe v. ~eoo e |o vo o| o~s ~ |'e po' ' co
e~v oc~e~|, ~ooeeo yvo~|edo~y|' cg|o dov'' |
'o ||ee oe o||e oy: |o occoc| |o |||: vc|eoo||y- o l J|
" You don't seem to believe in the political explanation. "
" No. That's all Big Politics. Wait till Wednesday; you1l see whether
or not Big Politics explains anything. "
[I NTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
^ |eoeo., oo ecoomc oov|:e o| ||e |oo:po|o|oo ^o:|y
\'o' s co~pe|ey e|| o.| o| yoc ces| o~, S , o' |'o.g' |does ~c .de
~|ees' ~g ossc~p| o~s|'o|' ~ co|go ~g |od sc'el, l5 |'eeco~o~ cd ~e
s o
*Fran<ois Mitterand, a (lukewarm) leftist, was elected president in 1 98 1 ;
Jacques Chirac, head of the Gaullist Party, was named prime minister in 1 986, in the
wake of an electoral Jefeat for the Left.

~~~~~
Yo.vo||o sove o ~ys|e|y, doyoa e. .' |'ee s o ~ys|ey os 'o
os ~coce|ed
Ao~ svos ve|yve ' , o.| |'e ecoo~y 'os| ep|.p Ao~ scegoc c
o pe.odo| eap'o o, ~o|eove, o pe||y osy p c|.e vos po |edo| v'o|e
p|oec|voc'd cos| oy, oc| |e |'ecos|sve|voy .p od ve vec| 'o
o peod o| c| s s So A|o~ s o ' o~ge| 'od p o |y | s o| ~cc' ~oe
co~p co|ed |'o |'o| |so qces|o o'eoo od 'ov 'e| des. Ao~ s vos
| oo| g o'og o|' g' |de |'e |vos'ed .p o|esod
|cc:e ce, oc| ||o| :||e: ce o: o c|o|co|e e|op|o/ | B||oy ||
yoc go ooo|g, yoc ge| po'e: eody o o ecooo'e |ee', :o yoc co c
ogocd :o|e|y \|eeo: || :ee: |o ce ||e /oc|: pojec| dd | o||c|po|e
||e ee:o| o| ||e |'ow || |||: |: :|'| :o||g | ||e ^ed||eoeo, v|ee, o:
eveyoe |ov:, ||ee oe | oy |de:
Yo. ep' oy gv|' vodsYo.coc|pepoeyo.se''|o|o~o oecoo~ c
c s so o c s s, |o|exo~p e.
'oy |o |eo :o |eo|y o ||: po|, oc| ||e dec:|o |o co:|cc| ||e ||
vo: code }c|y ' 'o, |e yeo: o||e/ ||e o.' c::
o||oo |yyo.eo|go cg|o e'|soc |'o|,oeyo.A poec|os |o ce
po||oo' e, o|eos|o |e o |
Ago|, |oge ce, oc| o|' ||e ecoocc epo|: dcg ||e e||e ||||ee
yeo: oevo|eo|o ''e -o~spoec|o|| e7ep||e 'o:' oleVee 'ovoot'e
|o /oc:, |g||y :o
.ve o ov v'o| ecoo~ cs|.desoe vo|
||o|: y po|, ||o|: eo:||y cy po|| 'o ||ee oe o|'e eo:o:, |'ee
cc:| oe o o|
"The economy, then?"
"I don't believe in the economy any more than in politics. The
economic calculus-it's like that American j oke: ' When my wife amI I
agree, my wife makes the decisions. ' We'll have to look at the profit
ability calculations, but I have the impression they came after the
decisions were made. In any case, in public transportation, according
to what Licvin told me, what is profitable? With the compulsory
transportation tax of 1 percent or even 1 . 5 percent on every salary,
.,,,,,_ _.

___
every year?* You could pay for Aramis. Strasbourg's VAL, the VAL
planned for Toulouse, the Orly-Val that's in the works -are they
proftable? The transportation tax is the envy of the v.orld, it would
appear. The Economy is much too big a thing to explain Aramis. We're
not really going to drag Last-Minute-Determinations out of their beds
and wheel them off to our metro. We11 see on Thursday. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ ^oe, ooe o' |/||: de.|o:, : speo|g | |: p'.:' o''|ce o| |e
ogecy: |eooq.o|e/:
' l see~s |o ~e |'o| yo. e o|'egosp cg o|s'ovs, | ~oy soy so Yo.
vo| ~oe oy sese o| |' ss|oy |yoc doc| |o ooo.| ''e H.oge| ''ce
!'e .dge|||ce . es oce
"I t ssceyo. ov|'e 'osecov, od |yoc podo''eexpesso
o s|o|e ol | sc sec. |y o co~o' s |.o|o, yo. ge| ^ 'ye' `o
~oey '|oeseo~o.s pessce |o |||e oo od .|e'e p.se s| gs
oy, | 'e |e~o oeod vos o c g'~oe|o~ | e.dge| ||ce po '
o|v ev A s|ogodve 'ogozed!ospo|o|o^ s'eveocevesee
|o|ce|oe ove'osoy|'o||'eg.ys |e.dge|||ceveege|' gvoed
oveeveydoy
|e~o s ged |'e C.! ''e doy oe'oe 'e esgced~oyoe |'ee doys
ce|oe, do |e~e~oeexoc''y |vos v'e |'eCo~~ccs| ~ s|es e'' |'e
od~ s|o|o |. y l -o| So v'o|oppeed l'e .dge||'ce dd va'
every i ntrinsically failsafe system does: in the absence o| pess. e i n the o|e
d ec' o, ||oze evey|' g
Ao~ spogessed ogo cs|| 'e' oce^ s|y oy oeco.:e o' |'e co
p'e|e|y ex:ep|ooo| ccc::|oce: o' |'e po:| ' 'o ' :.o|co As sooc os 's
*In 1 973 the mayors of Lyon a Marseille- Messrs. Pradelk and Defferre,
respectively-trans[or
m
ed a te

porary tax on salaries, intended to finance their

subwav svstems, into a proposed law that was welcomed enthusiasticallv bv local
offcia
l
s. A mayor may levy 1 percent (and even ! . J percent, when heavy i

ves

ments
are involved) on all the salaries in his district to finance public transportation. This
guaranteed manna, whose flow is tightly controlled by the local elected offi cials, makes
it possible to ensure relatively hgh salaries for positions in public transportation and
allows for very significant investments with borderline "profitahi li ty" -if this word
means anything at all.
| ||| / ' .
s.ppo|es os| |'e | g'| g sp |, |vos o ove |' s ocs ess |'o .dge|
||ce sevey| ' cg
B.| o|| expeo:|ve poec|: oe :coec| |o ||e :o:e pe::.e: oy ||e Bcoge|
C||ce ||: ooe:| exp|o ooy /o:|:
's |:e''o' oeoo.| cs|'eye oe||eogozed T'ey'ove sao~o es,
yo. H g''soy, |e .dge|||ce j'ocg||e] ve 'ee goOd |ospo
|o| o, oc| e o|osoe 'osgood o ..|
^ Co|oo, e:eoc|e ||| ||e |:||c|e |o io:po/|o|o |e:eoc|
Hesdes, ''eeso spec o poo e~ v|' g|o.d |ospo|o| o 's e o| os
v|' ''e adge'||ce oe|cozy|'eye o| ' e|'oseo| c v oeooc| cs,
|oexo~ e !'oseg.ys 'ovego|:dge|||cepesoe' oss ged |o |'e|
'|s se |'e'o oc'ose. |eyeX o , ''ey ~oe| gsc'eo :|v |'|e .
| does 'vos sove
.ve'o |e o, |'ey 'od|o |e |'e cdge|''cesoos|oes|o ge||~ee
~ ' o~ oa|o| |e~, v' c' s ~ ~ ~o l'e :dge| ||ce ~ode o '.ge |css
ove|'ose ~ ' os, eve |'oag' ''e|opoeseooag''|~esys|e'
~ove 'o soy |'o' |s ' oc o| co|dece s d.e 'o |o ' ces, 'o |~e He|
o:sess l'eeoe o|s o|sse e|os |'e c ose|s o ^.]
"Now that one really has me convinced. The Budget Offce i s
crucial , " I said enthusiastically.
" But it's sti l l too big, my friend. Why not Parisian centralization,
Napoleonic France? Why not technocracy, while you're at it? Everybody
talks about the Budget-Offce-which-blocks-all-decisions-to-innovate.
Forty Americans have written theses on the topic. No matter what the
subject, the Budget Offce is the obstacle. France has been carrying on
for four hundred years, but Colbertism, Napoleonic centralization, and
the Budget Offce, according to our distinguished analysts, prevent any
change on principle. ' Plus s;a change, plus c'est pareil , "' he added with
an American accent. " It's not reasonable. It's crude sociology."
" And what kind of sociology are we doing?"
" Refned, Mister Young Engineer, refned sociology which applies
to a single case, to Aramis and only Aramis. I 'm not looking for anything
else. A single explanation, for a single, unique case; then we11 trash it. "
" ` : | | | A o .
A " trashable explanation" ! The exact opposite of what I 'd been
taught about the universal laws of Newton and Einstein.
" So we're waiting for Friday?" I went on, without calling attention
to Norbert's epistemological aberrations.
" Exactly. No, Monday. Friday's meeting has been canceled. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ |ee, o |e:eoc| ^:|y o|co| c|oge o| oc:po|o|o :|cde:
Yo. 'ove |o p.' yo.se'' ooc ''o| o|~osp'ee | l -o l , o |~e
~ s| es, yocodo c| .xo|peop' ev'odoeeo.'o| pove|o|ve|y've
yeos eseoc'-v codceeos|epc d|o|eyeos,e~e~oe~|'ee
vos SoJeSe:e, |e eseoces c g|~o|e l'e|eo'ee Cevee~e|
co~eo' o~g, de|e~ ced|o ~ose|'e| s|^ cs|yo|eseoc'odlec'ol o
gy
|'e c g project of ^||e|ods | s |e~, od |o edov || fo the f s|| ~ev |'
o s g e, co'eec| bJdge|vi ch 'e vo|ed |o doco' e !'e '|e vo d o|
ground transportation di dn't escape the mobi l ization . * /d in particular, at the
lospo|o|o^ s'|y, |e|~ooeo||o.o~~.s|~ n s'es|ooove,
yoc|' |eeoe ov |e| entrance i nto |'e od~' |:||o| o soos p |'e
Wester Worl d. ' 'te~ac vo|ed |o |ose o e'o|ve'y veo |ec'o og co
~ cs|y od |.| | 'o o ~o o oe, 'e voc|ed |o o g 'os|.c|Jes
|oodsod puo' c |ocspo|o|o |oge|'e 'o |e | s| : ~e Augus| -o '
oo|'er Co~~.s|, Cl oude . , vos co~ed pesde| o| |'e A!' e
vo|ed |o ~oe |'o' oa|'| o sovoo~ co' |o soc c e o| os ocd |o |e
|eco og co qco' |yo'servi ce, '|oco|y l -oz|'e~ocog cg d |ec|oo||e
A!` vos ep'oced oy 'e |o~e d ec|o o| |'e o ood, C o|d. ||e e
po||co| co|e|< !'ey vee |, od |~ey eo' y dd epese' o s g | co'
c'oge, oo| eos||e dese|oo s g' co:coge
As |o|e 'od|a o| A! eg ees, |' s c'ogevoso|'e d s|.o g
eevd ecto|vos ov |o oesep|co oooc|Ao~ s, |co|dovc g|
'os| e eope vee s.e 'e vos go cg | o s |~e poec| o ^o|o, o
co~poy|'o|coJ' dceot i ocol zed, the s.ccessof the Left od|'e stal ' o| o
o' |vo o~~ccs's c pos|ocs |'o' vee ey|o ''e ~e|o|'ese deve'op
*In France, roughly a thousand researchers specialize in transportation: some
JUU are employed by the major automobile manufacturers; another 5UU work for
major enterprises, the SNCF, and the RATP; and the rest dlt scattered among puhlic
research organizations.
` ' c | | | / ' .
~e|s ooded co good Ao~ s vos o| o s|ods| ' ~ o pos'oc o| e'e+e
veos~ess o~ |eeveo| o~eo~oas eq.es|'of.d ~g |o|'e cos|.c'o
o| |'e eET. The ony e' e~e||o|oagaed ve |o |'e eseoces | go.d
|ocspo|o|ovos|'e.e||ss'o|ed des |e'odeveop d.s| o eseoc~ o~d'o
oos|e|'e ~ogeo|oceos o o!oco |'e c.||cgedgeo||ec'o ogy Yo.
ove |o p.| yoase' ooc |'e o|~osp'ee o| |'e | ~es \e 'odc | see~
oy|' cg se | s ce 'eCoc' e seo'ydoys
" Finally, straightforward politics," said delightedly. "We've got
them all , the Commies, the pinkos , Big Politics. It wasn't so complicated
after all . Contrarv to what vou were saving, Norbert, it wasn't worth
. . .
the trouble to go into all the technical details. All we needed to do was
look at the overall context. He's right: it's a question of atmosphere. "
" Atmosphere, atmosphere, " my mentor repeated drily,
A technological project is not in a context; i t gi ves itself a context, or
sometimes does not give itself one.
What i s requi red i s not to "replace projects i n their context, " as the
fool i sh expression goes, but to study the way the project is conlexlual i zed
or decontextual i zed. To do thai, the ri gi d, stuffy word "conlexl" has !C be
replaced by the supple, friendly word "netork. The big expl anations i n
terms of politics, economics, organizalion, and technology always turn up,
without fai l : "I I's pol itical ly unacceptabl e. " "I t i sn't profitabl e. " "Society i sn't
ready for i t. " "It's i neffici ent. " These explanations are always used precisely
because they can't be worn out. They're not designed to explain-if that
were the case, they would have to wear out in contact with the hard,
contorted ci rcumstances. Rather, they're i ntended to move from hand to
hand and to serve, l i ke the weasel i n the chi l dren's game, to get rid of the
problem by desi gnating the one who failed to pay attention and got caught
wi th the ri ng i n hi s hand.
I I court, i l court Ie furet
Le furet d' 10 pol itique,
I I court, i l court Ie furet
Le furet d' 10 techni que.
The weasel i s runni ng,
The poli ti cal weasel ;
The weasel i s runni ng,
The technol ogi cal weasel .
` 1 : l | | - o
II est passe par i ci
I I repassera par 1 0
I I court, i l court Ie furet
Le furet d' I'economi e.
He came thi s way;
He' l l go back that way.
The weasel is runni ng,
The economic weasel .
Thi s is what chi l dren si ng as thei r moist hands pol i sh the ri ng that is
passed around on a stri ng.
To get ri d of one's own responsi bi l i ty, the bi g expl anations are useful;
but as soon as one stops trying to bl ame someone else, these big expl ana
tions have to be replaced by l i ttle netorks. Who decides that Arami s must
be i nfl uenced by the change of admi nistration i n 1 98 1 ? Four or five people,
all identifiabl e and i nterviewable. Who decides that aeronautic proj ects
don't have to be subject to the vagaries of changes in admi nistration? Ten
people, some of whom, it is said, are campi ng out in the Budget Office as
"submari nes" or "Troj an horses." Who decides about Arami s' economic
profitabi l ity? Ei ght people, al l identifiabl e and i nterviewabl e. Who decides
that the economic calculations that prove Arami s' profitabi l ity are pure
fictions? Agai n, four or five people, the same ones or others, equal ly
identifiable and i nterviewabl e. Who passes judgment on Arami s' techno
logical feasi bi l ity? Three people, maybe four. Who passes j udgment on
Arami s' technol ogical i nfeasi bi l ity? Fi fteen people or so; they're harder to
pi npoint, but their tongues loosen after a few hours of conversati on . It's
cl ear: Aramis is not i n an overal l context that has to be taken i nto account.
To study Arami s after 1 98 1 , we have to odd to the fi l aments of its netork
a smal l number of people representing other i nterests and other goal s:
el ected offici al s, Budget Office authorities, economists, eval uators, certai n
members of the Conseil Superi eur des Pants.
The few elected offi ci al s recruited by the project certai nly don't count
as Pol itics; the economists who cal cul ate profit margi ns don't constitute
Economics; the handful of engi neers who eval uate Arami s' technol ogi cal
refi nement certai nly don't equate wi th Technology. The i mpression of a
context that surrounds the project comes from the fact that one forgets to
count the handful of medi ators who speak in the name of money, Offi ci al
Bodies, chi ps, or voters. Once we add the spokespersons back i n, every
thing clears up: the network is extended, but its nature doesn't change.
We've gone from a network to a network and a hal f.
` A '
~ ~ . .~~ ~.~ . . ~--~-- ~~
" I don't understand why you don't want to give any importance
to politics, to the context . You're a sociologist, after all . "
" Precisely because we're i n the process of making a sociological
discovery. Because we've had the luck to come across a unique case
that's never been described by anyone. In 1 98 1 Aramis was at a
standstill . It had no inertia. It coul d disappear without shocking anyone,
or veer to the right, or
" Veer to the left. "
" Yes, but without any impetus. They really went looking for it;
they picked it up. That's what's unique. The zero-degree inertia. Mr.
Britten even showed me a 1 986 report that compares all the Personal
Rapid Transit systems in the viorld. Do you know what the Canadians
said in their report?"
[DOCUMENT: FROM R. M. RENFREW, M. L. DRI SCOll, AND K. ROSE, PEOPLE MOVER
MARKET REVIEW (CANADI AN I NSTITUTE OF GUI DED GROUND TRANSPORT, 1 988) ]
The concept of the people mover as a technology response
to mobil ity problems gathered momentum in the
1
9 6 0 s as a con
sequence of broad administrative support-and in very rare
cases , s upport by t rans it opera:ors . I t received unprece
dented industrial interest when the aerospace industry in
Ilestern Europe and the U . S . came to the conclusio: that inno
vative transit represented a s igni f i cant new bus iness area
to compensate for dec l ining aerospace opportunities .
[ p o 1 ] .
The bubble burst rapidly and catastrophical l y . From 1 9 7 5
t o . ' c C , there was H ret renchment t o compl et i on o f commit
ments made earlier-frequently truncated-and a modest tech
nology program . . . unt i l the core groups disappeared by at
trit ion and eventual terminaticn by management . Long before
the cardiac arrest o f the industry became f in a l , the ransi t
operators in Germany , the United Kingdom and the lnited
States had ceased to f ol low the people mover development at
a l l . Most of them became bitterly opposed to t"e divers ion
of publ ic funds whi c h t hey felt should have bee: employed in
' ' ' A S
bui lding reliabl e, predictabl e, conventional t ransit sys
tems . [ p o 4 , .
" So you see? In 1 980 all it took was to clo nothing at all to kill
Aramis, since everywhere in the world-Germany, Japan, the United
States-PRT s were in a state of ' cardiac arrest , ' as they say. Moreover
(and this confrms our hypothesis about the innocence of the earlier
phase) , after Orly all PRT projects had the same defects : hesitation,
absence of normalization, cost overruns, delays, total chaos. So there's
nothing unusual in this period. The project is normal ."
" Do they mention Aramis in that report?
" Yes, of course. On page 65 they say-speaking of the year
1 986 -that Aramis is 'the only credible PRT system under development
at this time. ' They sav that it's crucial for the future of PRTs because
. .
of the rotary motor, the platoon confguration, and the automated
self-diagnostic mechanisms, but that it costs a small fortune. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Cod, :Qeo||_ o ecpooy o||ce
\e vosoppo. |ed o:|eod o| |'ek/||] l -o. :e 'oes'v|
yo.-v'ec opeed ''e |e, voc|ed :oc ose | g'||e co.g |oo' g
oo.dv |'|'os|.|, veco p'oce o.ce's ~oe effedively ''oc ||o|
.ogodee poooo'y od |'e so~e |'oJg'|. .vey doy o ~gs |s ov~
|oco'es \A. s ood eo.g'v|y .~ o||e ~ oges~ '~e eoo o'|'e A'
|'e eod o| ^o|o, |e eo' o| 'eo's, vee de|e:|ed !o ''| /o:
' myself beCLe L CC/v5/, for |vo eosos Fi rst, ve | ooc upstream,
os | vee, ooc |o |e so~ev'o| c|op o |' s g o| |e 1 9605. | s s| o
c.e' ss.e, |oo ve eed :oe||ng ||e cos ''o| o |oge''e, |o cs |o'
sp | opo| A o| ~o co.s'y, eve |o.g| | vo. d vo- 'o |e exs|cg
e|vo, especi al l y |'e RER. Asioc from a few veycovoeo |o|sfer stations,
|'e RER o~o.|s'oo o|o| og, e~p\cos''o've dogoc.d|eco.'y
s de Co. cgsoda:o. cgsoe'eo epoo' e~s os''o'co~e|oge|'e
s~oo'''ym g''ve' co~e 'ody I so d|o ~yse|, ey, n ||ve o |e yeo,
ve ' eeo o :yote | se that for the boc: es

_

| ` 1 : ||| / `

__________
'e secod |o ~ o||'ocg||'o|occoa~|s |o ~y coves o, |yo. v ,
vos| 'e l -o-\o| ds 'o cveyex~ o|pescpposeso~ev|o~o'|ocspo
|o'oc \ |' |'e go~.| o| v'o| vos oe g p|oposed, Ao~s vos eo y
| ovo||ve 'oceco.| d|eo''ypese|so~e|g|o|vo. dsy~oo'ze|ec
|ec'oogyo||'eecdo||'e I -oJs !o|sv'o|~ode~ec'ocge~y ~ d
o l o|
The work af contextual i zi ng makes the connection between a context
and a project completely unforeseeable.
The hi story of technol ogy-l i ke history, period, "big" hi story, ful l of
sound and fury-is at the mercy of a reversal , an overturni ng, a bifurcati on.
The new company head opposed Arami s when he was with the Rai l
Divi si on. He opens up the fi l e. What i nfluence wi l l he deci de to exercise?
As a bui lder of maj or metro systems, wi l l his cul tural hosti l i ty to this toyl i ke
jerry-bui l t gi mmi ck come to the fore? Or wi l l hi s president's fondness for a
major technol ogi cal project capabl e of mobi l i zi ng the energies and enthu
si asm of engi neers wi n out? A moment of uncertai nty. A crossroads. Kairs.
The word "conversi on" has to be taken seriousl y, especi al ly when it i s
uttered by an engi neer who i s al so a theologi an. The company head meets
his road to Damascus. He was agai nst Arami s. Now he i s for it.
In fact, every element of the aforementioned context decides, or not,
to be a conductor of infl uence, a semiconductor, a mul ticonductor, or an
i nsulator. Transformi ng the context i nto a certai n number of people who
represent i nterests and who all want to achi eve the goals of those they
represent thus does not suffice to enabl e one to decide whether or not they
wi l l have any i mpact on Aramis, stil l less to cal culate in advance what the
i mpact will be. I n a given context, the same projects do or do not feel an
i mpact; a si ngl e context can bri ng about contrary effects. Hence the i diocy
of the notion of "preestablished context. " The people are mi ssi ng; the work
of contextual i zation i s mi ssi ng. The context i s not the spi ri t of the times whi ch
would penetrate al l thi ngs equal ly. Every context i s composed of i ndivi dual s
who do or do not deci de to connect the fate of a project wi th the fate of
the smal l or l arge ambitions they represent. The new people that elections
bring to power may decide to make Arami s one of the great ambitions of
the technol ogi cal Left; but they may also decide that Arami s is one of the
many projects that the Right is draggi ng in its wake, projects that devour
,~~.,,,,.,,

publ i c funds vampi re-fashion and that have to be finished off, l i ke the
aerotrai n, with a solid stake through the heart.
Arami s can be contextual ized, but it can also be decontextualized.
Thi s freedom to maneuver is al l the greater in that the project fi nds itself at
a standsti l l , and i n that al l the PRTs i n the world have been di smantled or
suspended. To bury Arami s, it i s enough, literal ly, to do nothi ng. The new
people may decide that Arami s bel ongs neither to the Ri ght nor to the Left,
and thus may abandon it to the l i mbo it has kept on entering and leaving
si nce the Orly phase. They may al so decide nothi ng at al l . They may never
even hear a word about Arami s. How do you account, then, al l you
contextualists, for the fact that in May 1 98 1 Arami s could have gone
compl etely unnoticed, coul d have been on the Left, coul d have shi fted to
the Right, coul d have transformed itself entirely to become a mi ni-VAL, coul d
have cal led itself Athos or d'Artagnan? "It's no accident," you say? No,
indeed, nothi ng happens by accident; but nothi ng happens by context
either.
Clearly I had j udged him too qUickly; perhaps my professor was
less incompetent than I 'd thought. What had happened was that the
label " sociologist" had been leading me astray from the start. He never
used the social context as a starting point. On the contrary, the social
context was what he was driving at: he wanted to explain i t. I should
mention that our interlocutor, M. Girard, was so precise, so frank, so
cultivated, that in fact he did the sociology all over again in our stead,
j ust as Norbert had predicted.
[INTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Girard again:
pese'ed ''e deo |o .ogooee 'ogodee let himself be drawn in,
e cc'o|y | co.se, evos 'ees'ed oy ''e ' -o-s'ovcose [the World's
|o], oc| 'e ocsed ' s.sco e|.s os~
` 'o|vosv'e vosoe'|oyedoy| e\o oso |e:'c c osocdexpe|s
!'e A! peope 'o'd ~e, \evo |oeoo e|o o g | ol|v| ~|'e o o'|eo
| ' T : ' ^ S '
' ~e|o~e.cessveco aseso|e, |es|ed|ec'o og es|'o|| S, oo~oe o'
:o.p gso |'e cos
' ~ o|'e vo.ds, ' vos o deo|ced poec| \o|s ~oe, |ee vee
peope cocec|ed v| |e 'o v'o vo|ed o~ oc od g.oo'ee |'o| ve
vo. d cocec' |'e|vos |es, Ho od ocd Hecy \ee eody 'o do . |o y '
|'ees o |. !ec'~o og co' g.oo|ee
\'o!vos sapposed 'o do~ 'oo o coceo o d.o. oJsopeo| o~
tried out the si mpl i fied solution; that vo, ' coul d eoOsUle |'e expe|s, od if i t
voed ' co. d eodc.e o~o|e o :o.p' gs vos s.e vo. d ge|
so~ev'ee.
|co.se, |vos|e egoc|-|vos o co~po~ se o l o]
" Watch out now, it's getting tricky; we have to note everything,
because the possible Aramises are about to multiply. Girard is ready to
kill :
" 1 . a gadget-Aramis that has provided enough amusement already.
" On his side, according to him, he has:
" 2 . an Aramis that is preventing Lagardere' s VAL from progressing
(' every day brings its own troubles') .
" But he's readv to defend:
.
" 3 . an Aramis that is composed of cars capable of linking up in
fve or ten years, and that will allow the RER or the metro to handle
branch lines.
" He's also readv to defend:
.
"4. an Aramis that will serve as a French showcase for the 1 989
World's Fair.
" Let's keep tallying them up, all these Aramises, because their lives
are at stake:
" 5 . an Aramis with rendezvous capability for the World's Fair that
doesn't interest Matra very much;
"6. an Aramis with rendezvous capability for the World's Fair that
is infeasible in the time frame allowed, according to the technicians;
" 7. an Aramis for the World's Fair that is technologically tried and
true and that doesn't have rendezvous capability. "
' | | A |
" Number 7 is incompatible with number 3 , since it no longer has
rendezvous capability, and it's almost incompatible with number 4, since
it isn't really new. "
" Yes, but because it's denatured, it has the support of the Worl d's
Fair technicians. That gives us :
" 8. A denatured, compromised Aramis, reluctantly supported by
Matra, feasible in the allotted time frame according to the technicians,
with no rendezvous, for the World's Fair; and:
"9. the same, with the later addition of nonmaterial couplings,
which takes us back to number 3 but not to number 4.
" It 's true that it's not elegant. "
" Seeing as how you're always in favor of sociotechnological com
promises, Norbert, you must be happy. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
i|e :ome ^ Cod, o: dec| ood pec:e o: eve
!'eAo~ soecome o po | co' sy~oo ossoco|ed v|' |'e ~ogeo| |e
\o' dso odv ''|'e'e||v god~ s|o|os.ppo|ed oy. c, |'ej|/||]
pes de| ocd oy !e~o, |'e ~ cs|e . ed Ao~ s oecouse o| |s
eseoc' ospec|, oeco.se |vosgoodlo'occe, oeco.se 'vos|'e| ogs' p
o| A!eseoc', od |oeco~eo ~os|opo||co| :|ogo o| :oden.o|oo
|| | d oeeo eo:oooo|e, I o.|d |ove :|opped | ||e doy ||e \o|d: |o
eoded [ |.e ' -oJ| Hc|Ao~ s vos so pom:og, |'e od~ c s|o|o 'od
ve:|ed so ~uc'o||'e'eveo|d scoase, |'o| 'e|| ' gsgoo s~o. d 'ove
doeso~e' ' g, ou||'e I vec| ooc|o deo~ g, ooc|o ~y ., od |od
~yse |, ^oyoe 's o' so s|.p d, |oog pe|ec||y e|| |o| | vos| vey
so| s|oc'oy
!'o| s v'y I vos c|ees|ed ^o|pe e oeco.se |'e c!y vos ~o'
vo|ed, |~e|o||cvos||oo'eovy,od yo. co d 'oveo desee|o, oe
v |'~.| p eo g sod des| o| ocs Sovedecded o|~eCc o.|yo. ~.s|
eo ze|'o:|'e poec|o voys 'od ''o|cogeo|o| de|ec|. |vosc|:.ppo/|ed
oy |'e A! |vos po||co||y v.|oeoo|e o. 1 o]
` | H | | / o |
" One more congenital defect," I exclaimed enthusiastically, "and
even two, but this time not on the technol ogical side: on the political
side, on the cultural side. "
" Let's keep on counting the translations. The more complicated it
gets, the more we have to stick to our little accounting processes:
" I O. It's a technologically modern, political fagship of the Left .
What Aramis means now i s: ' We're modernizing the RATP. "'
" But what does it do technologically, this last Aramis?"
"We don't know what i t does, but we do know that the president
and the minister love it, as long as it's complicated enough to be a
symbol of modernization. "
" Ah, if there's love, then you're going to be happy, Norbert. "
" Yes, because with my little chart I can deploy the loves and hates
that fuctuate according to the various shapes of objects. Look, we have
more:
" 1 1 . Aramis without the World's Fair no longer interests the
company head, who again wants to kill i t.
But:
" 1 2 . Aramis is loved by the president and the entire Left; they
don't want to kill i t.
" Hence an Aramis:
" 1 3 . with nonmaterial couplings for the RER, without the World's
Fair, which is not stupid but not satisfactory;
" Followed by:
" 1 4. Aramis in Montpellier that the company head likes a l ot,
but that probably nobody else docs, except for the mayor;
"and fnally:
" 1 5 . the Aramis that is the CET in Paris, a stepchild of the RATP,
with a bit of support from a smattering of people.
" Look at that plot, my young friend. If it were a play by Corneille,
people would call it a miracle; they'd admire the violence of the
passions, the intensity of the reversals. Yet we're dealing with automated
subway systems and technocrats. This is the real literature of our day. "
" Too bad the company director didn't kill off Aramis in 1 983-
we'd at least know what it died of. "
` c | | | / ` |
" Yes, we've made a lot of progress. The mystery is not its death
in 1 987 or 1 98 2 , but why it came back to life between 1 982 and 1 987.
Now that i t's loved by so many people, \"c're
g
oin
g
to have to move
from the little guys to the big guys. Ready to take on the stratosphere,
Mister Young Engineer? You must admit you're learning more here than
in your classrooms, where you solve equations the professor already
knows how to do. Do they talk about love, at least, in your school ?
They never teach technology i n engineering schools, i f they don't teach
you to follow a proj ect from the smallest cubbyholes up to the loftiest
spheres. Our laboratory IS Paris and its antechambers. "
" Then Paris is ours! " I exclaimed i n a moment of excitement for
which the reader, aware of mv youth, will surely pardon me.
w = .
Technol ogical projects become reversi bl e or i rreversi bl e i n relation
to the work of contextual i zation . . .
Arami s, del i cately bal anced up to thi s point, has become so weak
that a puff of air could wi pe it out: zero-degree inertia, maxi mum revers
i bi l ity. Arami s, now l i nked to Big Politics, becomes "promi si ng"-"so prom
i si ng" that the company head can no longer stop it, he cl ai ms. Maxi mum
i rreversi bi l i ty: no one, despite the desires of the two chi ef protagoni sts, can
ki l l i t. The type of i rreversi bi l ity changes i n j ust a few months-and wi l l
change agai n, several ti mes, proving to what extent projects are of course
reversible. This i s because technol ogical proj ects can be tied i nto di fferent
contexts and can thus become promi si ng or needy, depending on ci rcum
stances. They are set i nto context by the spokesperson, as somethi ng i s set
to musi c or "orchestrated. " Arami s in 1 98 1 nearly becomes a pi l e of paper
covered over by the drab surfaces of cl osed fi l es. It nearly becomes one of
those thousands of projects that sl umber i n engi neers' drawers and studi es.
The company head coul d make it unreal . He has hi s fi nger on the button,
ready to send it back to the voi d. But then somethi ng happens: the work
of contextual i zation starts up and i s so successful , so sprightly, that Arami s
fi nds itself sol idl y ensconced on the Left. After geting Petit, Bardet, and Levy
enthused, al l of a sudden it excites the Communist president. It has become
a political slogan, a reference in so many speeches and i n so many
newspaper articl es that i t has a l i fe of its own; i t can't be stopped. For a
| " '
| __
project that was an amusi ng dossier that needed to be closed in a hurry,
it's not doi ng badly at al l .
Contextualization i s fabri cated and negotiated l i ke everythi ng el se:
by tyi ng bi gger and bi gger pots and pans, and more and more of them,
to the project's tai l . When it stirs, it's goi ng to stir up al l of France. I t makes
enough commotion to wake up a mi nister. But the pots and pans still have
to be found; they have to be tied on tight, and the beast has to be made
to move. A l ot of work that the notion of "context-iven-in-advance" haugh
tily refuses to acknowledge. Thi s neglect is al l the more damagi ng in that
such work can be undone. When Arami s dies, in 1 987, no mi ni ster wi l l
stir. Al l the pots and pans wi l l have been removed. Those who were
counti ng on the i rreversi bi l i ty of the context to keep thei r technol ogi es al ive
wake up in the cemetery.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^. Cod : :peo||g oce ogo|
|o do yoc ep|o ||e poodoco| |oc! ||o' ||e CLi :|oed cp ogo
j.:| |e eeyoody '|o|'y o: oeg|g |o|oe do.o!:-
' s|, |'e oocooe o| |'e ' ' g | s |eso.|eu po'o| |e e|'|e Ce'r|.e,
v| |s ooc' es !eeve deveoped o poec||o|coespoded, ||e !
o o|, |o o ce!o| cnoe o|ooec|ves !'o|oec|node | .'eo, pe'ops,
|o|ex|es ocs01 |e~e|ovee| ~oc o' c ~es
o exo~p e, |ee vos o p oc ' oex|ed . e 4 |ovod |e so.|, |o|
voJ d ove co~ e|eydov~goded |e e l'e o|e d os|e.~ cs s
e~ooo e |does |s oo oJsecods \evoc'doveeo 'y~essed| gs
cp o |'e opeo' oc' 'eve' ocd spe| co'osso' s.~s if |'eyd ss|eo o
ex|e~d g |e es !'eA' vos ocdeedv |o seeso|oec's vo v g
|e ex|ecs o~ o| espo,ec|s ''o' |d d| ovov|oge| d 01. Ao~ s
vos o o|o .veyoody go| exc|ed ooo.| |, vespe| |'ee o| oc|~ o
|ocs|oo ned|oce |ee:!, o.| oyeve|o oe :o|d oo||e ||g oooc|
ex|es os
Coc'd yoc go ooc| oe ||e |:| o'poec| :cppo/|e: ' 'oJo4- i|:
: ||e peod | |og ||e o:| |oco'e go:pg
oy, |'ee vos |e ^ocoy od~ s|o| o, v c s|ocg'y scppo|ed |
|vosscppo|ed oy. ~ It vossJpo|ed oy~evosvey oppyoooc|
, o' 'o._' ssep' .o' , ' o:|o o- oo'- /o rp n /|e od |e eex|es .
oec|s |o| eo y d d| ' e le ''ee vos ycg s pede.e::o o|
| | ` ` |
Orly-Val], o~d then Montpel l i er. We told ocseves. -l l ||ese pro eL oe o|
:|.po l'eyevo!' | c ocycose, ''e |e'o og co deve op~et s |ee:|
og, od''eesI po::|o| of dust' a' deve'o~ec|
!'eed d dc|s.| se ~e, al l it 'oovos o | coce ~ s|e | was o
co|o::.: || |ee| o| c|oy ^eov ' e, al l |'e scpo|s |o |'e col ossus hod
di sappeared. s'oc'd po ~| oc'|o||oee vee|ocy ~o|e scccoo ~oyos
c o~o| g |o es !e o s ~oyos o'|ce, |o| |s o|, |e~o ed |ee:|eo
C ocv|o'eto ''e A!'os g|o' so~e'' cgoedoeoc|'e e'|eCe |ce
o c:e l'escccessol!'e | ' . e po, ec| ' -o, Matro oe|eved o oo!g
oc|\A', and it vos o ove|o|eve|y!' cg e' se A|o~ svos j ust |o seev'o|
voc d 'oppe
"I t 'o|d y ~o||e|s voo provided |e l ast s|ov |'o|d d |e sys|e~ , |'o's
o pox~o|ecocse c ocycase, the poi nt s'oo'o |o:| :|/o o: o'| | 'oo| |
does| ~o|e. vo ' ed |e poec| do| oc|.o y ov |'e ,ox~oe
cocse
Hc||'ee~o|ecouse-do yoc ov|~ot-
Yes, o| .ocse Yoc ~ov, whe ccdes|ood |o| A|o~ s 'od oee
termi nated, I vosc|scpsed, |o ce, || o: o.|| |o ||e o|ce o| ||g: co
I o|
" Why do we do the sociology and history of technology," asked
my mentor Norbert, with tears in his eyes, "when the people we
interview are such good sociologists, such good historians? There's
nothing to add. It's all there. ' Built into the nature ?f thinas: there you
have ittechnology! Insert, engrave, inscribe things within, inside, right
in the middle, of nature and they f0w on their ovvn, they f0w from
the source, they become automatic. Give me the remote causes-let's
go back to the mainsprings of the tragedy give me Matra, the Com
munists, the Right, the Left, the mayor of Paris, the traitorous techni
cians; let's put them on stage in 1 984 . . . and in 1 987, here comes
the death blow. An implacable clockwork is operating before our very
eyes. And it's he, the company head, who inscribes, who engraves, these
things in nature. He himself machine-tools the jatum that is going to
bring the plot to its conclusion with no surprises; he's the deus ex
| l 1 ' / . L
machina, the god of machines. Enshrine the interviews and shut up
that's the only role for a good sociologist. "
Without letting myself get as worked up as he was, went on
enumerating Aramises, as he'd taught me:
1 6. Aramis on the Petite Ceinture with a few branch lines i t's
interesting, in spite of everything;
1 7. Aramis makes it possible to nip in the bud the projects for
metro-line extensions that the mavors wanted, and so it interests the

RATP even if it doesn't get built;

1 8 . Aramis with nonmaterial couplings no longer interests Matra,
after VAL's success; it no longer interests the mayors either, but it still
interests the technicians a little, and it interests Montpellier a lot, and
also the Mauroy administration;
1 9 . Something, but not necessarily Aramis on the Petite Ceinture,
still interests the mayor of Paris;
20. Aramis is not loved by the fnance minister.
" There's nothing more to be said, " Norbert announced, rather
irritated by my academic approach to the issue. "They're doing the
sociology for us, that's all . "
" If they're such good sociologists," I replied, bewildered, " if they
do such good sociotechnological analyses, why not say so in 1 984? Why
not write it in the reports? Wel l , I want to point out that we fnd no
trace of these refnements in the documents we've read. Not a word
of doubt in the minutes of the development committee. * We fnd only
constant praise of Aramis, the eighth wonder of the world. Neither
visible compromise nor negotiation. "
" Say, that's true! We11 make something of you yet , i f the goblins
don't get you . . . " It was the frst nice thing he'd said to me since I
started my apprenticeship.
That was the happiest point in the investigation. I now respected
*To follow up on major projects, the ministries ean delegate the task of scientifc
oversight to a development committee that hrings together all parties involved and
that is charged with informing the public authorities about the evolution of the
relationships between the contracting authority and the contractor. In practice, it
functions too often like a rubber stamp.
| ` | : | | | - o .
Norbert's sociology, he respected my abilities, and each new interview
brought us crucial information ahout this astonishing interphase.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
||e |/||: ^ Ccegce ec|:ce:
| l -oJ ve ~ode o p|ese|o!o |o ''e oood | |' s s 'ov yo.e
soog | |o ~e, dec o|ed |e cood p|esdec| ^ C|o/d], co oy
coc .de |o| ve ~cs|c |do || ''ov ~e so~e o|'e voy
| vos| eo y |'o| |'ee ve|e poo e~s, oc| |'ee vee o c~oe o|
lecoco' og co ss, o~d .|. g !ueu o !oge!'e ~oce !'e poec! eo|y
~o|g o
`oc ~ove|o ccdes|od|'o||epoec|vosooso c|e'ys'o|eo|''eo| ~o '
espec!s
\e o ' so| dov oocd o |oc e 'o~eoody so d Ao~| s s ev o
oo.~d, ' 8 | c vog so| o| s!ep, cs' vo' ~cs|| oedoe A| |e ce'
deve op~e|co~~ ||ee ~ee! g, ||g: ee :o|ed oc| d||e/e|'y |s' e, o
poo e~s !e ss cs| 'od' oce!.ed |o ce|o| | es 'e ss 'od| ooe
v ped oc|, ''e |~eyso| d, .e|sgo !|eed g'' c'ogec|ooo' ~ gs go'
C od vos cocvced, oc| oovocs y e vo|ed !'e |a g |o oe ve
ese'ed ''e |ec'o ogs's co. d| s!ocd c' o|'e o |c os !'e c.|e|
ce s ''o| |ec'co'ogco 'y, |s o scccesso.| ''o|s co| ov e pc' | Yo.
co~ ~ove o 'oo o| !, oc| doc |coy | co. ., p I J|
j|.co'og ||ocg' 's ooccce|s, |e ge|s !'eogo| |oo||e c o.!es ;
[DOCUMENT]
,
January 2 7 , ! ' c 3 : M. Girard i s struck by t:e large number
of obstacles mentioned during this presentation . I t seems
to him that everything has been done to make i t impos s ible to
pursue the Arami s proj ect . However , this system strikes him
as having considerable potent ial value , and it would be too
bad i f unavoidable delays forced him to give up the proj -
ect . . . Consequently, he asks the head of technological
services to prepare an attract ive dossier for February 1 ,
1 9 8 3 , one that would j usti fy a positive dec i s ion . '

_______
" Hey, this is really heating up, " 1 said, smacking my lips.
"I already told you, innovation studies are like detective stories= "
"And now, " he went on, "let's go see whether M. Girard's splendid
analysis turns out to be confirmed on the other side, at Matra. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
/| ^o|o, ^. ||eooe dsp|oys ||e soe ||oess, ||e soe pec:o, ||e
boe |L|edgeoo|,
loeeco~e' |e~ocodCc , odC odo ogv ||e~, o evg.ys
A~og |e | o~o | os, oe ' g 'od s'|cc C. ~ |'e ocs o| o ~o o
|eseo|c poec| o| |e A! e voa d| ove ~ ded oe goo e|o |e' s
~ s|e|, \eve ~odeo og e||o| c .oo|ospo||o| o !'o|coc' d |eove
|e Co~~ccs|s co'd |sgood |o |e voe|s, coo~ |ospo'o|o
' vos|s|cp d ' |e~oc pc|cpo good | g| | s|oo ood 'eyd d| ooc
''e g'| |ose A|so, '|e~oc |'e Co~~ccs|vos o|' exc:eo oooc| vo| g
v| .ogo|de|e ||e cop|o|s|]
!e|eveecoc| c|sv |' |'e Al g|ovoy, o! v|o | epo | c os, oc'
v| C od e d d | oe eve c |o| o' , o| | s', oc| oe co. d' oe ogo s|
evey|o g, ocd oesdes, s ce e eo ' y es|o oe ccogeo|'' cgs, 'e|oos
| soce ove, ~ode | soooy
odd | o, 'e sev pe|ec'y ve' |o| |e oo o| ~e||o dve s o od
oe, |'o||evoy dves|ee s o de co|e ssce oc coc.d|soy |oo| peop e
vee| ' ' ed oooa| os ~g o oo|o|vosso~e|~es ossed o ||o~ |o|e||o
so
\e poposed ocAovo|oC od e|od .s, ocdo|e o~ o Ao~ s
o|veoe| 'ees|ed C odvec||o oo''o | . vosco~vced|o||'ee||e
Ce |.e vosv oo' e, voc|ed |o |oe |'e qc ces!voy, od d d| vo||o
see ~y co~poy ose ~oey Aovo vos ess co~p ex, od | || vey ve ,
v| !s s~o sze, | vos ess cc~oeso~e |o |e |o~voy C od voc d
ove oeo| |, 'e voc|ed |'e o~ o' Ao~s
|s|ceo|''o|po c| peopsos|~yceve | dd | |ov. ||e gc|s |o soy,
`o, Aovo s oe||e|oo Ao~ s
Bc| ogo, |y dd ||e |/|| p|.ge |o ||e os| cop|co|eo p/ojec|-
C|odd d~'|.s| ~e edd~ 'vo|~e|o|os'o||o s ~p '|edsys|e~ oc
' ~ I eve soc d ove co ed ! Aovo 'e o~e vos o s ss o| deo'.
soc d oove co ed | A|os o o'os
` l | ' / ' |
|oc!, | :|oc'd |oe pe| o cocp'e o| |o.: || (. oe|d Cod:
ooc|, |o co.ce |: | oc|d eve o| o z i j
" Extraordinary! Compare this with the previous interview. Girard
says, 'i I'd been reasonable, I would have stopped it the day the World's Fair
ended. But Aramis was so promisinB, the admini.stration had invested so
much at the level of discourse, that I let it go on. "'
" s th
"
o ey see eye to eye.
" Yes, they agree, but on a misunderstanding! In twenty years as
a sociologist, I 've never seen a thing like that. The two most important
decisionmakers both think that they shouldn't have made the decision
they made-that they should have been more courageous. Magnifcent.
Truly magnifcent. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS)
.||| ^ ||ee: o|ce o| ^o|/o
As|o| .ogodee, 'eso d!o' ~se |, ee o~ `o|eoo!spos | o, v |~
|'e'oco 'oco~o|ve|'o|s go ~g |o pa ' Ao~ so o~g |o|~e
e looked ~es|o g'| | 'eeye Coyocdoi t ?' so d, ' |sco~p' co|ed,
o.|ve do| zve |'ocg' |'ocg'| |vos ccecesso y co~p ex
"ObViously, |oeu there was the Worl d's Fair; we thought that vo. d |e p
cs, odveveepc:|ed o|og o po|| |'o|ve~eve|vee oo e!o'eove
''e po.odox s!'ol v'e |'e|evos o ~o|e\ods 'o , C od so d,
Yocsee, s ~p f cgvos |vo|' | , s ce |'ees o cs'
`C |od o'voys 'eoced |ovod ||e co:p|e :o'c|o eo' |g||ec|, ^
Cc , o| |'ese~.' g'|ec' |'o|^o||o'os| 'eeve| op|oposo| oyoc !'o| s
v'o|C odvossoy g
o~y po|, scev pe||ec|yve |'o||' cgs'od|oge| ~oe co:p|co|ed
o: ||ey e| o|oog l'o|s v'o| 'opo 'ossoc|d d \'o|doyoc ~o'e o|o
|' cg |'o| goes .oddy' ^o~~y' g'|ovoy-
|| | ve cde:|ood co/ec||,, ||e quc|e:| oy |o ge| |o o /eo|'|e pod.c|
o: ||e co:p|co|ed oy-
Yes, ||e :|o|e:| o.|e o: :|'| o |og oe oecocse ' ve' oy voy o|
| " J : ` - o c
C od, v'o d d | |cs| cs o oc| e||o|s |o s ~p 'y Yes, ved oc:ep|ed ||o|
co . l |
" You can see what that guy loves and hates . Look, let's draw a
line that connects all the variations in feeling to each variant of Arami s:
what do we come up with? The Carte de Tendre, the Map if the Land ?f
Tenderness* -a new one for the century, ours, a map that has been
neglected by novelists and the sniveling humanists. Yes, Aramis is loved,
Aramis is hated. It all depends on its changing forms. Here's the Peak
of Conversion of the company head; here's the Swamp of Cold Feelings;
further on, the Temple of Enthusiasm of the World's Fair. Then you find
Love's Trickery- ah! if only we'd called it Porthos !-and the Go-Be
tween's Hut, and the Budget Offce Cave, and the Pit of Disappoint
ments, deeper than the Pacific Ocean . . . "
" And you get to Marriage in the end?"
" Yes, but a marriage of reason, a shotgun wedding."
" But since it concerns love of technology, Norbert, we should call
it the Carte de Dur-the Map if the Land if Hardness. "
" Hey, that's great! Come here, let me give you a hug! A real love
story. Yes, that's it! " exclaimed my mentor. "They fell in love with
Aramis! If you're actually going to love technology, you have to give
up sentimental slop, novels sprinkled with rose water. All these stories
of effi cient, profitabl e, optimal, functional technologies-it's the ' Har
lequin Romances ! ' It's ' The Two of Us ! ' You get paid by the word, and
you sell them by the truckload. It's disgusting. The two of us, my friend,
we're telling real love stories; we're not naIve romantics. "
The shortest path beteen a technological product and its compl etion
may be the crookedest one.
*This map originally appeared in Madeleine de Scudery's allegorical novel CHc
( 1 654) . Using the conventions of what was then the new science of cartography, the
map depicted love afairs as so many trajectories through an imaginary space, which
Scudery called the "Royaume de Tendre. "
| ` 1 : | | | / ' c
The rational i ty of technologies writes l i ke divine Providence, strai ght
across curved l i nes, crossbars, forks i n the road. The geometry of the
feasi ble and the infeasibl e, the complex and the si mple, the real and the
unreal , i s as mi racul ous i n technol ogy as i n theology. I n fact, the trajectory
of a project depends not on the context but on the people who do the work
of contextual i zi ng. Araval , a smal l-sized VAL, stems from a soci otechnol ogi
cal compromise that woul d si mpl i fy the Arami s project. Yes, but it woul d
no l onger i nterest the company head. Arami s for the World's Fai r i s
revol utionary transportation system that everybody is excited about. Yes,
but the technologists are "traitors" and say "you have to have materi al
coupl i ngs" i n order to make the ei ghth wonder of the world feasi bl e. "Not
feasi bl e, " "not i nteresti ng, " "not lovable. " All these terms are negoti abl e.
The result i s a hybrid? Yes, an Arami s that i s compl icated enough to please
the company head, who i s i nterested i n it because it's compl icated and not
very feasible, but also because it gets people used to automation, because
it "ni ps l i ne extension projects in the bud, " because it offers a good i mage
of high-tech research-and i n any case i t' s al ready too late to deci de,
because the project has become promi si ng. There's no stopping a modern
i zi ng pol iti cal slogan.
As for the manufacturer, he loved Arami s. But he sai d he had made
a mi stake-sti l l another past conditional , another "I shoul d have. " For hi s
hybrid he i nvented a word that i s itself a hybrid, based on the rival words
"Arami s" and "Val , " which the company head wanted to keep as di stinct
as possible. Ah ! I f only he had put "Porthos" on his rack! Our manufacturer
was not a good Scrabble player. What's more, he didn't dare bypass the
hi erarchy to speak about his proj ects di rectly with the RATP president, the
only one who coul d have overrul ed his company head.
Sti l l another twist i n the road? Yes, another short cut-a shorter, more
meandering, more undul ating route. Moreover, when hi s president took
him aside i n private, he sai d, trembl i ng a bi t: "It's doabl e. " What beauti ful ,
admi rabl e symmetry! Whi l e the RATP techni ci ans were rewriting the proj ect
of the compl icated Arami s, whi ch they deemed infeasible, so as to make
it more presentable, the manufacturer was decl ari ng to hi s CEO that Arami s
was feasi ble, even though i t was a bit compl i cated for hi s taste. Whi l e the
company head is blami ng hi msel f-retrospectively-for having lacked
courage and saying that he "ought to have" ki l led Arami s, on the other
si de the manufacturer is accusi ng hi msel f-also retrospectively-of the
same si n. He "should have" had the courage to stop the project. With

''
!

~~~~
perFect l uci dity, the company head recogni zes that he Forced the manuFac
turer to compl icate, reluctantly, a project he didn't believe in, whi le the
manufacturer For his part admits that he agreed to compl icate Arami s onl y
because it was the shortest path to achieving i t, given the strategic position
occupied by the person who wanted to compl i cate it-a position that the
manufacturer had given up tryi ng to modi fy!
Two conversi ons, one definitive and the other tentative, transformed
the Arami s praject, whi ch was at a standsti l l , i nto a politicC11 footbal l . It was
del i berately attached to the context of Ri ght/Left alternation by the RATP
company head. To thi s attachment, a Matra head had been rel uctantly
converted. As For Matra's president, he thought he had found a second
VAL in an Arami s supported by the Left. This enthusiastic support was itselF
attri butabl e to the RATP president and to the mi ni ster, both Communists,
who thought they had, in an Arami s unani mousl y supported (they bel i eved)
by the technol ogi sts, a showcase that would present both hi gh-level French
technol ogy and a renovated publ i c-transportati on system. How coul d they
doubt Arami s, si nce both of the hi ghest-placed di rectors of a private fi rm
supported the project along with al l the engi neers of the RATP and the
Transportation Mi ni stry? Once agai n, as at Orly, Arami s was a dream, the
ideal soci otechnol ogi cal compromise, the dream that woul d si multaneously
advance the P. c. (the Communi st Party), the P. c. (the Petite Ceinture),
capital i sm, soci al i sm, modernization, the mai ntenance of great social tri
umphs, and in parti cul ar woul d make ! possibl e to bri ng about, in one fell
swoop, both state-of-the-art research with mul ti pl e goal s and i ndustrial
devel opment that would transport real passengers.
"Things are getting clearer," my mentor declared. " Once again,
you see, all J8 for the best. It could have worked. Aramis' road is paved
with good intentions. We have to go check with the other partners,
especially at the Transportation Ministry and the He-de- France Region,
to find out whether thev, too, bel ieved in Aramis because the others
.
did. "
" But there's no end to this, " I said to Norbert. " We'll have to go
from the mi ni ster's office to the Minister himself, from there to the
president, and from the president to all their international counterparts.
| : r ' - ' |
Why not go see Ronald Reagan, or the Chinese? And why not follow
the chips clear to South Korea? After all -they, too, decide on Aramis '
fate; they're its context. "
"We have to stop somewhere. "
" So it doesn't matter where? We j ust stop when we're tired?"
" One, when we run out of money for expenses; two, when the
contextualizers themselves stop. If they tell us, ' The minister was
interested in it for only a few minutes; he had other things on his mind;
he put me in charge of the dossier, ' we can retrace our steps, since
Aramis has fallcn out of the minister's purview. Beyond that limit, the
analyses are no longer valid, since they're no longer specific. Then we'd
study something else-ground transportation, for example, or Com
munist ministers, or technocracy. "
" But I thought we had to take everything into account. I even read
some philosopher, I think, or a sociologist, Edgar Morin, who said that
every techno-bio-political problem was also a political-techno-biological
problem . . . and that the politics of chips were also the chips of politics
or something like that. You're letting go while everything is tied
h
"
toget er.
" Few things are coming together, on the contrary; they're rare
and fragile filaments, not big bubbles to be tied together by big arrows.
Their extensions are unpredictabl e, it's true; their length as well . And
they're very heterogeneous. Maybe we'll go to South Korea after all ,
or well go see Reagan, but simply because the Aramis maze will oblige
us to draw a picture of that corridor of its labyrinth, and because an
Ariadne has slipped her thread into it, not because we have to take into
account the international element, or the technological infrastructure. "
He even obliged me to observe for myself that the violent blow
he struck with his fst on his desk had no visible infuence on the chapter
of Aristotle's Metaphysics that was fled under the letter A at the top of
his bookshelf.
" You see: not everything comes together, not everything is con
nected.
"
After that interesting physics demonstration, he harangued me
again about the notion of networks. They Y!L all fanatical about
networks in that shop.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Co|o, e:eoc|e o| ||e |o:||c|e |o |oo:po|o|o |e:eoc|
o |e~o , ''e ssaevos~ode zo' oo||o~spo|o|osys|e~sA|o~ s
'od o ce|o p.o c oppeo , | vos good |o expo' !oese | ' gs ~ode |
poss o eoo|| odeve ops|o'eo||'eo| |e.oo ogesocd| o~ose| 'e~ s'y
oosgood
Heyod |'o|, .ogodeeod|oeCo~~cs|~ s|e ||gced eoc' o''e.
o.|o.s'y, i t o: aoe | ~po|o|oso poec''oCc thon for Fi terman.
|e~oc ves|ed vey '|e cAo~ s co~po so~, 'e spe|o yeoodo
'o' || g'| cg|o||'e/JzJ, |oeed, Ao~ svos .s|oe~oe | ' g c' |o
C. ~, | vos ~po||o| I t vos pese|ed :o ' ~ os so~e|' ~g o| ''e cc|! g
edge| oo| coc'd oe ~p' e~e|ed oc cy 'ey cc|o |'ecoes, o.'s cce |
vos o o d p|oec', |'ey coc dc| soy |~o|'oeyd s| eed |o. o|veyeos
~oe'odeve op | ' o ^.|
/ |o:e :e:oe o| ||e:o : cooe|, ^ ^o, o|:o o Co::.:|, |o
o |oge o|: |o:po|o|o, :|oeo .: ||e vey oo::e ||e:o |oo o
|: oe:| |e |e o: :o|g |: oec:o:
oc cov, 'e~o~ 'od o d o| po'e|o occo~~o~ sese .ve~ | ' s
friend ' o:oe Cc voss g g Aoa s po ses, ' |e+on vo|ed |oseefor
o ~se' |
'oveoe ~oeo|eo' ' so''eAo~ sdosseooo:|g |
[DOCUMENT]
Before deciding, S'.m up pros ar. d cons on LiSmatter after
gett ing opinions f rom all `intc:cStcO part ies . Seek out re
l i able and irpartial opinions , ,,cSSL1 , ' . . F .
s ov~ .de g Yo. see |o| 'es o| o ve !oe ec| e 'ec'o ogy
oooyvos |ovo !'o|svoy ' ~os'o.ded !oo|yo. eco~ g|o see ~e'o
find out v'yAo+ sdied.
| L ' / . :
"I :o' ed seveo ~ec| gs'o ve|| |e degee o':o~+ |~e|o'eveyoody
.o~ce~ed, ve d dsevo o s :eyood, o: |o |.
!'e :. ello| vos ve, d||d. .e .d .ed ', e so:eood, |o .o.vce
~e|o||| o:o | |eo:o|e, v|'o' |oseoo~c~es|o'gove |ex:e ' e|coveoge
od |o| 'e||go ge|ccs|o~es od c ~g |'e~ coc oc|o |e s|odod e|o
' es
's |..e that !'eeveesec..|y.ss.es Avo~o~o oe rs.dev 'o op s'
\eod so~eco~ces
c! | |e |/|| o: eod, |o c' ~ ' ' os o~ |e |oo e, |s oeco.se |ey
oe' eved | A~d /o|o, |oo, |e vo|e se:'o ' d d | ove oy ~oe
oede'voyo|do ~go |e.co'ogyossess+e' ~yo||.e, | peop|e con
_
o| | |on d||eeo| |ogco| og|e: .one |o deo|co| coc|c:o:, vo!.o. d |
soy- co ^J|
" It's like the Orly phase: everybody is unanimous about Aramis,
but, as i n a poker game, nobody thinks the others arc bluffng."
" Still , that hardl y makes it worth our while to do 'refi ned' soci
ology, Norbert. Say what you l i ke, but the politicians have gotten
themselves all worked upit's as simple as that. They've forced the
engineers to do things they didn't want to do. Even your famous
principle of symmetry is no use; we've got exactly the opposite situation
here- politicians distorting a technological logic that was perfectly
clear. It's infeasible. I 've felt that myself all along, but of course I 'm an
engineer. "
" Of course, of course . . .
Duri ng a given period, the form, scope, and power of the context
change for every technol ogical project.
Arami s' contextual izers tied i n the maj or projects of the left with
decisions about the variable-reluctance motor, nonmaterial coupl i ngs ( "i n_
teresti ng for forking points"L and automation ("to prepare people's
mi nds") . Very good; but thi s work refrai ned from adding to the mix a
number of other players that other contextual izers, interested in other pro-

_
_

_
jects, are about to extract from the context and reassembl e as al l ies or
enemi es of thei r busi ness. At the same moment, with the same Left hol di ng
the same powers, the European ai rpl ane, the Ariane rocket, the Poma-
2000, the Val-de-Marne tramway, the Rafale, TRACS, VAL, though very
close, are in other contexts.
That i s why the Context i s such a bad predictor of a project's fate,
and why the tedious argument over "i ndi vi dual freedom" and "the weight
of structures" does not al low us to understand Arami s. The company head,
the i ndustrialist, the di rector of technol ogical services-any of these people
coul d have decided, or not decided, not to bring to bear on Arami s the
weight of the left, or of Technological Evol ution, or of Necessary Modern
ization, or of the Equi pment of the South Paris Regi on. They all coul d have
decided not to let these forces of di fferent origi ns get mi xed up with Arami s'
fate. Where i s the freedom of the i ndivi dual actors? Everywhere, i n al l the
branchi ngs of the context. Where i s the structure? Everywhere, traced by
al l the branchi ngs and relati onshi ps of the context.
Sti l l more fool i sh, the quarrel between the hi story of the contingent
bifurcations and the sociology of the structural necessities i s of no use at
all. To do contingent history is also to structure, to contextual ize, and thus
to gain or lose i n necessity. For Cl eopatra's nose to have any bearing upon
the battle of Acti um, you sti l l have to have a Roman general and an
Egyptian princess attached by bonds of love, and don't forget t he serpent
coiled up in fruit cups. Al l the attachments to context are so many exquisite
corpses.
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Coq.e|e|, o |o:po|o|on o|.o', : :peo|ng n |: o|ce ||e
||ede|once |egon
'|so oec||o~ |'ecc |coo||'eSx:es, | |oso| g eo e o vo:e
.soce . s|eod o| c . ccoveyoces -
'ov, oovocs y, vee cc |.o' yoc| o' p'ose cu| in 1 984 o Communi st
~ s|evo|ed |o. ceosep.e e:eoc| depeden||y o| ecoco~ :|oc|o|s,
'e vo|ed |o s'ovcose ' s e'ese so os |o o s' c ||S ~oge v |o
cc||.gedge eseoc
Bc | don| cde:|ond |: | . | eo|'y ey opp'ed, ||e C|| 'sn| ' :ee o:
e:eoc|-
Yes, oa| do ||oge||'t o||'e| ~epeop e''o.g'||'eyccc d opp'y||o
|'e \o'd s o , |'e |'ey so d |vo. d se|ve os o |oso||o!o sys'e~ .|
o||e|e |o,ec'vosooodoed, ''ecos|s 'ced oc||o:e cos deoo e
l'eco|oc|o| ''eS'o|eeg o `' o soodd | o, o co~o~ se |yo.
' e, :e|vee ''e e|'.s os~ o' ` |e~o od c jon ||e ,e||] od ''e
e''cs os~ o| eo e |o~ |'e edeoce eg o, scc os C o.d od
occodeo ||e |g||]
Ao~ svosscosed|o oeo~o||eo|co~po~ ses, e''e\ode/oe
|o~voy, v|' ess |e|ceceoooc|A|o~ soecocseo||'e eseo|c osec|
|'e 'o co|oc|, Ao~ svos p|ovded |o | u |'e doc.~e|''o|co' ~s|e
co~~ |~e|, cde| |'e 'eod g o' |oso|o|o od |ol| c | s' o |e . s|
o| ex|es os o| |'e ~e|o, | 'os |s ov co c, oc' | s| c~de eseo.',
e ''eve do | 'ove |'o| |s o'|'e eg o s ,oo |o | oce eseo|c'
| ' s ''o' o| ||e |op ||ey dd | :ee ||e :|ep|.: o| ||e |ec|no|og.o'
'eve|: I esoo' yvos vey se| co' /y esde|vos veyse|co'
A| /o|o od |'e A!`, |'ey od|'e ~pess o |'o||'e eg ees ee
conocs|y de|edg ||e pojec| l'ey |od .s ''o| | vcsgo g |o vo|s, so
yoc .o c des|od !|o|v'e |'ey co~e|o |. d cs o|e [in -c]od o d
.s, \eve csed c |'e ~oey, v'e |'ey 'od| eve go'|e |o |e |es| g
'ose, veso d, `o, vevego||occ|o.'osses
" I .eveodto corv.ceC ood|ogvei t u j, s ~cewe veeo |enthusiastic
oyvoy | voso co~o~ se
!'esogvoso e||, o goe, oyvoy \edspe| l JJ e|ce|o|oc
ocdge|, od e vee in ||e :dd'e o' ||e .e without oy deo how oeep
||e |od o:
oycose, |'eeg o sco~~ |~e|voso co~o~ se,ve'od s s'ed
o sec|c s|es o~dve od occe'ed Ao~ s os o co~po~ se, so Cb :oo
o: ||ee was o poo|e, e dd | pc| cp o |g|| l'e |oec'vos |s.o|ed
oy oy|' g oc| o deo o~ |~e o|o|so~e|ec'o' og s|-
`'e|'eoeos|'od'ooe:c||ed oc| |vos|o | |'yoeos', o|co.se
oc| |vos o o soyce ~oy 'ove oee o || eos', o.' Ao~ ss o o |o d
'o|, o||e 01 1-0 o | oc|do|ed \e eed o.: |oso|o' o~, o' dv dco'
|oso|o|o o J4j
"You sec?" Norbert remarked. " He tells us that it's a technologists'
idea, and in the same breath that the people at the top didn't see the
technologists' skepticism. Really, we need an even more refned soci-
' ` ! ' | ' | ' |
ology to explain this story . . . Did you hear what he said? The ' fl thy
beast' that has to be snuffed out? It's like the story of Frankenstein. In
Marv Shelle),'s book, vou don't know which is the monster that has to
. -
be crushed-whether it's the master or the frightful thin
g
he's con-
cocted and then left behind. "
On an Alpine glacier, Victor encounters his creature, who seeks to
explain why he has become wicked after beig abandoned:
" How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a
favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and
compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul
glowed with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone?
You, my creator abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow
creatures, who owe me nothing? they spurn and hate me. The desert
mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge . . .
" Why do you call to my remembrance> " I rejoined, "circumstances>
of which I shudder to refect, that I have been the miserable origin and
author? Cursed be the day, abhorred devil, in which you frst saw light!
Cursed (although I curse myself) be the hands that formed you! You
have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power
to consider whether I am just to you or not. Begone! relieve me from
the sight of your detested form . ..
"Thus I relieve thee, my creator, " he said, and placed his hated
hands before my eyes, which I fung from me with violence; "thus I
take from thee a sight which you abhor. Still thou canst listen to me,
and grant me thy compassion. By the virtues that I once possessed, I
demand this from you. Hear my tale; it is long and strange . . . " {From
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein}
Why reject me? Have I not been good? Was I not born well-endowed
with virtues> unlike my brother VAL? Have I not been the dream, the
ideal? What pains were not taken for my conception! Why recoil in
horror today? Did not all the fairies hover over my cradle? Oh, my
progenitors, why do you turn your heads away, why do you confess
today that you did not love me, that you did not want me, that you
had no intention of creating me? And if you have given me existence,
why do you take it back again so soon? And if you did not want me,
why did you keep me alive, year after year, in that glacial limbo,
' ` | ' / ' |
|
attaching to me dozens of poor devils who sacrifced their nights and
their ardor to me? If have been badly conceived, why not conceive
me again? Why not take the trouble to reshape me? Why do you turn
your heads away? Am I a Medusa, then, whom you so loved? Who
has committed the inexpiable crime of abandoning a creature drawn
out of the void? , who did not ask either to be born or to die? Or you,
who insisted that I be born? Of all the sins, unconsummated love is the
most inexpiable. Burdened with my prostheses, hated, abandoned,
innocent, accused, a flthy beast, a thing full of men, men full of things,
I lie before you. Eloi; eloi; Lama, lama sabachthani.
` ` | ` ' | ^ ' .
| . RATP advertisement:
"Darwin was right"-mearung
that buses transform them
selves like biological species
by adapting more and more
closely to their environment.
But this evolutionary mythol
ogy leaves human societ)' out
of the picture and does not
provide any way of account
ing for the sometimes cruel
fate to which technologies
are subjected. [Photo Bruno
Latour]
AVAIT RAI SON
/. The Ararrus car in the former foyer of the Matra Transport company in the
submbs. Aerodynamic and elegant , the car is smooth and shiny; but it ' s
inert . A few months after this photo was taken, i t was sent off t o the scrap
yard. Here is an isolated technological object tured into a musewn piece
as incomprehensible as the buses in the photo above. [Photo RATP]
J. In 1 973, in a beet feld near the Orly Airport runways, the frst
cars of the frst Aramis prototype were tested. Tills photo shows
the test track, along with two little cars that are running quite
close to each other, even though they are not mechanically coupled.
[Photo RA TP]
=. May 3, 1 973: Aramis is unveiled to journalists. The four-seat cars do not resem
ble the elegant one in Photo z, yet the basic principles of the Aramis system will
undergo very little change over the next ffteen years. [Photo RA TP]
J. The Aramis carcass as it
could be seen during the
Orly phase. The arms of the
on-board steering mechanism
allow each cabin to branch
off individually; the electric
motor will later be replaced
by the rotary engine. [Photo
RATP]
C. Still at Orly, in December 1 980: the Aramis car now has eight seats, a nice
yellow color, and its famous rotary engine. The relaxed appearance of the pas
sengers is misleading: this vehicle is still a prototype that continues to run in
circles in the same beet field shown in Photo 3 . [Photo Matra]
The control room for VAL in Lil l e. The success of big brother VAL
cast a shadow on little Aramis. A major innovation: the former dri
vers are now positioned i n front of a control panel, and regulate the
movements of the automated trains from a distance. [Photo Matra]
o. Aramis is fnalJy going to exist: in July 1 984 tnc great men of its world stand
around a model congratulating one another before signing the agreement to go
ahead with full-scale experiments. From left to right: Claude Quin, RATP presi
dent; Michel Giraud, president of the Ile-de-France Region; Jean-Pierre Fourcade,
vice-president of the Region; Charles Fiterman, Minister of Transportation-who
will resign a few days later; and Jean-Luc Lagardere, L| of Matra. [ Photo
RATP]
-. On the boulevard Victor along the Seine, next to the quai de Javel, which is
being reconstructed, the Center for Technological Experimentation (CET) is
rising from the ground in early 1 985 ; later it will connect with the abandoned
Petite Ceinture. The Eiffel Tower stands out above (center). The workshop is at
the very bottom, and the experimental station (see the map i n the frontmatter)
is at the far left. [ Photo RATP]
' C The construction of the experimental site is well under way.
This photo was taken from the eastern side of the workshop.
Beside the tracks the guide rails and electric power supply rails
are clearly visible, along with the guides for the rubber tires.
[Photo RA TP]
| | . Aramis really does exist now; here it is in 1 987, pulling up to the
experimental station on the boulevard Victor. Each pair is made up of
two ten-passenger cars, coupled mechanically like standard train cars;
but the only connection between pairs is the electronically calculated
"nonmaterial coupling. " [Photo Matra]
' / The nonmaterial coupling allows passengers who are heading for tVIO different
destinations to get on at the same station. When they leave the station, the two
pairs of cars proceed together, adjusting the distance between them through the
principle of the CMD (adjustable mobile sector) like cars in a lane. [Photo
RATP]
/ J. After the two pairs of cars have passed a branching point, each pair goes its
own way, thereby feeding-without transfers-the transportation networks
that a h'aditional line would be unable to serve. [ Photo RATP]
| =. Aramis' Cenh'al Command Post. As with VAL (whose control
room is shown in Photo 7), the wholly autornated system is not
i ntended to have any human actors except at the two extTemes:
the passengers riding in the cars, and the controller at his desk.
[Photo Matra]
|J. [n March 1 987, seven months before its demise, Aramis is still inspiring enthusi
asm in the ministers of the cohabitation period, Michele Barzach and Edouard
BaUadur, along with the prime minister himself, Jacques Chi rae (at right), who
jokes about the nonmaterial coupling between cars: "I've never tried it myself."
[Photo RA TP]
|C One of the cars of pair
number 4, suspended
between heaven and earth
in the workshop on the
boulevard Victor, at the
precise moment when the
development program stops.
It is in this already terminal
state that the investigators
meet Aramis for the frst
time. The inquest into
Aramis' death is about to
begin. I Photo Matra]
| Z. Aramis in its fantic last days. Technicians surround its carcass, trying to debug
its program and make it work automatically-that is, without their constant
intervention. Depending on their success, the car will be swarming inside with
bits of information or outside with technicians. [Photo RATP]
| o Aramis' revolutionary engine, which was the key to the realization of
the project. The idea was to take the axle of the wheel as the rotor
of the electric engine. This made it possible to dispense with gears
and transmissions and allowed for very fne calibration of the wheel
movement; tlus, in turn, made it possible to calculate distance accu
rately. [Photo RATP]
| -. Since no engineer could prove mathematically that the
cars would not hit each other, telescoping bumpers were
added-a perfect case of a compromise among mathemati
cal modeling, engineering knowhow, and the traditions of
automotive and public transportation. The system became
increasingly complex as it was forced to absorb more con
traclictory constraints. [Photo RATP]
/C. The sad situation of the building in which Aramis had originally looked forward
to a bright future. This is the same space as the one shown in Photo 6 . Now
derelict and abandoned, it has become the province of tramps and graffti artists.
[Photo Stephane Lagoutte]
THE 1 9 84 DECISION:
ARAMIS EXISTS FOR REAL
After the interviews, which were always exhausting because they
demanded our full attention, we often collapsed in the nearest cafe.
" So we know that everything happened during that three-and-a
half-year interphase. " My mentor was recapitulating on the paper
tablecloth. " We also know that the mystery is not the death of Aramis
but its rebirth in 1 98 1 , since we've eliminated the influence of context.
Then there's this mvsterious three-and-a-half-vear delay, which we know
w w
was because of the upcoming World's Fair, and then because the World's
Fair was dropped. Here agai n, Aramis should have died. Okay?"
" But Aramis goes on as if nothing had happened. It's intact, or
almost. "
" Yes, that's the only mystery; the CET isn't signed until July 1 987.
To account for this survival, this delay, we have two elements: up above,
in the higher spheres, everyone is now in favor of Aramis, unanimously.
Although everybody has private doubts about the project, they give it
their own backing, however half-heartedly, because they see all the
others supporting it enthusiastically. Down below, with the technicians ,
everybody i s skeptical . . . "
" At least that's what they're saying now. At the time, no one
noticed the skepticism . . . "
" Exactly. Everybody was skeptical , but only in private. That's the
whole problem: half-hearted enthusiasms come together on high, while
down below half-doubts are all scattered, isolated, buried in notes that
we are often the frst to see, in any case the frst to bring together as
a whole. What's more, every time someone up above asks somebody
down below for an opinion . . . "
"The person up above gets an opinion that's more positive than
the one the person down below really holds, because the people down
below revise their opinions so they 11 jibe with what they think the
people up above really want . . . "
" Exactly. "
" Because, between the top and the bottom, " I added, making my
own head reel with sociological analyses , "there must be people,
intermediaries, who do the translation, who transform the technolo
gists' doubts into near-certainties. So the decisionmakers think the thing
is technologically feasible in addition to being politically opportune;
and the same intermediaries transform the decisionmakers' fears into
ncar-certainties, into orders given to the techologists. So the tech
nologists think Aramis has political support. "
" Ah! So it's the technocrats, is i t? They'd be good villains "
" Or else it's just what I was trying to tell you, Norbert: they all
got carried away. If I were a j ournalist, I 'd go tell the whole story to
the Canard enchal ". They kept on going with a proj ect that defes
common sense. "
" No, you're wrong about that-it's a perfectly normal proj ect.
The Canard would have nothing to sink its teeth into. And that's just
what's bothering mc. It's a muddle, but it's not unusual enough to
explain Aramis' survival or, later on, its death. The technocrats are in
the same place, doing the same j ob of translation-betrayal in all the
successful cases: VAL, Ariane, the Airbus, the Poma-2000, the tramwav.
w
No, they could have brought it off. In any case, " Norbert added
threateningly, "you're not to say a word to a living soul about this
without my permission; you've signed on the dotted line. "
" I was j ust kidding . . . Still, the fact remains that there are only
two solutions. Either they're all incompetent, or else there's someone
who has a clear strategy and who's pocketing the cash. If you rule out
the first solution, you have to look into the second. It didn't happen by
* A satirical weekly that specializes in uncm-ering secret scandals.
. ' | . | l
accident, after all . There has to be somebody in this story who's making
a profit. Or else I 've had it right all along: they've all gotten carried
away. In either case, if I were a journalist-if I were, but of course I 'm
not -there would be something for the Canard. "
" Strategy, my good man, is like context: an invention of vulgar
sociologists. "
" Do you mean to tell me we're going to do 'refned' sociology
again, just when good old-fashioned crude sociology would be all we'd
need to denounce a good old-fashioned crude scandal?"
" Not refned, hyperrefned . . .
And we went back to our interviews to " explain" the famous
decision of July 1 984, giving up the helpful, handy solution of denounc
ing the technocrats.
"The only actor that may have had a strategy was Matra. Remem
ber what Girard told us. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^. Co/o
l -oJ, /o|o vos p.:|eo loey coc d| go ogo s| |e e||v g
od~ s|o|o, oc! o|!e so~e| ~e|oey se' co~ g :oc |o \A.
|oc|, Ao~ s vos :po:eo oc /o|o ogo:| ||e |' o' |s eodes
|eo, vo co does|~eoc!o'|ey d d | doo good oo. o| eco|oy, |
voed|eesc|soe o.|||ey oo | oe'ee | !ey:oo |o ||e::e'e:
`oJJ ~ o, | ||o|: |o| ||ey o|, ooy, ve do |, od : ' o g l 'J
~ o eseoc ~oey .| \/' o: o'oy: ||e |oge|
!ey e~o ed vedded !o |e od s|odoys A||e ode| |ee vos
cooody vo vos peoed |o p c c |e so~evo|od co' ovo| osod
.v ||e~ /o'o ee en| ooc| |o /o:, |eed 'ey :|cc| ||
|e c oss cs|o~dods, , cd c ocs yo ed o l o|
^ |q.e, |o |eooeo ||e /o:: poec' o| ^o|o o||e ||e e :|o|cp
: :peo|ng || ||e :o:e |on|e::, ||e :o:e :.o'|e|y n |: ono|y::, ||e :oe
e|e:e .ooo'|y ||e /o: coo : :||' on o:p|oy n ||e eny |o''
.essoy!o|ve od 'ev |odo |, :.'
c' o' |~e voy j|o.g||e
!oo'sexoc''y go|. ve d d| 'ove |e voy
1| I ~ O | c o |
T~e Al' :od |o |e||, ~ ce' d, ^o|os oeod o' ~e
, 'ove 'o do
so~e' ' g ce||e |'o~ \A. \e oosed o s +, ' ed Ao~ s, o Aovo , '
vos co o'e c l 'o., o c|e|o ~e~o s| ove | 'eAeoc'edve|y
cody j|e eod e-:ep: 'o ||e |eo| eo, |.| |e doe: | o 'o
|ood o.e.
[DOCUMENT]
M . Maire got a very bad impres s i on . We backed away from de
veloping Arami s . . . If we do a VAL derivative , they won' t do
anything uavc 1C change our l anguage at Mat ra Not
gi ve M . Quin the impression that we wan t to downgrade the
system. What mot i vates M . Quin is a sophist i ca t ed system.
A| 'e so~e | ~e, yoc co| soy |o| : ~ ' co| o vo. d ove soved
evey|'| g, since the cost is | |'ei nfrastructures in oycose But when yocge|
| g|dov |o ', vo|yoc ove'osce s |o||eA!oo|ed oe |o~\A,
"On our si de, vcdidn 't see 'e !e.|o'og.o| peo!ve, but i t was clear
|o' ||e c|e| o|ed | 'o oe .op|.o|ed Ago , do g ovoy v |' |o c
configurations di dn't solve t he problem. ''e|es no point exaggerati ng, ol'e
o l'ee oo 'yvos~|oy ~e|od, cc|ve 'od 'o l d o ,o~o~ se
\e |od to fi nd o structure and or ogo.zo'|o that woul d al low o
co~p|o~ se
"The ope.o|| gagency overspecifies; there's a normal , ordi nary overkil l bui l t
|o |ec'o oges od sec ' co' os Acd oc |eo'e s de o' |e'ecce, |'e
industrialist |.es|o doos l i ttle as possi bl e that isn't specifi ed. He' l l soy, ' I t i sn' t
v||e dov, |ose |o'o''|es'e 'od |o| s|eed o' |
\e had to fi nd a compromise. On VAL, we were 80 percent there see
^ |/qce: de::p|oo o' ||e \-' ego|o|oo: eo ||e ed o| C|op|e J
cc' for SACEM or for Arami s, there were a lot more problems. " [no. 6]
The actors don' t have a strategy; they get thei r battle pl ans, contra
di ctory ones, from other actors.
The actors in a technological project populate the world with other
' '

actors whom they endow with qual ities, to whom they give a past, to whom
they attri bute motivations, visions, goals, targets, and desires, and whose
margi n of maneuver they defi ne. It i s precisely because of thi s work of
populating that they are cal led actors. For a given actor, this i s the way the
sfrategy of the other actors i s i nterdefi ned. What does Matra want? It's M.
Girard, head of the RATP, who says what Matra wants. Accordi ng to hi m,
because of i ts past, as bui l der of VAL, Matra i s cl i ngi ng to its own way of
bei ng and no l onger wants Arami s, in whi ch it has very l i ttle faith; now it
wants VAL. What does the RATP want? According to the head of the Arami s
project at Matra, the RATP fi nds itself l aggi ng behind Matra and wants to
catch up, presumabl y to get even. From thi s attribution of a past and a
feel i ng, Freque deduces a behavior by appl yi ng a rul e of conti nuity be
tween the past and the future: the RATP doesn't want a project that woul d
resembl e VAL; onl y a sophi sticated system i s worthy of its i nterest. How
much maneuvering room does Matra have, as the RATP sees it? Not much.
From Matra's customary behavior-the behavior of a company capabl e of
produci ng VAL-is deduced a tendency, a weight, an attractor: make
Arami s a mi ni-VAL. Why not make it an Araval ? Because Matra doesn't
dare di spl ease the left-wi ng admi ni stration, and its di rector has bound up
Arami s' fate wi th the Left. How much maneuvering room does the RATP
have, in Matra's view? Not much. The RATP has the desi re to produce
somethi ng other than a mi ni-VAL, at any price. The attractor, here, is VAL
as foi l . Does there really exist a causal mechani sm known onl y to the
sociologist that woul d give the hi story of a technol ogical project the neces
si ty that seems so cruel l y l acki ng? No, the actors offer each other a version
of thei r own necessities, and from thi s they deduce the strategies they
ascribe to each other.
What are the strategies that the two actors can deduce on the basis
of thei r own reconstructions of the motivati ons and maneuvering room of
the other actors? Matra draws the concl usion that "it's especi al ly critical
not to give M. Quin the i mpression that we're pursui ng an Araval under
the guise of an Arami s"-that Matra has to "change its l anguage, " has to
di ssi mulate its "real goal s, " whi ch are to take on the fewest possibl e
compl ications whil e ai mi ng at Araval . The head of the RATP concludes that,
once desi res have been i nscri bed in Matra's nature, nothi ng more can be
done. Arami s has been in a state of abandonment si nce Bardet's day.
Among the possi bl e results of thi s i nterdefi nition of the past, of motives,
goal s, and more or less i ndi rect means, it turns out that the two i nterviewees
~~~____~
_ _ l 9 8 4 D `

agree. "They're ai ming at VAL in spite of the compl icated Arami s that we
wanted to i mpose on them. " "We were ai mi ng at VAL i n spite of the useless
compl ications that they wanted to i mpose on us. " Thi s superposition i s an
excepti on. The methodological rul e that consi sts i n letting the actors define
each other can accommodate all cases, i ncl udi ng the mi racul ous one of
agreement between the one who i s defi ni ng and the one who is being
defined.
" But all these interviews, Norbert-we're doing them in 1 987
and talking about 1 98 1 , 1 982 , 1 984. How can \"e believe these people?
And besides, the fact that the proj ect has been terminated makes them
even less believable. They all know what happened. They can all tell us
stories about inel uctable destiny; it doesn't cost them a thing. "
"They're al l telling us stories, that's for sure. But they all tel l
themselves stori es, stories about strategy, scenarios, with lots of things
like: ' Once upon a time there was an RATP that wanted to get even
for being humiliated'; or ' Once upon a time there was a charming
capitalist who dreamed of entering Paris right under the kng's nose. '
We have to write everything down, that's all . Who's saying it? About
whom? To whom? When? Referring to what period?
" So you write it down:
" M. Freque, on such-and-such a date, tells us (that's you and me)
,
speaking about 1 984, that in his opinion the RATP, represented by
M. Girard, wanted such-and-such a thing and that he learned it by
undergoing such-and-such a trial.
" Look at the note he didn't want to let us have. That's an
experiment. He thought the RATP was fexible and ready for a com
promise. He notices that he was wrong. That the RATP was furious,
that Matra had to change its language. He tells us, U, that this experi
ment revealed to him the true goals and inclinations of the RATP"
" But is it true? Did it real l y happen that way? Did the RATP really
want that?"
" We don't know a thing about it, and that's not the issue. All we
do is write down the stories people tel l us. "
" But you're not being asked to write a novel ; you're supposed to
provide the truth. That's what they're paying you for, Norbert. "
"No. First of all, I 'm the one who's paying you to help me, and
I 'm paying you to write everything dmvn-all the stories of goals and
desire and trials. Not so you11 unearth the truth in the actors' stead.
The truth will come out of the novel, out of all the novels told by all
the interviewees about all the others. "
"A total novel?"
" Not even; we11 let the actors do the totals themselves. "
" Several different totals? When I think that I could have spent the
year doing real technology, that I had a good slot in the Man-Machine
Interaction and Artificial Intelligence program! "
" But you're there, my friend-you're up to your ears in i t. This
is what man-machine interaction is, and artificial intelligence. "
" Sure i t is ! Concocting a novel about people who're writing
technological-fi ction novels and leading one another down the garden
path! "
[ I NTERVI EW EXCE RPTS]
C ||e ooc'evo/d Victor ||e poec|: oooodoed o'|ce:, ^ |o|o|
: expe::g o||e |eo|ed |ee|g: oooc| ||e oc|oc|ce
'e|s soy|'o|/o|o |oo .s|o o de ''ey eve |eded |o go|ocg'
v.|Ao~. s \e|eysov|'e poo e+s p. . g Jp, |eycJced it.
|voso cose o|o +oc|oc|ce| pursui ng .|s ovc . |ees|, |o|s o+o
\ee . vo' s e|oe |'. s, |e A!` o voysdeo | v |'sJococ|oc|os u'
|. s|. +e|'eyvee oc|. cg osgeeo co|oc|o|, so |e ess ve ev oooc|it
|e oe||e
|s p.vo|e ves.s pco . c ||s o| o |o|o 'oss |o 'e+, oy |e voy, s. cce
|ey paid lo o| ' their research lo ',o ocd 'o SAz^ o; o' 'e Ao~:
oadge|, |epco' .c oaJge|s o z|

*The question of who is in control of technological competcncy is a crucial

issue in all projects: thc contracting authority is further removed from the details than
the contractor. As for subcontractors, thcy simply arrange for the various specialized
services.
.........
___
4 . . .'' `

" He agrees with me, " remarked modestly.
"Well, you ask Matra the next question. "
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
/| ^o|o |eooqco|e:, :||| ^ ||eq..: o|ce
| .e yo. e ooe ||o| oy peop|e |ove |oo|ed o ^oc|ove'|o
|ypo||e:: ooo.| yo. :|o|eg, :.gge:|g ||o| yo. |oced yo. e:eoc| ||
||e /o: co|oc|: o.| ||o| yo. e/e oc|co'|y |oo|g o| :oe||`g e|:e, o
:ecodgeeo!o 'A! \o| do yoc think ooo. that?"
''eeso:cc| ||g osMachiavel l i ani sm. 'o oeMachiavel l i an, Ou ove
|o oe vey s~o| od vo vey 'od |o. o vey 'og ' ~e ocd oe ve,
s g' e~ded \e , |'ee cs|oe| ~oypeopeoc||eevooeveys~o!
ocdvey 'odoscg od vey s|coooc j|o.g||e]
`o, 'yoc |eo y'ooo| |, |o~^o|ospo | o|vevAo~ ss o| oc o'
co|os'op'e \e ve'oveocdge|, ved d|eo oy| go| o .
\'o|'oppecedvos|'o|, oc|'ecoloy, ve co|'y oe'eved Ao~ s
u|nl _ |'e.'||oa research ce|ewas o seo backward.
\'o|'oppeedwas !'o| ve 'od do.o|s oooa|\A' \e pod |oo ~cc'
o'|e~| o|o|'eo|es de, |opeope|e' cgcs | ' cevese , ' I t vosgood'c
' ' e oc|o||o| odeo.xo esc o
Ad\A,vos|ooexpesve|o~''epc |o|vevo| 'os|cc|.e|oo o|
o| ~ed c~s.e c 'es 'o, o, o |e co'oy, Ao~ svos c'eope coc'd ce
c'eope.\e eo yeeoed Ao~ s, ! cop|e!ed oc pod.c| linethat's v'y
vevee sode|e~ ~cd |o eod up with a l i ne.
\e 'od do.o|s oooc| \A' \e vee |oo pes: ~ s|c o||e| oecg |oo
op| ~ s| c, so ~cc so |'o| >|osoocg ve | o y poposed Ao~ s s|eod
o|\A.
| |'eed, sp |e o'''ecos|s, '|cedoc|''o|S|osoocg o|eo \A.
'|vos~ | |'e pce|og |o'~o||eed |o |'e~, |vos|'e |e'o'o oe'veec p ce
ocd pco| . c . ~oge. o!'e~, \A| vos ! o g. ~~ c,
,
^o~. svos, | u sp.|e o
evey|o og o 4 1 ]
*"In the end" is as reversible in technology as in politiCS. The 1 989 muniCipal
elections were fatal to VAL as well as to Aramis. In Strasbourg it was the tramway
that won out.
The actors create both thei r society and their sociology, their lan
guage and thei r metal anguage.
Not only do a project's actors populate the world wi th other actors,
but they al so define how the popul ating wi l l come about and how to
account for it. M. Girard, of the RATP, has hi s own ideas about social
physics: "Matra, " he says, "was pushed"; it fl oundered; it di dn't act; it was
a patient, not an actor. He also has ideas about what i s possibl e in
France-the manufacturer "couldn't" go agai nst the left-wi ng admi ni stra
tion.
The RATP engi neer, M. Pari at, has quite explicit views about the
interests that push or pul l a manufacturer to profit from the weaknesses of
the powers that be.
The father of VAL develops very precise sociol ogical theories: Ma
chi avel l i ani sm is i mpossibl e for want of Machiavel l i s who are hard-worki ng
enough and stubborn enough to sti ck with a strategy l ong enough. I n
contrast, manufacturers are at the mercy of the "what-wi l l-people-thi nk?"
phenomenon, and they i nternalize others' doubts about their own capacity
to accompl i sh maj or projects; they shift too qui ckl y from opti mi sm to pessi
mi sm; they, too, are fragi l e and cyclothymi c. As for provi nci al cities, they
cannot choose a solution by l ooking at profitabi l i t al one, si nce their
pri nci pl e for choosing i s a rel ati on between "price and i mage" offered by
a publ ic-transportation system.
There are as many theories of action as there are actors.
Does there exist, after al i , a theory in whi ch al l these actors and al l
thei r theories can be summed up, one that woul d enabl e the sociologi st-king
to speak wi th some authority?
That depends agai n on how the actors act to di ssemi nate thei r own
theories of action . Can Girard's social physics be extended to the point of
i nterpreting the others? I s it, on the contrary, the doctrine of the private-en
terprise-that-pursues-its-own-interest-at-the-expense-of-the-publ i c that wi l l pre
vai l and encompass the others, whi ch are then accused of Machi avel l i an
i sm? Or wi l l the wi nner be the doctri ne accordi ng to whi ch al l
Machiavel l i ani sm i s i mpossi bl e, owing to the weakness of human nature
and the uncertainties of economic cal culations-in whi ch case those who
level charges of Machi avel l i ani sm are themselves charged i n turn with evi l
i ntentions?
To the multi pl i city of actors a new multi pl i city i s now added: that of
the efforts made to uni fy, to si mpl i fy, to make coherent the multi pl icity of
m : ' ' c 4 : ' o l
viewpoints, goal s, and desi res, so as to i mpose a si ngl e theory of action .
In the strange arithmetic of projects, everythi ng is added; nothi ng is taken
away, not even the rules of the metal anguage, not even the arithmetic's
variable rules by whi ch addition and subtraction are defi ned!
" But it's in his interest," I said indignantly, "i n Freque's , that is,
to tell us that. If he chooses a sociology of interest, he can't avoid being
accused of Machiavellianism. So he talks to us about uncertainty,
tinkering, pessimism . . . Another minute and he'd have had us weeping
over the manufacturer's misfortunes; it was clear from the start. That's
Machiavellian, isn't it? To say, out of self-interest, wit your hand over
your heart, that you don't have a strategy and that you're just a poor
slob with nothing but the shirt on his back who's doing the best he
" can.
"And your interpretation, my dear sociologist, is based on what
sociology?"
" Well , people tell us what it's in their interest to tell us. "
" Of course; but do they know what's in their interest?"
"I 'm not sure. But spontaneously, uconsciously, yes, they probably
do. He's such a good negotiator, that one, he looks so clever, Freque
does, that I 'd be astonished if he weren't quite up front in pursuing his
goals. "
" So you'd be ready to put your hand i n the fre and swear that
Matra really did take the RATP for a ride to get its own research
funded, and that it never intended to go through with Aramis?"
" Let's say my little fnger. I don't know enough sociology yet to
put my whole hand in . . . "
" Your modesty is not to your credit. It's the height of arrogance. "
"A
?"
rrogance.
" Of course. You're an old positivist, in spite of your youth, and
modest positivists are the worst of all . We'll never know cnough
sociology to judge the actors-never. They're the ones who tcach us
our sociology."
" And there are as many different sociologies as there are actors?"
1 ' c l - U ^ c ' ' C `
" Exactly. "
" As I was saying," I sighed. should have stayed in the Man
Machine Interaction program and AI . "
" ' Hee haw! ' you mean, 'hee haw! ' You're j ust like Buridan's ass,
you are-you never know what you want . . .

[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Co|e, |eod o| ||e /|o: poec| o| ^o|o ||e C|y doy:.
!'eye co~veso|oco , yoc sov, |'e e o| o~s oe|vee peop e od
|ecoo og co poec|s
!'e pesoo | es o| |'e p|oec| 'eods 'ove o o| |o do v |' | ' ' |eo.e
'od 'eoded cpA|o~ so||~es|o|, |oe poec|voc' d'ovedeve oped d||e
e|y, ''ees odoco|oooc| | Ad | d oeec |~e 'eod o|\A,, | oc|d |oe
oeeo o d||e/en| \/|
`~ees oq.es| o |'o' i f yo. co~poe | oeAo~ s p|oec| |eo~ ocd | ~e
\A. |eo~ ,|~ee vee ooo.| |e peop e oceoc'l , yoasee| 'o| evey p|oec|
'os o peso~o |y e poec| |eosoed c |e~s o| ed.docy o~d oose
e' oc |y |'o|vosAo~ s, oc|o~o| co y~oe ceo've Ado|'eo''es de,
v |~~oe c| cs csecc oc|v |' |sceo'v|y~oes'| ed, ~oes|c|osve ,
~oe goocs, |'eevos\A'
!'ec'ogeo||eo~occo.|s |oo o| '~e\A. |eo~ |'o||oosAo~ s ~
o~djo||e |-c]ove|.cedevey| ' g, odv'o||'eypodaced ooed e
\A.
\'o|s ~oe, ve ~ov so~e|' ~g ov' 'o| ved d~| cov o|| 'e| ~e,
~o~e y 'ov ~.c' o |ospo|o|o sys|e~ cos|s |o o'|e |o og ^o||o
o:, ''ey coc'd ~o' 'ove doe oo'' o| |'e so~e ' ~e Ad |'ey ~ode o
.d c ocs c'o ce |'ey co~e dov |` |ovo o| \A' !~o| vos eo s| c, s cce
|eevee|vo coc.e~|sys|e~s
|| ||o|: |e|| : ||e :ze d'|eece oe|ee /o: od \A!
Yes, |'e sze d '|eecce e~o s jo ^']
To study technol ogical projects you have to move from a cl assical
sociol ogy-whi ch has fixed frames of reference-to a relativistic sociol
ogy-whi ch has fl uctuating referents.
' | l - o c | ` | |
I f the actors in a project define not only the other actors' essences
and desires but also the rules for i nterpretation that make these defi nitions
workabl e, al l their viewpoi nts have to be deployed in a supple frame of
reference-a reference molusk, as Ei nstein called it in his essay on relativ
ity. Si nce they themselves establ i sh thei r theories, thei r metatheories, and
even thei r metametatheories, the actors have to be left to thei r own devices.
It's a laissez-faire sociology.
Not only does Cohen, the former head of the Arami s project, say
that team culture and the preferences of project heads i nfluence technol ogi
cal choi ces; not onl y does he reconstruct possibl e stories (the story of a VAL
that he would have di rected in Freque's place, the story of an Arami s that
he would have pulled off); not only does he blend cultural and psychoso
ciological determi ni sm (creativity on one side, rigor on the other) with
technological choices (probabilistic security on one side, i ntrinsic security
on the other) ; but in addition, duri ng the i nterview he changes his rule for
i nterpretati on, moving from people to organizational and economic neces
sities ( "i n any event, Matra could not have done both at the same ti me").
And al l this i n a i nterview fragment that lasts two mi nutes and twenty-five
seconds! What's more, the observer must now compare these variations
with the other i nterviews-for exampl e, the one with Cohen' s ol d cl assmate
Freque. "We really wanted to make an Arami s that woul d be di fferent from
VAL," sai d Freque. Cohen' s answer: "Even if they had wanted to, they
coul dn't have"-owing to organizational necessity (they're too smal l ) ,
fi nanci al necessity (i t costs too much), psycho-technocultural necessity
( Freque, i nfl uenced by VAL, wi l l never do anything but mi ni-VAls) .
Is it i mpossible, then, to tell the story of Arami s if al l the rules diverge,
i f the laws of sociology vary with the point of view and from mi nute to
mi nute for a given point of view? No, because the actors also provide
themselves with the means to pass from one point of view to another, and
they uni fy, from thei r own poi nt of view, and each for hi msel f, the multi pl icity
of points of view thus deployed. Each constructs his own i nstrument in order
to el aborate a synoptic view. Al l the actors thus repair, for themselves, the
di sorder they create by mul tipl ying perspectives.
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Gontran, a technical adviser in Fiterman's cabinet. is speaking in his
ofice at INRETS, with the same afability, the same sensitivity to subtle variations
1 | ! - 8 ^ | c ' ' | ' `
|ec|.'.g, od p.||., ||e oe .de|, |.cd ||.cg|.c| ||e |.'c .|d
.| gcded |op.|o|.
Vo ^o|o |,g |. ge| |.d |. eeoc| . .||e p.ec|, . o |
e.c|, |ee|ed /o- C.c'd | opp.oc| oe co'|ed .e|o| ^oc|
ove|'o-
do !ov |.g |ecc ~o's.e |1 cocso,oy|' gveyspec'c
ooo.| '
`'o| 1 doovs| 'o|^o|o o'o, co|e~p' o'ed go goeyod|~e:.
s'oge|o |'e podcc|o~ s|ogeA'|eAo~ s, |'e,cocsdeed se go ~ \A.
!o, ' |' s |'e, vee /eo'', coceed ooo.| |'e ~oa|oc|. g og c
'oveve, | ~e~ s|eod|'eA' dd | |oe |'eso~epodcc|ococces,
||ee o o goe ./ :o|od.ce g.g .
^o|o d d|vo||oge| 'oo deep, v |~o.'o dec s o|o ceg cpod.c
| o, od ''ey vee o so pc|g |e dosse ode|o ge| |'e e, 'o ''e
soe o| 'ov ~g o e \ | ''e |'e \o' d s] o , eveyood, vos pcs' g,
o.| | 'e| 'es.ppo!sgovevo,od| 'epoec|vose|| 'ocg g
"That takes care of your interpretation," said Norbert on his way
out. "The Machiavellian hypothesis doesn't hold water. They really tried
to go through with Aramis, at least at first, and it was the RATP, on
the contrary, and the public powers who were not so interested. Hence
the game of cat-and-mouse. So Matra is the mouse that gets eaten. "
" No, no, it's the cat. Matra is doing the manipulating; it's playing
with the RATP"
" Will your interpretation stand up to the test of the interviews
or not? That's the only criterion. Everything hangs on the business of
the line. If Matra is pushing Aramis, the CET, and the Petite Ceinture
line simultaneously, it means they really do want to do Aramis. If you
can prove to me that they only want the CET to pay for their own
research but don't want the line, then 1 11 start believing in your
Machiavellian hypothesi s. "
1 c ' ' c 4 ' : ' `
With a technological project, interpretations of the project cannot be
separated from the project itself, unl ess the project has become an object.
The actors' or observers' i nterpretations of the actors' motivations
and i nterests become more real and less real as a function of the progres
sive realization or dereal ization of those i nterpretations. Freque atributes
intentions to hi s CEO, to the company head, to the RATP, to nonmaterial
couplings, and to variable-reluctance motors, j ust as he attributes rules of
behavior to provincial cities, to France, to the private sector, to the publ i c
sector, and to humanit i n general . He l i nes up the actors, humans and
nonhumans al i ke, i n a narrative; he mobi l izes them i n a scenario i n the
course of whi ch Arami s exists for real on the Petite Ceinture; he offers them
roles, feel i ngs, and ways of playi ng. He creates a whole world, a whole
movie, a whole opera. Wi l l they follow along? Wi l l they play with hi m? If
the actors lend themselves i n large numbers to what Freque expects of them,
then hi s i nterpretation of their rol es as well as the Arami s obj ect that they're
charged with creating wi l l both be realized.
But some of them protest. "I ntentions are being attri buted to me! "
they cry i ndignantly. never wanted to pursue Aramis beyond t he Worl d's
Fai r project," say the publ i c authorities. "I t was never a question of anything
but research on automation, " say the researchers. "You're gi vi ng me the
role of the Rat, but I want to play the Mouse. " "You don' t know those
people-they're Machiavel l i an. " And there goes Arami s, moving back
ward along with the i nterpretations of one of the screenwriters. The actors,
disbanded, are recrui ted by other screenwriters, given new roles, dressed
i n new costumes, entrusted with new scri pts, and there they go agai n . . .
So translation is not the starting point for an action, but the first result
of a prel i mi nary scenari zati on. To make someone deviate from her goals,
that someone first has to be defined; goals have to be atributed to her, a
soci al physics has to be proposed that makes her susceptible (or not) to
deviation, and a psychology has to be proposed that wi l l make it possible
to expl ain the deep feel i ngs of the being i n question, whose desi res are
then translated. Without that prel i mi nary work, translation would be i mpos
si bl e. There woul d be actors on the marked borders who woul d know what
they wanted and who coul d calculate the path that l eads to their goal s!
There woul d be well-efined soci al groups endowed wi th well-understood
i nterests! The world woul d be rational and ful l-and technol ogies would
therefore be i mpossible!
' ' - o ^ D C
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Co|/on ogo
`||: poodoco|, ||ocg|, |: | |, |no| |ne pojec| ddn | ocdge o||e |ne
\o|d: |o| |e'| |nocg|-
Yoc sov, |ees saco | ' cg oso onocncee| e||ec| v~eyoave
spe|o yeo od o o |se g o poec||o |e pess v eyoa vee oc|co 'y
as|s' || g|o~ eseoc|odeve op~e|,yocsoy, |s go.g|oge|doe, |s
ge|| gdoe
1ooody |oo| e:po:o'||y |o :nc||g do !eC:!voso voy|o s|oy
o ~o d cg po||e. A so, |ee vos eovy p/e::c/e o |e |ec c os. |e
~ege|eco ogy, |'eo~o|eo'cocp' gs, |'edesee|vo|, |evo oo e
e cc|oce~o|o- |o' vos vey :edcc|e.
Hes des, o|o | ~e ve o 'o|o| ccovo|os vee oe g scu||ed oc|, | s
vos oce o| |e|ev ccovo|ve po ec!s c |e | e d o| |ospo||o|o |~o||'e
p.o c coc'd :ee.
Toe o| |'e o|'e s|c|| :e|': po | co y, yoc co | 'ove o oooccc||g
cee~oy |o oJgco|e | A |e po | co |,pes ~od :e p c|ces |oec ~
Ao~ s[:ee |no|o: o ond | ]
Technologi cal projects are depl oyed in a variabl e-ontology world;
that's the resul t of the i nterdefi nition of the actors.
I n a thi rty-second portion of an i nterview, a si ngle i nterlocutor offers
several theories of acti on. The same project whi ch was "pushed" by the
actors becomes i mpossibl e to shut down. So here we have a physical
model . Arami s i s a rock-of Sisyphean proportions-that has made it to
the top of a sl ope owing to the work of human bei ngs, but that then rol l s
back down the sl ope; human bei ngs are powerl ess t o stop i t . I t ' s a bal l i stic
mi ssi l e l i ke the shi p' s cannon Victor Hugo described in Quatre-vingt-treize:
a cannon that can't fai l to rol l ri ght over those who might have the foolhardy
courage to oppose it. But is the "announcement effect" al so a physical
model ? No. The same Arami s project i s awaited by everyone who has
read i n the newspapers that it was going to get done. Now we're i n the
soci al , or psychosocial , real m. But al so i n the j uri di cal real m, si nce al l
j ournal istic publ i city prepares people's thi nki ng and forms habits that can
not be undone without tal k of "false adverti si ng. " Al ready, l i nes of passen-
! ' ' | ~ z . | C ' ' . `
gers i mpatient to show up at Bercy are formi ng on the boul evard Victor;
"Arami s, " they whi sper, "is al most ready. " So it's di fficult to go back on
one's word and announce, "Move al ong! There's nothi ng to see here
except research projects. " For the announcers' responsi bi l ity is on the l i ne;
they can no l onger retreat. With the "pressure" of the technol ogi sts who
add their power to the mi ssile that's rol l i ng down the hi l l , have we returned
to the physical model? No, because thei r pressure ori gi nates in Aramis'
"seductiveness. " Technologists are enamored of the "merger technology"
and even more so of the "nonmaterial coupl i ngs" that attach them to thei r
project. So here's a real monster. A force that is both physical and amo
rous-a true Mi notaur. But the i nterviewee doesn't stop there. He moves
on to anthropology. How could someone who has already "snuffed out"
so many i nnovative projects have the nerve to assassinate the latest one,
tender and charmi ng as i t is? Woul dn't he be i mmobi l ized by shame? Al l
the more so because Arami s can be "seen" by the publ i c; i t can be
i naugurated. What model i s i mpl i ed here? A good model of political vanity:
we love those who solemnly i naugurate what they have done with our
money, i n our name, and for our benefit. But thi s model of vi si bi l ity i s i n
turn i nterpreted thanks t o t he appl i cation of a commercial i nterpretation to
the pol itical worl d: "An i nnovation that the publ ic can't see won't sel. "
Let's calculate the sum of forces-usi ng thi s expression to desi gnate
both the work all the actors do to sum up and the diversity of the ontological
models they use. Let's add the thrusts of human l abor, the fall of ball istic
mi ssi l es, the responsi bi l i t of promises, amorous seducti on, the shame of
more ki l l i ng, vanity, busi ness-- verythi ng that makes Aramis i mpossible to
suspend. Yes, it's definitely a strange monster, a strange physics. It's the
Minotaur, pl us the l abyrinth, pl us Ari adne and her thread, pl us Daedal us,
who i s condemned to di e i n i t and who dreams of escapi ng. They're real l y
fun, those peopl e who write books in whi ch they thi nk they're castigating
technology with adj ectives l i ke smooth, col d, profitabl e, effici ent, i nhuman,
irreversible, autonomous! These i nsul ts are qualities with whi ch t he engi
neers would be del i ghted i ndeed to endow their hybrid bei ngs. They rarely
succeed in doi ng so.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ Co|o ogo, o||e o 'og e''ec|ve po.:e
/o|oss|o'egy- |' '|vosp|e|\s ~p e.
l ' ' ' ! - S ^ . | ' ' C '
^o|o pc ed o|'o |e~edocs cocp v| \A. v c eo y s|o|ed |o ge|
o|| |~e goad l -o, oa| |'ey od so~e|occ ese g | oc's de . ' e, yo.
ms|c||oge| |'o| 'vos ' mu' eme|ed ' | |'e .c |ed S|oes ! l -o^, -o',
l -o
So ^o'o vec| |ooJg~ o oy :pe'| |o| oo ged |~e~, oc|o| coce 'o
scvvo , 'o oo|oso~edvesico| o, ocdAo~ svos o voy|o o|e :.|e
^o|/o |o:po| oc'o |eep gog \ 'oc|oe g|oeo|eced exoc|y, ^o'os
|c|ce vos|o sae | g, o|o |~evec 'ogodevos ov g |o es|.c'ce
os oc|v|es
^o'o eo/|y eeded |o e'occ' Ao~ s ode |o dves|,, |o o|o
|s ~oge o| oe cg ~ |e |eco' og co |oe|o|, od |o ge |o'o o| p.c c
|cd g
!eI |o c|eevoso c|oge o| :|o|egy o|^o|o,ve'eysccceeded
!oc' ocse ~ l -o', |o |vos, o||e |o|, |es|cc|ce o'^o|olospo|
vos :|oo|zeo od|e c.co~poe| oeco~e e o|ve y'e:: po|o|
!e |eoo|og .:' |o|ec'~o ogy|o|o' oved 'e~ |o scvve o~v~o|
eve eseoco|cd cg |'ey coc' d ge|vos o ogeece::oy o ||e :.vo'
!ey |occ~ed o |~e ooseso|o po' cy|o|vos |o y |eve| o s'o||e
| ~e, ocd |oeyvee ooe o| |e scpe o|y Ad |s |ce |o| c |e~s o|
|ecco' og co co~pe|ece, |~ey ood o odvo!oge ove |od | oo o oods
^o|o, do| 'oge|, vos |e oy co~po~y c| ~e| e d |oo|vos g It
ve||o~ o s~o cc'ecs c.od|ec'o ogy|o o eo| e'epse|'o|od
~oeo~o od ~oe |od|oo dJs|o' c|ooc|e:|c: rna. 42]
To survive i n a variabl e-ontology worl d, the promoters of a techno
l ogical project have to i magi ne l itle bridges that let them temporarily ensure
thei r stabi l i ty.
Actors never swim twice i n the same river. As they are defi ni ng one
another, as they are changi ng ontologies and offeri ng each other thei r
theories of action, there's no guarantee of thei r own continuity i n ti me. To
say that the character of Haml et i n Act I i s the same character we find i n
Act V, or that t he RATP of Chapter 1 i s "the same" as t he RATP of Chapter
5, or that the Matra company is the same in 1 985 as in 1 982, you have
to make an effort, i mpose i nterpretations, ensure conti nui ty, recruit faithful
*In fact, VAL is being used only at Chicago's O'Hare Airport amI in Jacksonvi lle.
1 ' l - o ' | C ' . `
al l ies. Thus, not onl y is the actors' size variabl e, not onl y are their goal s
renegotiable, but their very isotopy i s the product of work. For actors there's
no such thi ng as the force of inertia, any more than there is for projects
themselves.
For M. Gontran , Matra was really transformed after 1 985. The
company that loved Arami s was only a fragi l e bei ng, the victim of a dry
spel l, that was i nvolved more i n research than i n commerci al ization and
that coul d survive only by a "headl ong rush" i nto the frantic quest for
sources of publ i c fundi ng. It was thi s particul ar bei ng that "needed" Arami s
so i t could diversify, because Arami s was compli cated and could therefore
attract money from the government, whi ch was always ready to support
research. But the company, which fi nal ly succeeded i n sel l i ng VAL outside
Lille, now has less need for publ i c assistance, and thus no longer needs to
support complex projects; consequently, it fal l s bock on VAL. Matra no
l onger l oves Arami s, but it's no longer the same Matra. Not only has the
company itself changed, but its way of changing itself has changed. I t had
been "rushi ng headl ong" from project to project; now i t's "stabi l ized, " with
" normal and tradi ti onal characteristi cs. " Corporate bodies are no less
fragi l e than the characters in a novel . To guarantee them some conti nuity
from one end of a story to the other, you have to work l i ke a dog, but the
scope of thi s work may di mi ni sh in the course of the narrative. The Matra
Transport company might have di sappeared duri ng its dry spel l . Its di sap
pearance i s a l i ttle l ess l i kely today. The company has fi nal ly given itself
the means to resist time. Thi s is because its R&D component has become
"rel atively less i mportant," whi l e research i s, as we know, the surest
although the most enj oyable-way for a company to go bankrupt.
" This isn't relativism any more, " I grumhl ed, "i t's mush. Okay, so
you have to take your informant's frame of reference into account every
time-I can see that. It's not simpl e; it messes up your notes. But fnally
you can still follow them with d good coding system, something like
this: '1 myself, on June 1 0, 1 988, heard Contran, a non-Communist
member of Fiterman's cabinet, tel l me that, prior to 1 985 , Matra had
been engaged in headlong rushes. '
T ' - S ^ | | ' ' | ' `
" Okay, next, the actors change size--fine. If you take the trouble
to fgure out who's talking, whether it's the director, or his stockholders,
or some underling's underling, or the janitor, you can still make it out.
"The actors' goals change- fne. All you have to do is connect
each definition of a target with the starting point, / j , and with the
destination, / . It's complicated, but it's doable.
" If, in addition, it's not the actors themselves who define who
they are or what they want but the other actors, and if you thus have
to follow Matra-in- 1 982-for-the-RATP-in- 1 984, which is of course not
the same thing as Matra-in- 1 985-for-the-RATP-in- 1 984, and of course
not at all the same thing as Matra-in- 1 985-for-Bus-Division-of-the
RATP-in- 1 985, but not the same thing either as Matra-in- 1 985-for-the
Budget-of- 1 988 . . . , then it's already considerably less clear. We had
structure before; now we suddenly have nothing but lumps.
"But if, in addition, people start mutating as the story unfolds, if
there's no longer anything but the proper name that allows us to spot
them, and if they go so far as to change the way they change-and all
this without counting the fact that they mix up their ' ontologies, ' as
you put it, trusting to luck- in that case, there aren't even any more
lumps; there's just mush. I knew that sociology was a soft science, but
this is hypersoft, and don't try to claim that the reference mollusk is
hvpersoft as well, because the phvsics of relativity, in the last analysi s,
. . . v
lands on its feet. "
" Yes, but you understand perfectly well that they can't have any
strategy because they have no interests . . .
" Obviously, no strategy is possible any longer in such a muddle.
You've completely dissolved the interests; there are neither strategists,
nor uniforms, nor Ordnance Survey maps, nor drums, nor bugles. "
"And that's where we land on our feet, just as surely as Einstein.
That's exactly why military types have learned to draw up strategies
and hierarchies, why they've invented uniforms and epaulets, why
they've created the maps, why Gribeauval perfected the general staff,
why military orchestras were signed up quite purposefully-precisely
so a strategy could become possible no matter what. You're always going
~
_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~,~~~~
___

__
~
_
| ` - . ' | ` | ' |
from one extreme to another. If you start from total confusion, then
you understand the work that's required to clean it up. "
"And that's how you hope to land on your feet?"
" Let's say that I 'm letting the actors take care of straightening out
the disorder they've created. You break it, you pay. "
"You sound just like my father. ' You messed up your room; you
go clean it up! "'
[DOCUMENT]
Transport a t i on M n st ry, Bureau of Ground Transport a
| cO . a: S, March 2., 1 c4 . Not e aJJ:eSSeJ t o M. Henri,
Transport at i on Mn stry cabinet member . SuIect : meet ing
wi th M. Lagardere, CEO of Matra, Inc .
The attached note present s :
-the activi ti es CIMat ra' s t ransportat i on ci vi s ion;
-the Matra group' s industrial strategy in thi s area ;
-potent. ial direct ions f or manufacturing;
-a report on the progress of the negot iations about the
devel opment O: the A:ami s CE ;
-initial information about the implementation of a VAL
system in Toulouse .
,t i. ppears that. Matra :
-has ar. ambi t i ous p:oduction policy that i s not always
very wel l aJateJto t he French and fore i gn market s ;
OeeJS a short- and middle-term work plan :c: the develop
ment of its t ransportat i on divi s i on ( hence i t s aggres s ive
commercial policy in TCD ' CuS n part i cul ar) ; `
-may use i ts financi al parti cipat ion in the Arami s CET as
a bargaining CD i n return for government support for a
Matra pro j ect in Toulouse .
*A VAL SysIem Nd> undcr cOnsidcraIiOn 1 'loulouse aI Inc time. It NS
inaugurated in ! VV+.
! : ~ c | | ` `
[DOCUMENT]
Mini stry of the Economy, Finance, and the Budget : Budget
Divisi on. Let t er of April 2 7, 1 9c4, addressed t o M. Henri ,
Transportation Mini stry cabinet member:
Thus you woul d l ike the Ministry of the Economy to agree
to the request made by the Matra organiz ation for support
for ANVAR . This would dimi ni sh Matra ' s cont ribution to fi-
nancing the CET by 5 0 percent . . . I do not deny the exist
ence of such hopes {rai sed by Aramj sJ
_
they have been nour
i shed, moreover , by i ndivi dual s who are technologica: l y
competent in these areas .
On thi s bas i s , an intervent ion by the col l ectiv:ty might
wel l have been cons idered legit imate .
I t is nevertheless a basi c principle that the manufac
turer ' s commitment to the operation remains clearly indica
tive of his conf idence i n i ts succes s . That i s the best guar
ant ee t hat the State i s not stepping in just when the company
i t self has stopped beli eving in i t s project.
Under these conditi ons, the cost sharing for the CET that
was envi s aged i n the preparato ry phases , which leaves one
quarter of the development expenses to f al l to the manufac
turer, although generous , could have been looked upon favor
ably.
The request made to ANVAR, an organi zation financed by
publ i c funds , compl et ely disrupt s that f inancing structure
by l eaving Matra with onl y a sma l l deductible-on the order
of 1 2 percent-instead of a financial parti cipation that
woul d repres ent a real commi tment . Thu s , the request cannot
be accepted.
The actors themselves are working to solve the problem raised by the
relativist sociology in whi ch they've si tuated one another.
They have to ensure the stabi l ity of thei r i nterpretations by estab
l i shi ng catwal ks that al low them to go from one reference frame to another
whi l e modi fi ng thei r own viewpoi nts as l i ttle as possi bl e. The sociologist
1 c ' ' c ^ . | ` | ' "
i sn't the only one who doesn't know what Matra wants; thi s is also true of
the mi ni ster, the mi ni ster's cabi net head, and even Lagardere hi mself,
Matra's CEO. They, too, want to stabi l ize a certai n i nterpretation of what
they are and what they want. And there they are, ordering notes and
questionnai res, whi ch accumulate i n a file that i s soon compl i cated enough
to requi re new notes, syntheses, and summari es. What does Matra want,
in the end? What do we want, finally? The investigation carried out by the
external observer can be di sti ngui shed only by the ti me frame, the budget,
and the goal, from the i nnumerabl e investigations that punctuate the hi story
of the project. The fi nal audit merely extends the ongoing audit. To make
fun of the fil es and the bureaucrats, to make fun of the to-page notes of
synthesis and the thousand-page appendi xes, i s to forget the work of
stabi l ization necessary to the interdefi nition of the actors. I t i s to forget that
the actors, l arge or smal l , are as lost i n the action as the investigator i s.
The human sci ences do not show up as the curtain fal ls, i n order to i nterpret
the phenomenon. They constitute the phenomenon. And the most i mportant
human sciences, always overlooked, i ncl ude accounti ng, management,
economics, the "cameral sciences" (bureau-graphy), and statistics.
I n order to keep thei r grasp on the branches, the actors i nstal l l i ttle
valorimeters i n as many points as possible, to ensure the translation of one
point of vi ew i nto another. The responsi ble party i n the Budget Office, for
hi s part, sets up a counter powerful enough to let hi m measure the test of
force; or el se the private manufacturer takes an i nterest in the project and
pays for, let's say, at least a quarter of Arami s; or else he asks to pay onl y
I / percent, and that proves that he's no l onger i nterested i n the project.
The "deductibl e" i s too low. As for the vi ce-di rector of the Bureau of Ground
Transportation, he provided hi msel f with a battery of somewhat more
compl ex i ndi cators to respond to his mi nister, who i s goi ng to meet the
CEO: by looking at Matra's capi tal structure, by studying its i ndebtedness
and its fai l ures relative to exports, he thi nks he can deduce the negotiating
margi n that may al low Fiterman and Lagardere to come to an agreement:
Toulouse for Arami s. After all, a Marxist mi nister can hardl y be astonished
that the superstructure depends on the i nfrastructure of capital . . .
By mul tiplying the val orimeters that al low them to measure the tests
in store and to prove certai n states of power relations, the actors manage
to achieve some noti on of what they want. By doi ng thei r own economi cs,
thei r own soci ology, their own statistics, they do the observer's work and
_ l - S c | ' ' | '|
construct the fluctuating object that the observer wi l l have to i nvestigate
later on. Bureaucrats are the Ei nsteins of soci ety. They make incommensu
rabl e frames of reference once again commensurable and translatable. The
protocol of agreement, red-pencil ed and ratified, starts movi ng agai n,
goi ng from one reference body to another, traci ng a path along the way,
a succession of fragi l e catwal ks that make the agreement harder to break
each time, because it i s now weighted down with the word of the State.
Offi ci al ly, they're al l starting to come to agreement. The relativist cri si s is
di mi ni shi ng, the l i ttle seventeen-page memo i s ready to be i niti al ed. They
come to agreement-more or less tacitly-with a compromise: the hesita
tions over Arami s have gone on long enough, we're goi ng to do the CET,
we're not goi ng to spend more than J 49 mi l l i on francs, and we' l l meet
agai n in tenty-seven months.
" But you're exaggerating a little, Norbert. Economics does exist
outside calculations, dossiers, economists, and statisticians. We're up to
our ears in it. It's our worl d. "
" Yes, as context-nothing more and nothing less. You have to
fol l ow the economization of a project just as you do its contextualiza
tion. "
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
c/e|e/ ood ^oe, o| ||e |/|/ oe ogo|n d|:::::ng /|e ecoo:|c :|ade:
||ey coed oc|.
^ ^orey
\evee |vo edoooJ|cos, veveevoedoooc|possege'ov
\e started with a compl i cated network, with forks, because without that i t
vosc|vo|'do ~gAo~ s, oovocs ,
\es|o|edv|ooocd l J,JJJposse~gespe'oadc gpeopeods
\e go| cp |o JJ pos o'cos, oss.~ g |'o eoc' |o ~ was ~ode cp o'
five or s ix pai rs of cars. All thi s had retroactive i mpl ications, of course.
!'e o ' ~g socsge~eo|ed |o|'c |o .s, v' c'ec ed cs|o 'ove o ' ~g
s|ocs, | 'e~veve~|cocs| o| 'e'ec' c osv|' oc.es| o~s
| . ' ' D t C I S I O "
Ao~ s'oso 'o: o| odvo.!oges oezocse of |'e |os \o | .g !|~e |o. o
possecgegoes |o~ |'ee ~ c|es, v|' o |o'ey |o |o secocds
loepoo e~ s|o|eveyoodysseo|ed \|'Ao~ syo.coc |soy, \e
cs| co~ |oss c Soos soo os |'ees eve .s| oe ~oe possege, yo
eed oo|'eco
| s ! eo'yocecoo~ cco' cc o|' ovee~os g, oecocse |so e|vo
s|udy \'o| coc|s s|e oveoge |ove' | ~epe possege
| `o s, v| |e oocge cod, cses poyo s|ocdod o|e, | oycose, so
!oe.e!c.ouo ~ev .ves!~e.|co. |oeco|c. o|edd ec|y u| 'eo'ehand,
vecov |o~ expe. ece |oo|ossooc ospeope oeo||eed o evsys|e~
o|p.o c!ospo|o|o, |eygve cp pvo|e cos
'ooc po|!sco~e|o~ new posseges, |oseoe|'eoyoesveco
ooces|ycocc|
`!'e |ee oe |ee po!s oe, |'e ves|~ec|s, |'e c v ' ecg ee g-
|oo|svo|cos|s|e~os|,|vo,|'esys|e~, ~oo eod|xeo,cex|,|e|o||c-
|'o| s, |oe ev posseges od |'e ev o||e o| co~|o|, od l o' y |~e
ope|o' oc|o| s, d ves od ~o |eoce
\'o! cou oe so d, !o|~g .!o occoc.| | 'e .oovc rded.ess ol the
.dge|||ce [Finance Ministry], s|'o|o' |e ecoo~ cs|.d essoved |'o'
Ao~ svosoc|co' ' ype||y ve s |.o!ed |vosco~p e|e'ycoce voo e, eve
if !'e .dge|||cevosso~evoo|c | co o|!'e voy|o gsveeco cc o|ed
Hc||vo:oovous!'o!|eopeo| oo cos|so||oeo gs|ocsveeov|c y
oeovy !'ee o ' oc|ocs c cves|~e|ssocded eosooo eeocg, oc' !e
' |cvos |'eopeo|g cos|s.
S| ' , |e ed, s cce !e sevce vos ev, l l vos cocevooe !o| |'e
co.[ voc d oveo||oc|ed.ev peop e
M. 'e
\es|o|ed v|' o socoecoo~ coo ocesoee|oyvo' o z g!oeposse
ge, od |oe ve oosed |o see v'e|oe |vos |o'eoo'e |o~ |'e s|odpo !
o||e | oc o oo oce soee|
oycose, !'e cdge|||ce |cds evey| ' g |o'eoo'e, os|eysee |,
o cves|~e'|oo spec | cs |e sevepo||oo'e | s oc y |eesL po | co
v ' ' oe do poec||o||eydec de | s|o'eoo' e \oeeosveveep.s g
|o|'eevsevce, ''et ~ego s, |re | ceosed co~|o|o JJ]
| H 4 . . C | S | |
[DOCUMENT: lETTER DATED APRi l 27, 1 984J
The Budget Offi ce response :
As for the Arami s pro j ect as a whole, and its implementa
t i on along the former Petite Ceinture in Pari s , first of
al l , you know that the study conducted under your i ni tiative
by the RATP-and with which my ministerial department had
very l it t le to do-concluded that profitabi l ity would be mar
gina l . The picture improves only i f the calculation i s
broadened t o take into account the t ime saved b y pas sengers ,
a qual i tat ively useful notion, but a very cont roversi al one
when it comes to quanti fication in f i nancial terms . And even
that " socioeconomi c profitabi l ity" remains modest .
Economics i s not the reality pri nci pl e of technol ogy; technology has
to be real i zed gradual ly, l i ke the rest of the mechani sm for whi ch it paves
the way.
Every techni cal project has to define a type of economic cal cul us that
makes it more profitabl e. Economics i s not a framework in whi ch engi neers
subsequently i nsert themselves, one that woul d serve as an overal l con
straint; it's a si mulation that mobi l izes human-bei ngs-on-paper by means of
cal cul ations. Programmi ng flows of i nstructions between the Arami s vehi cl e
and i ts col l eagues i s not so di fferent from programmi ng passenger flow;
the two tasks requi re the same computers and sometimes the same equa
tions. The engi neering system endows the rol l i ng stock with properties: one
has to know where the cars are on the tracks. Si mi l arly, the economist
endows his human-beings-on-paper with properties: they wi l l give up their
cars onl y i f they wil l actuall y save ti me by usi ng Arami s. The flow of
si mulated rol l i ng stock i s j oi ned, on paper, by the fl ow of enthusi asti c
passengers. So begi ns a cal culated narrative that can hold its own agai nst
the best detective stories.
How many mobi l e uni ts should there be? 200, 400, 600? All the
know-how of the system' s di mensi on-determi ners i s in this j oi nt scenario that
di stributes roles to reasoni ng bei ngs. Humans are flow; the transportation
system i s a network; the computer has to maximize the load factor: not too
many empty cars, not too many waiting passengers, watch out for rush
' . ' - c 4 . . ' ' ' C '
hour. The human bei ng in these scenarios is an i nteresting ficti onal charac
ter, a rather new tpe, as i di osyncratic as Arami s' i ntel ligent vehi cl e. Or
rather the two together make up a new hybrid, "the potenti al Arami s
passenger," whi ch has surprising effects on the cal cul ations. "Potential
Arami s passengers" can' t be crammed i n, si nce they are al l seated; they
have to know where they want to go, si nce every car goes its own way;
they have to give up thei r automobil es so the profitabi l ity cal cul us can
become vi si bl e.
The relation between the economi c cal cul ation i n camera and that
i n the greater Paris region i s a relation to be establ ished, to be performed,
to be mai ntai ned. It i s no more a given than any of the other rel ations. The
profitabi l ity of the network and the efficiency of the rol l i ng stock are twin
notions that are negotiated and gradual l y realized as functions of success
or fai l ure. They follow; they do not l ead. They are decided; they are not
what makes it possibl e to decide. The fact that the Budget Office gets mad
and chal l enges the mode of cal culation does not i nti midate our econo
mi sts-the Budget Office would dearly love to be the real ity pri nci ple for
al l of France. And so we have a fine scientific controversy openi ng up
withi n economics to determi ne whether "socioeconomi c profitabi l i ty" is
acceptabl e or not. If pol itics i mposes its wi l l on the Budget Office, then the
Budget Office has to take into account the cal culation of passenger time
and comfort, and Arami s becomes profitable once agai n. I f politics hesi
tates, then the Budget Office i mposes its own method of calculation, and
Arami s goes back i nto the red. Arami s will survive only i f it extends the
scope of its network to the point where it makes humans in Paris move and
modi fies the usual calculation methods of the Budget Office.
" But the consumer demand? There must be a demand_ In school
I did take courses in economics, after all, and there truly is such a thing
as demand. If Aramis doesn't have any passengers, then the project is
done for. "
" Of course the demand exists-but like proftability, it was only
on paper. They tested it with a psychosociological study, on a model of
Aramis. "
T H E ! c 4 | | o ' `
[DOCUME NT: SOFRES COMMUNICATI ON, DECEMBER 1 983]
Percept i on of the A1am. s Syst em by Its Pot ent i al Audi
ence : A Pschosoci ologi cal St udy .
. . . The study shows that potent ial users have not yet
managed to pos it ion Arami s within the fami l i ar universe of
col lect ive t ransportat ion . T naddition, there i s cons i der
able reluctance to use a system in whi ch the emotional risks
and the physical d: sadvantages of forced proximity i n a
small enclosed space are much more obvious than the func
t ional advantages of autonomy , f lexibi l ity, and speed .
Arami s indeed brings to the surface the most negative as
pects of publ i c t ranspOrtat ion ( the indi s cr1 m1nate m. + ng
of peopl e) withoLt offering the refuge of anonymity in ex
change . .
The potent ial ci entele i s fai rly open tOthe idea O a
completely automated t ransportat i en system . In tDe eyes o f
the publ i c, Arami s i s not innovat ive in this area ; it merely
repeats a formul a al ready tested by other modes of t ransper
tat. ion, such as VAL .
1 . The size of t.' e cars i s much more surpri sing, i n the
Arami s p:oject _ than i t s technol ogi cal novel ty.
What i s novel about Aramis , in the eyes of its potential
client el e, i s t he fact t hat the cars l imit the number of pas
sengers to t en and that al l passengers must be seated .
Arami s comes to entail a rC!1 Cr C ! e:SCna11 ?eO cC:!C! !DaL
the publ i c perceives as incompatible with the stereotyDe of
publ ic t ransportat ion , whi ch connotes crowds , crammi ng,
and dis comfort .
2 . The quai i t i es for whi ch Arami s i s appreci a t ed are the
very feat ures that lead t o doubts about t he syst em' s effi
ciency in the "normal " si t uat i on of publ i c t ransport at i on .
. The proper funct ioning of Arami s , i n the publ i c
mind, presupposes not only that people are rel axed, reason
abl e, healthy, and discipl ined, but that they agree !Obe
" di st i l led, " " stockpi led" in the waiting mode , in order t o
avoi d an y problerr,s gaining access to the cars . I n contrast ,
| ' - c ' : ' ` ' |
the subway, by virtue of its accessibi l i ty, seems to be a
more reassuring system .
3 . The vari ous inci dent s represen ted and peopl e ' s ex
pressed fear of being closed in ref l ect the di ffi cul ty of
adapt ing t o t hi s new mode of group travel .
. . . The smal l -group situat ion confers an exaggerated im
port. ance on interpersonal rel ations : the s t\ec: resem
bles that of a closed cell where t !c t er ccCDant s o f a veh i
cle are condemned to as sociate with and put up with each
other in a restricted and confi ned space . As it i s no longer
pos s ible to isolate ones el f or get lost in the crowd, the
s l i ghtest posture or gesture could have an unfavorab le ( or
favorabl e) impact on t. he behavior of other pas sengers .
4 . Endowing Arami s wi th i t s own special personal i ty. Po
tential pas sengers inevitably make comparisons with t he
met ro i n order t. o assess t he advantages and disadvantages of
Arami s . I n the case of the met r o, i ndeed, ind ividuals f ace a
fami l i ar un iverse whose rules t. hey have def i nitive l y i nte
grated and whose advantages and disadvantages they have ac
cepted, whereas in the case of Arami s they face a system with
which t hey have no experience at all . . . Arami s has Lcbe
perceived as the prelude to a new phi losophy of transporta
t ion, addressed to responsible adult s .
Thus , we have ! inconsis tent OuaI image, C!which the two
part s refer to incompatible systems [ p o 2 o
TIC metro <nds D ;crcSent nq a higher psycholoqi cal
comfort l evel : it can absorb pas senger t raf f i c more easily;
potential passengers can be certai n o f f inding a place and
thus are apt to waste less t ime ; i t of fers greater respect
for timetables ; and, last but not least , i o f fers the bene
fits of anonymit y . [ p o ' l ]
Suqqested sol utions:
Combat the sensati on of being closed j n ; minimiz e t he dj s
advantages of face-to-face contact ; dimini sh the state C'
tension arr. ong passengers resulting f rom tIc conti nual com
ing and going ; provide reas surance against the ri s k of vio
lence .
' - c | c ! ' ` ' `
The fol lowing i s typical ot t he couuent s made by the pas
sengers surveyed :
"Thi s s yst. em, " someone said, " does Cot accOnmodat e te
handicapped . No, i t rej ects them. There' s no access :.. the
handi capped, or for the bl ind, or for very tall people , or
for luggage . The const raints are a l itt l e too const rain
ing . " " I f you only have young peopl e, okay, i t' l l work . = f
there are handi capped people with canes g then what hap
pens ? " * [ p o l l J
Consumer demand and consumer i nterest are negotiable l i ke every
thing el se, and shapi ng them constitutes an i ntegral part of the project.
Arami s has been under di scussion for ten years, and this is the first
time grass-roots customers have appeared. Petit and Bardet spoke of the
French who had to be saved from pol l ution and the automobile; Fiterman
was to speak of the "right to transportati on"; the RATP's di mensi on-deter
mi ners spoke of passenger flow; the Matra engi neers spoke of the passen
ger-an ergonomic and more or less i di otic being who mi ght wel l pani c
al l by hi mself i n hi s car. But everyone was speaking precisely in the name
of passengers. From the very outset, i n thei r view, the paper passenger is
enthusiastic, saved from private cars and publ ic transportati on. But wi l l
flesh-and-blood passengers subscribe to Aramis' version of them, and settle
nonchal antly i nto the comfortabl e spot that the experts have spent ten years
prepari ng for them? Do we have to wait, before rai si ng the question, until
Arami s actual ly exi sts from head to toe? No; a mi ni mum of retroaction i s
requi red. The Aramis car has not yet been ful ly designed; i t can be rein
scribed so as to take i nto account the reacti ons of flesh-and-blood human
beings who do not bel ong to the research bureau. The RATP orders a survey
of the potenti al cl i entel e. Of course, basic customers do not yet speak on
thei r own-they are mobi l ized, organized, transl ated by psychosociolo
gi sts from the SOFRES pol l i ng firm who chose a representative sampl e of
men and women and got them to speak under controlled conditions.
They're sti l l j ust spokespersons, but humans are fi nal l y speaki ng-the report
*Here we reco
g
nize the ni
g
htmare of the transit system's crca!cr. the little
old lady or the handicapped individual with a cane. ce the interview with M. Petit
i n Chapter 1 .
` ~ S = | | ' | . |
even i ncl udes di rect quotes! A prototype sampl e gets i nto a mockup of
Arami s. A mockup publ i c i nterprets the Arami s prototype.
As i t happens, the representative and represented humans do not
subscribe to al l that has been said about them for the last ten years. The
main advantage that the transportation experts are excited about-the
cross between private cars and publ i c transportation-is profoundly shock
i ng to the man i n the street. Customers constitute as disagreeabl e a bunch
of scoundrels as readers. You make a fine book for them, one that takes
them by the hand, and they cal l it i ncomprehensibl e; you make a lovely
Arami s for them, and they call it a gadget for healthy people or for a theme
park-and they cl ai m that the metro is psychologi cal l y more reassuri ng!
It's enough to make you tear your hai r. You offer them the hybrid of dreams,
futuristic transportation, and they go off and reenact Sartre's pl ay No CXlll
Hel l is other people seated comfortabl y in the Arami s car! And then they
reach the hei ght of cruelty and i ngratitude: here's technol ogical prowess
that has given engi neers hundreds of sl eepl ess ni ghts for ten years, that
makes them quake with fright because it may not work, and the customers
take it for granted! Obviously it's automated and there are nonmateri al
coupl i ngs. Bi g deal ! They have so much confidence i n the RATP's techno
l ogical proficiency that they don't even notice Arami s' new sophisticati on.
" Nobodv is enthusiastic in this business, that's for sure. Not the
.
supply or the demand, not the Communists or the right wing, not the
Ile-de-France Region or the City of Paris. "
"And yet they're signing on the dotted line.
[DOCUMENT
Prot ocol of a greement concerning tie real i ;ar i on of the
.crLe ::: Technological Experiment at ion and the approval
of the Arami s t ransportat ion system.
P reamble :
The study o f the lxami s transportat ion system by the Ma
t ra company ra s been receiving support :c several years
J ' - o ^ __

f rom the Transportat ion Mini s try , the Region, and the RATP ,
which i s responsible for the program' s delegated cont ract
ing author i t y .
:c CeveJ c:c:t :aseS cz this program have been prudent
and progress ive .
Studies and cons truction of components and s imul at ion
tri al s have been pursued vigorously and have made it possi
ble to con f i rm the pr i ncipal characteristics and perfor
mance capacities of the system, along with the i r mode of re
ali zat ion .
Conti nued development now implies t hat t ri als leading to
approval of the system s hould be carried out on site .
This is the obj ect of the present protocol , which in
volves the program of realization of the Center for Techno
logical Experimentation ( CET) , qual i fying t rial s that wi l l
define production cos t s ; the protocol also spe l l s out the
modal ities of the tc eC ' S f inancing .
:c c.c . Time frames and results : the t ime frames
indicated in months in the present protoco: have as thei r
starting point t he mcnL: 7 of noti fication of : :cRATP
Mat ra agreement .
The execution of the program must respect the fol lowing
deadlines :
TO + 27 : fi rst balance sheet covering functi onal and t ech
nical performances and commitment of the Matra engineering
division on s ystem cost s , accurate within 10 percent . This
commitment i s t o be understood with reference to publ i c
agreements coveri:lg engineering and archi::ecture .
Taking the f i rst balance sheet into a ccount , the part ies
to this agreement 'wi l l study the appropriateness o f l aunch
ing industri al i zat ion studies for the systeIE so as to al l ow
Matra to commit i tself as to the de finitive cost s .
Signed in Pari s , Jul y i 6 , i
Min i ster of Transportat ion
C. Fi t e::u:
I l e-de-France Region
M. . 1,;;
` | : ' ' c D E C I S I O N
Regie Autonome des Transports
Paris iens S . A . Matra
. _u: . . IagOc:e
"Amazing! Here it is before our very eyes: the solemn signature
of a compromise embodied in a contract. The project of a protocol for
the Aramis project was drawn up when the World's Fair project was
going full-speed ahead. The target date, 1+ 27, made it possible to
test the system in 1 986, in time for the production stage and for the
opening of the 1 989 World's Fair. Well, look at thi s: it's still there in
the version signed in June 1 984, after te World's Fair was abandoned
in June 1 983 . But see how vague it is? ' The parties will study the
appropriateness of launching studies. "'
" How could Matra have accepted something so unattractive?"
"They tried to get more. I 've gotten hold of drafts of much
tougher contracts. This is the frst project I 've worked on, by the way,
where I 've gotten confidential documents in the mail . . . So Matra
proposed a version that tied in the construction of the CET with the
construction of the line. But the Budget Offce was against it. Matra
didn't insist. After twenty-seven months, the State was supposed to
commit itself to financing the line.
"The twenty-seventh month remains in the protocol like a vestige
of the whole misunderstanding we've been studying for the last year.
Number one, it's a vestige of the World's Fair that Chirac didn't want.
But look-it's also a vestige of Matra's strategy: Out of the question
to build the CET without a line as a reward, yet there's no longer any
question of making a firm commitment to Aramis. Number two, it's a
vestige for the Region and for the public authorities, \'ho tantalize the
industrialist with the possibility of a line, yet don't commit themselves
either. Finally, it's a vestige for the RATP and for the research services
that hope to have at least some transportation system endorsed by the
end of the twenty-seven months, but without any guarantee as to
whether it will be pure research or applied.
" It 's a textbook case. No one could decide whether to do Aramis
! - S ' : ' `
or to undo it, but everybmly managed to decide to do the CET, ' to see
what would come of it, ' and they agreed to meet two years later. To
be or not to be--that is the question that the famous clause of the
twenty-seventh month makes it possible to avoid answering before
hventv-seven months are up! Everybody agrees not to make anv deci-
. . -
sions. Complete unanimity not to fnd out whether the set of things
being agreed on is an empty set or not! "
" And, of course, " I said indignantly, "you're going to stand around
with your arms crossed, counting the blows?! Suave mare magna . . .
and the whole nine yards. But don't you see that they're all getting
carried away? That they're just postponing the problems to the twenty
seventh month as if they'd said a month of Sundavs? ' Give me a call
. .
and well go out for a bite to cat , ' that's what that means. Nothing is
more absurd than this protocol . It refers twice to production and the
commercial line after the CET, and it provides no way, none whatsoever,
to produce the line. ' Maybe afterward, if we have the money, we'll look
into studying the possibility of beginning to examine whether or not
we might undertake studies in view of possible production. And Matra,
a private industrial firm, tight with its money, comes on board, aiming
at production by forced march, vvith no guarantees! And the Region,
which has to transport passengers, puts up the financing without a
squawk! And the Budget Offce goes along! And the Transportation
Minister agrees! It's completely irrational ! If your sociology isn't capable
of passing judgment on this absurdity, of condemning it, then it's your
sociology that has to be condemned, no matter how ' refined' it may
be. "
" We aren't here to judge the actors. The actors are always right,
whether they're multiplying viewpoints or cutting down on them. If
we use the adjectives ' irrational' and 'absurd, ' it's because we haven't
made our own frames of refrence supple enough. We're spell-breakers,
not spell-casters. I 've told you before-we do white magic, not black. "
"There's a word for your type of abdication: it's
q
uietism! And
there's a word for your sort of total empiricism-you're a positivist!
There's even a word for the virtue involved here: it's cowardice!"
Obviously, I had lost all sense of proportion. The good rapport
' '

between us had evaporated with Norbert's stubborn insistence on
clinging to a relativist sociology that made him, as I saw it, relinquish
the prey for a shadow.
[DOCUME NT]
Speech by Charles Fi terman, T:arSO:cat.cr Mr St e1:
THUS THE CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGICAL EXPERI MENTATION OF THE
ARAMI S SYSTEM IS ABOUT TO SEE THE LI GHT OF DAY .
THI S I S ALL THE MORE GRATIFYING IN THAT THE PROJECT, WHICH
TOOK ITS FI RST STEPS FOURTEEN YEARS AGO, GOT SOMEWHAT-LET US
SAY-SLOWED DOWN ALONG THE WAY, AND THAT I T WAS ADVI SABLE TO
MAKE A DECI S ION WI THOUT FURTHER DELAY BY BRINGING TOGETHER
THE NECESSARY PARTNERS .
EVERYONE HERE KNOWS THAT I HAVE WORKED STEAD I :Y TOWARD
THI S GOAL FOR THREE YEARS . AND THAT IS WHY, BEFORE ANYTHI NG
ELSE , ON BEHALF OF THE ADMINI STRATI ON, I WOT.LD LIKE TO THANK
EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED TO PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE
STAGE THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO REACH TODAY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
THIS SYSTEM AND I TS FULL-SCALE TRIAL . FI RS T, THE MATRA COM
PANY, WHICH TOOK THE I NI TIATIVE FOR THI S PROJECT AND UNDER
TOOK THE FIRST TECHNOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS IN THE EARLY
1 9 7 0 S , AND WHICH TODAY PUTS I TS IMPRESS IVE TECHNOLOGI CAL
COMPETENCE INTO THE " HOPPER" OF THI S PROTOCOL, ALONG WITH A
FI NANCIAL CONTRIBUTION; NEXT, THE RATP , WHICH HAD THE CON
TRACTING AUTHORITY IN THE NAME OF THE STATE, STARTING ABOUT
1 97 4 , FOR A PROGRAM OF EXPERIMENTATION AND RE?INEMENT OF THE
ARAMI S SYSTEM; E SPECIALLY IN RECENT YEARS , THE RATP HAS
SHOI'lN A VIGOROUS DETERMINATION TO JOVE THE PROGRAM AHEAD ,
BRINGING A FI NANCIAL CONTRIBUTI ON ALONG WI TH I TS OWN EX?ER
T I SE .
AND FI NALLY, 7HE LE-DE-FRANCE REGION AND I T: PRE S IDENT,
,, GIRAUD , S INCE THE ARAMIS SYSTEM' S CENTER FOR EXPERI!ENTA
TION IS TO BE LOCATED IN THE ILE-DE-FRANCE , SOUTH OF PARI S ,
BETWEEN BA-ARD PLACE AND THE BOULEVARD VICTOR, AND SI CCE THE
REGION WAS WILLING TO AGREE TO BICLUCE THE CONSTRUCTION OF
THI S CENTER IN THE COlTRACT OF THE P::AN ftORKED OUT B:TI'EEN
Tr E ! c | ( ! ' ` | `
THE STATE AND THE REGION , AND TO MAKE I TS OWN SUBSTANTIAL FI
NANCIAL CONTPIE'ION .
THE FACT THAT SUCH DI VERSE PARTNERS , REPRESENTED HERE TO
DAY , HAVE COME TOGETHER TO S IGN THIS PROTOCOL ATTESTS , I BE
LI EVE , TO ITS IMPORTANCE AND TO ITS INTEREST .
FOR MY PART, I WOULD SI MPLY LIKE TO POINT OUT BRIEFLY THE
REASONS THAT HAVE LED THE GOVERNJENT, TO THE EXTENT THAT I T
I S INVOLVED, TO LEND I TS FULL SUPPORT TO THIS PROGRAM
THE FI RST OF THESE REASONS HAS TO DO WI TH OUR POLICI ES ON UR
BAN TRANSPORTATION . . . WE WANT TO SEE PROGRESS IN WHAT WE
HAVE CALLED THE RIGHT TO TRANSPORTATION [ underl ined by the
minist erj-THAT I S , THE POSSI BI LITY FOR EVERYONE TO HAVE AC
CESS TO A PUBLIC-TRANSPOR'ATI ON SYSTEM AT REASONABLE COST
TO THE I NDI VI DUAL AS WELL AS TO THE LARGER COMMUNITY = IF
WE TAKE I NTO ACCOUNT BOTH THE BUDGET AND THE FUNDS EARMARKED
FOR MAJOR PROJECTS , THESE U,ST FEW YEARS HAVE BEEN MARKED
OVERALL BY AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 7 0 PERCENT I N PUBLIC
FUNDS DEVOTED TO URBAN TRANSPORTATION = u
THE ARAMI S SYSTEM I NFACT OFF2RS NEW POSSIBILITIES IOP
TRAVELING ON DEm.ND THROUGHOUT A NETWORK, WI THOUT CHANGING
TRAINS , SO I T BRINGS I MPORTANT ASSETS TO PUBLI C TRNSPORTA
TION AS COMPARED TO PRIVATE CARS FOR URBAN TRANS I T .
LET ME ADD THAT THE ARAMI S SYSTEM, ESPECIALLY IN TERMS OF
AUTOMATION, RELIES ON STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES WHICH
ARE THEMSELVES OF GREAT I NTEREST AND WHOSE DEVELOPMENT FI TS
PERFECTLY I NTO THE RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WE
HAVE SET UP WITH THE MINI STER OF RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY . .
WORKING TH S WAY TO EXTEND THE GAMUT OF OUR TRANSPORTA
T ION SYSTEMS IS ALSO A WAY OF INCREAS ING EXPORT OPPORTUNI
TIES FOR OUR INDUSTRIES . . . TO THI S END , OUR TRANSPORTATION
ENTERPRISES MUST H1WE ACCESS TO A SOLI D INTERNAL MARKET, AND
AT THE SAME TI ME IE MUST MAINTAIN A CONTINUING EFFORT I N RE
SEARCH, INNOVAcTON , AND D IVERS I FI CATION THAT WI LL .Il LLOW US
TO KEEP OUR PLACE I N THE FOREFRONT .
HERE ARE SEVERAL GOOD REASONS, THEN, TO SUPPORT THE
ARAMIS IFOJ . / ("E HAVE TO :O NOw IS :OJ) H1 HEXPSRI
MENT WI LL EE FULLY CONCLUSIVE . THERE ARE GOOD REASONS TO
THINK I T ftI LL BE , FOR THOSE OF US FAMI LIAR WIT:- THE HIGH QLIL-
___

___' ' C ,_

I TY OF THE INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES THAT ARE "HATCHING"

THIS PROeJf: CT . IT IS T!'L, OF COURSE, THAT FV!Y HuMAN EN
DEAVOR INCLUDES AN ELEMENT OF R I SK . WE ARE FULLY AWARE OF
THIS RISK, AND WE ACCEPT I T , KNOWING THAT TO RI SK NOTHING I S
TO GAIN NOTHING-SO IC!CAS WE IICILL IN SUCH A WAY THA': THE
RI SK I S CAREFULLY CALCULATED AND ACCOMPANIED BY ATTENTIVE
EFFORT .
SO GO TO I T-YOU HAVE MY VERY BEST lUSHES FOR YOUR SUCCESS !
" It's written in capital letters so he can read it out loud. It still
doesn't count as enthusiasm," Norbert continued without giving an
inch. It 'got somewhat-let u5 say -slowed down along the way'; it
' attests, ! believe, to its importance'; ' there are Bood reasons to think so';
' to risk nothing i s to gain nothing, 5 10n8 O the risk is calculated. " C
can tel that there are glitches somewhere. But what's most poignant is
the fact that, four days later, the Communist ministers left the admini
stration. " Fiterman, proud of his balance sheet, is leaving us. Bye bye,
Fiterman. Aramis has to go on without him. "
" And then without Matra, and without the RATP, and without
the Region, and without the City of Paris, and without the Budget
Offce. "
"Nothing gets done with the Budget Offce; everyone agrees on
that. If there were nobody but the Budget people, we'd still be traveling
b " Y ox-cart.
The i nterpretations offered by the relativist actors are performatives.
They prove themselves by transformi ng the world in conformity with
their perspective on the worl d. By stabi l izi ng their i nterpretation, the actors
*After supporting the Mitterand administration for three years, the Communist
Party dccided to \rca its alliance with thc oca\s\s, whom the Communists accused
of nt living up to their revolutionary ideals . . . Following party instructions, the
four Communist ministers resigned, albeit somewhat reluctantly, so as not lo com
promisc the party in a " culture of governmcnt. "
Hc - o 4

__ ________

_
end up creating a world-far-others that strongly resembles an absolute world
with fixed reference points. When the office of the radical Paris mayor
decided, around 1 880, to construct the Paris metro at last, i t was producing
a hi ghl y unfavorabl e i nterpretation of the great rai l road companies:
"They're wi ld capital i sts, human beasts; it's out of the question to turn them
loose i n Paris and allow them to i nterconnect their stations . " But the i nter
pretation of elected offi ci al s is a fickl e thi ng. What one election does,
another can undo. How can the major companies be forever di scouraged
from i nvadi ng Paris? Bi ngo: by writing the unfavorable i nterpretation i nto
law; by si gni ng a protocol . But a protocol can be denounced. A nonag
gression pact can turn back i nto a scrap of paper. El ected oficials then
find a much better sol uti on: they cast their unfavorable i nterpretation in
bronze, iron, cement, steel . How to do thi ngs with words? By turni ng them
i nto performatives. So they di g the tunnel s of their new metro, givi ng them
di mensions such that the smal lest of the capi tal i st wagons wi l l be unabl e
to penetrate them, even i f by chance the radi cal mayoralty shoul d lose
future electi ons. The big bad wolf can blow down the fi rst l i ttle pig's house
of straw, and by blowing a l ittle harder he can knock down the second
l i ttle pig's house of wood, but he'l l blow i n vai n on the third l i ttle pi g's
house of bri ck. No matter how relativist the engi neers i n the pay of the bi g
compani es may be, they fi nd themselves faci ng thousands of tons of stone
whi ch i mpose on them a "relatively absolute" i nterpretation. The best proof
of thi s bizarre mix of relativism and absolutism i s provided some seventy
years later when the national ized SNCF and the national RATP with whi ch
i t i s fraternal l y united want to i nterconnect at last. Havi ng become a nice
l i ttle pi g, the SNCF had a l ot of trouble geting ri d of the thousands of tons
of stone piled up by the thi rd little pig between itself and its ancestor, the
big bad wolf. t What requi red j ust a few strokes of the pen in 1 890
requi red ten years of work starting in 1 970. The radical s' unfavorable
*On this episode, SvC Maurice Daumas, cd. , nu.c his/orq0c Jc ci:uron Jcs
transports en (ommun dans la region parisienne, I ;: I Jt (Paris: Editions du CNRS,
1 977) . They had even thought of changing the width of the tracks, a still morc radical
proposal to which the military authorities i n charge OJ national defense objected in
the name of the country's higher interest: munitions cars had to be able to pass from
one network to the other.
tThe traces of this relativism can still be seen in every labor strike at the Gare
du Nord, and they can still be heard every time the subway trains pass [rom the SNCF
version of electric power to the RATP vcr-iOn.
` | ! ' c D E C I S I O N
opi ni on of the capital ists had "performed" real ity in a more durabl e matter
than the fl ighty hi story of France requi red.
I n July 1 984 the mi nister has not yet reached the stone house, but
he thi nks he's gotten past the paper one. The "good reasons" to support
Arami s strike him as sol i d. And they must be solid i ndeed, since they have
scarcely changed si nce Bardet's and Petit's ti me. Even i f the Communi st
mi nister rai ses the level of debate sti l l hi gher, ri ght up to the "ri ght to
transportati on," a new human right, it's sti l l a question of competing with
private cars thanks to "on-demand service" and the absence of "trans
fers"-whereas the l i ne projected for the Petite Cei nture has been trans
formed i nto an omni bus with three or four forks! It's sti l l a question of
devel oping research at a propitious moment-even though the goal of the
CET is an i ndustrial goal of qual ification and homologation presupposing
that the research as such has al ready been compl eted. Fi nal ly, it's a
question of hel pi ng companies to export by offeri ng them an i nternal
market-even though no commitment at all has been made regardi ng the
i ndustrial orders that wi l l follow the CEl Each of these good reasons to
si gn on to Arami s at l ast, three and a hal f years after the project was started
up once agai n, cuts through doubts that appear in the sol emn discourse,
even i f the powers that be "are ful ly aware" of those doubts and "accept"
them. From relative absol utism to absol ute relativi sm, there i s no more than
a nuance, a partition of paper, wood, or stone. Let's hurry to i nscribe in
the nature of things the i nterpretation we have produced of the nature of
thi ngs. Time is short. Especi al ly i f the Communists are i n a shaky position
and are going to withdraw a few days later i nto the refuge of their
working-class fortress. Let's sign fast, or al l i s lost. Let's at least get ourselves
the shelter of a sheet of paper. It's better than nothi ng. A few days more,
and it real ly woul d have been al l over for Arami s.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS)
^ Gontran, technical dvser 'C the cabinet, is once .goexp'o_how
people at the ministry felt when the ogeee o: :ged
`oood,|oo esos o y'o stoppi ng .
!'e poo e~ o~ce, s |o|the opeo| g oge~c .sc.~. e''e .o+
~ec o '.~c' ov||e:.|..| o~ !ey e..'j udge o~d |ees|ed pu'y
od |ey ' o.|e ~eos |o radical Lr |i ci s~ o| o o ec'
J c ' d ^ . | | o | ' '
Bc| o| ||e e o| ||e 'o| dec:o ' 'o, |o| o: ||e no|.o|.
eoc|'y-
lvo: ' gsgo' ~ xed cp|oge|'e |' |'e|evos o co'.so o| p os
!'eeveeeveoy~o oco~cesoooc| ~o g o|ove'Hecy coec
'o''o| s, ~ ~\A. eop e |o d |'e~seves, 'ees o gcodo , | vos
eossc g \ee ovo| g v |' o~ ovo|ve g ~~ cs ''o| 'os' oee
pove~, oc| |so~e' ' ggoes vocg ve co ovoys od o oc|ee|v |' o
~ \A.
!' so gsa s coc |o ^o|os dcs'o og c, v' c'coc do'voys ~oe
|'e ~os|o'o c|e oves o
^o|o vo~|ed o ~ NA. ce o||e |'e eEl v c vos o so |'e goo o|
|'e!ospo|o|o ^ s|y, oc| oecocse o|| ~e p o | es|eyeve ~ooged
|o~oe| 'epo ec|coce|e
e' o| o|oo |o|oo| poce:: o| ~oeoess ogco seqce'o' deveop
~ec|, |~e voocs s|oges ep'ge'| g ~xed cp l'ey ~oved|os|e'o s|op |'e
opeo|o |'oc 'o s|o| |, o o||os'e, |o o eoso o 4z|
" He's the one who's talking about irrational processes and illogical
behavior," l said furiously, "not me. He's the one who's accusing the
operating agency of being both judge and interested party, and that's a
serious charge. Everybody who signs the protocol to build Aramis hopes
to do something other than Arami s. That's really not normal , is it? They
spend 1 50 million francs in order to wait, simply because no one has
the guts to say they shouldn't spend the money! The whole thing is
cobbled together in defance of common sense. Why should we be the
only ones who don't have thc right to pass judgment?"
" Go on, pass j udgment if you feel like it," Norbert replied. " Go
right ahead, lay the blame! Pick out a head to roll fLr the vengeful
populace. Denounce the profteers, the ignoramuses, the incompe
tents. "
'' I 'm not necessarily looking for a guilty party," I said more
prudently, incapable as I was of selecting a head to chop off right in
the middle of the bicentennial of the French Revolution.
" So what are you looking for? Are you going to accuse the social
system? Capitalism? Napoleonic France? Sinful man, while you're at it?
' . ' ~ o ^ C S C `
An accusation that's so watered down it blames the whole wide world
is even more futile than one that picks a scapegoat. "
" But you're still not going to claim, are you, " I went on in a more
conciliatory tone, " that the protocol Signed is the best possible com
promise? Next to you, Pangloss would come off as a pessimist. In any
case, didn't you commit yourself to fnding a guilty party, a cause for
the death of Aramis?"
" If Aramis is dead, which remains to be proved; if it ever lived,
which also remains to be proved; and if it was viable, whieh has not
yet been demonstrated . . . We don't have a cause. On the other hand,
we have circumstances bv the bucketload. Installation in Paris; choice
w
of the Petite Ceinture; support from the RATP; abandonment by Matra,
which had other things on its plate after 1 985; separation of the mobile
unit, which was being perfected, from the system, which was being
deferred . . . "
" But those aren't explanations. They could all turn out in Aramis '
favor."
" Precisely. They're symmetrical . Fai lure and success are explained
in the same terms. Every one of Aramis' peculiarities woul d have
disappeared if the system were working today. They strike you as
scandalous and irrational onlv because the system fell on its face. If vou
. .
were looking at VAL or the Airbus, you'd have exactly the same
shambles. "
As I felt myself seething with rage once again in the face of these
" scientific" explanations capable of explaining away both hot and cold
simultaneously, and because I didn't want to cause the tension to rise
any higher, I dropped the subject.
" You're indignant," continued Norbert, with a coolness that struck
me as feigned, "because you want to blame someone; you blame me
for indifference because I blame no one. But no rule has been violated
in this Aramis story. No one has behaved badly. No one would have
known how to behave better. You wouldn't have known how to do anv
w
*See the documents about VAL's political and administrative history collected
in Arthur Notchart, Ic I irc honc Ju mcrro (LillI: Communaute Urbaine de LillI,
1 983) .

better. Everything happens in defance of common sense, but there is
no common sense for innovations, since they happen, they begi n, they
invent common sense, the right direction, the correct procedure. "
" Still, a mistake must have been made, either in 1 987, i n stopping,
or JD 1 984, 1H starting up.
"
There are two major sociologies: one is cl assi cal , the other relativist
(or rather, relationist) .
Onl y the second al lows us to follow the realization or the dereal iza
tion of technol ogi cal projects. Cl assi cal sociology knows more than the
"actors"; i t sees right through them to the social structure or the destiny of
which they are the patients. It can j udge their behavior because i t has fixed
reference frames with respect to whi ch the patients behave in a pathologi
cal fashi on. It has its ether. There are norms, and thus there are deviations
with respect to the norm; there are reasons, and thus there i s irrational ity;
there is l ogic, thus there is i l l ogical ity; there is common sense, and thus
perverted senses; there are norms, and thus there are abnormal ity and
anomi e. Classi cal sociology can comment on what the patients say because
it possesses metal anguage, whi l e they have only l anguage. "Forgive them,
Father, for they know not what they do. " For cl assi cal sociology, the actors
are informants. Cl assi cal sociology explai ns what has happened, bl ames,
denounces, rectifies. I t offers l essons. I ts j udgments are above the fray; they
are scientific; an abyss separates them from the i nterested i nterpretation of
the patients obl iged to perform the reality that the sociol ogi sts analyze.
Cl assi cal sociology knows what constitutes society, knows the rul es and
laws of the social context wi thi n whi ch the patients cannot hel p but be
i nserted. For classical sociology, there are cl asses, socioprofessional cate
gories, fi el ds, roles, cultures, structures, i nterests, consensuses, and goal s.
Cl assical sociology is at home i n social physics, and i t chooses an ontology
that al lows i t to define once and for al l the nature of the power relations
and i nterests pursued by the strategy of social groups. Fi nal ly, aware of the
countless contradictions entai led by its own existence situated at once
above the fray and i n the mi ddl e of it, at once i nsi de soci ety and outside
it, cl assical sociology mul ti pl i es its methodologi cal precautions, its herme
neutic ci rcl es, its retroactions, its marks of modesty. Cl assi cal sociology i s
1 c l - S ^ c | | ` | ' |
epi stemologi cal ; it tal ks and tal ks and goes on tal ki ng. Obl iged to reassure
itself conti nual ly as to its own sCientificit, i t can be recognized by its jargon.
For cl assical sociology, the worl d i s an asyl um of fools and traitors, of
pretenders, gui lty consciences, and hal f-educated types. I n this asyl um, the
sociologi st i s the di rector, the only one who has the ri ght to go outside.
You can study anything with classical soci ol ogy-anythi ng except the
sciences and the technol ogies, anythi ng except projects. They go too fast.
They become too soft or too hard. For sociology, they are l i ke an extended
Mi chel son-Morley experi ment. I t i s i mpossi bl e to detect the ether in relation
to whi ch they di splace themselves. To study them, you have to move from
cl assi cal sociology to relativist sociology, and see i n the former onl y a
parti cul ar case, an approximation, a val uable one to be sure, but only
when nothing more is moving, when projects have become objects, insti
tutions. Relativist sociology has no fixed reference frames, and conse
quently no metal anguage. I t expects the actors to understand what they are
and what it is. It does not know what soci ety i s composed of, and that is
why i t goes off to learn from others, from those who are constructing society.
It adds its own i nterpretations to those of the actors whose fate it shares,
often less fel i citously than they. I t seeks, too, to perform real i ty i n order to
keep its own version of the facts stabi l ized a little l onger, and it confronts,
fraternal ly, the contrary opi ni on of those it i s studyi ng. I t has no stri ngs to
its bow but theirs, and it does not al low itself to throw "science" onto the
scale i n order to unbal ance the equal ity between itself and its brothers with
whom it i s conversi ng. Without any knowledge other than what it gets from
them, i t is free at least from the crushi ng responsi bi l ity of being more
scientific than the actors. No gui lty conscience, no epi stemology encumber
i t, and thus no j argon. For relativist sociol ogy, i ndeed, everythi ng is grace.
They're all gathered around the hors d'oeuvres. I'm becoming irre
sistible, they say. I move on; they move on to the act. They sign the
acts. The die is cast. The checks are signed. The word is given. For
fifteen years they've been meeting about me, for ffteen years they've
been speaking about me in a vacuum. Have they fnally decided to
make me? Now they're reassuring each other about my feasibility.
They're all afraid, sense that, but seeing themselves all together
around me makes them feel braver. I am lying in the middle of the large
circle they are making around me, these ministers, cabinet heads, mu-
' : c ' ' ' ' C `
nicipal offcials, public employees, and engineers large and small. At
the center of this big circle, am the deep well into which they are
tossing their wishes, their hopes, and their curses. Blessed, cursed.
Loved, hated. Indifferent, passionate. Plural, singular, masculine, femi
nine, neutral. I am waiting for them all to grant me being. What is a
self? The intersection of all the sets of acts carried out in its name. But
is that intersection full or empty? exist if they agree, I die if they
quarrel. But if they agree on a misunderstanding, how could I manage
to exist? How can I keep the Communists in the government? How
can I keep the drivers' unions under control? How can I diminish the
threat of wholesale automation in Paris while being the first wholly
automated metro in Paris? How can I hold onto the region and its
enormous, irritable, impatient crowds who have to be transported
throughout the southern suburbs of Paris and who see me merely as a
metro like any other? How can I hold on to Matra, who loves only my
older brother, VAL, and who loves me only as another VAL? How, in
spite of everything, can I hold on to the tuned-in engineers of the world
of transportation who love me because I'm crazy, bold, and beautiful,
but only on the condition that I transport no one, and especially on the
condition that I do not resemble VAL, which is already passe, old hat.
Some love me assembled and rigid like a metro; others love me scat
tered, dispersed, experimental like a research project. How can I keep
about me, in agreement about me, those who think that I am an
infeasible system, that I am stillborn, that I am an idea from the past,
an idea from the Sixties, that I am, consubstantially, a failure, but that
from my erratic behavior one may draw interesting results, perhaps at
least a variable-reluctance motor, guidance software? . . . As if I were
a motor, a casing, a program! A heap of separate parts! As if I could
exist without being assembled. I 'm quite willing to satisf any one of
them; I 'd like to satisfy them all. But they'll have to come to agreement
about me. How can become a being, an object, a thing-fnally a self
yes, a full set, saturated with being-without them, without their agree
ment, without their coming to terms (since I myself am made from
them, fesh of their flesh, a rib extracted from theirs), without their
acknowledgment that I am transports, displacements of human beings?
How can I interest them all in me when they all love me differently? I
can give them only what they have giuen me. I can hold them assembled
together only if they keep me assembled. The `( that humans receiue
at birth-that is precisely what has to be created for me. I am in a
prebirth state. do not yet have a body. The dismemberment humans
encounter in the tomb is my condition even before the cradle. Reverse
|' ' . -c= `

conception, which exists in fact only in Erewhon. The breath of life to
which aspire in order to make of my scattered members and my
whitened bones a being that is not of reason-my soul-awaits your
agreement, | you hors-d'oeuvres-eaters, who all agree today to defer
my genesis until later. Indifferent to what you love. Rubicon-crossers
who set up camp in the middle of the ford. Human beings contemptu
ous of things and thus contemptuous of yourselves.
T ' | l - S ^ | . C ' S ' C|
ARAMI S AT THE CET STAGE :
WI L L I T KE E P I TS P R OMI SE S?
" I don't get it, Norbert, I don't see what you're doing, " I con
fessed, feeling both angry and disappointed. " We know that the key to
the puzzle lies in the phase between 1 98 1 and 1 984. We're finding
splendid guilty parties : the three-and-a-half-year delay, the fact that the
proj ect was maintained unchanged even though the Worl d's Fair had
been abandoned, the complete ambiguity of the decisions, the screening
role played by the technocrats, the postponement of all the problems
to the CET stage, the signing of the protocol by a government minister
who stepped down three days later, and-poof-you wave your wand
and pronounce everyone innocent; you decree that there's no basis for
bringing suit; you send off all the accused parties with knd words, you
tell them they're great; you claim they wouldn't have done anything
differently if the project had been, in the last analysis, a complete
success.
7
(Silence on the part of my beloved professor. )
" In my opinion, you're simply too chicken to blame people who
have ways to get even. If you want to know what I think, your
' hyperrefned sociology' is a pretty fimsy affair. "
" Except, in spite of everything, it isn't a political proj ect," Nor
bert replied, more uncomfortable than I expected. " It's a technological
project. And after all , it's a fact that we haven't yet seen any crucial
defects on the side of the people involved, or in the way things were
organized, in the decisionmakng process-in the social arena, as you'd
put it. If Aramis existed, you wouldn't find anything to criticize. There
still isn't any proof, at this point, that the thing couldn't ,vork. I have
no choice but to fnd the people innocent. I have absolutely no evidence
to the contrary. "
" But what's left for us to look at, then? The guilty party isn't at
the end, it isn't at the beginning, it isn't at Orly, it isn't before 1 98 1 ,
it isn't after 1 98 1 . Where is it? Or isn't there a guilty party at all?"
" Well, yes, there has to be; a mistake was made, since Aramis
doesn't exist today, yet it did start up again in 1 984. There was at least
one decision too manv; vou're right about that. Either the decision to
. .
terminate it in 1 987, or else the decision to start it up again in 1 984. "
" So what's left for us to look for? That's what I 'm asking you. "
"There's Phase 3B, there's the CET, there's the technology; and
since the technology really takes off during this phase, we have to go
that route. Follow the actors: that is the Law and the Prophets. "
" But you've been holding technology blameless from the begin
ning, O priori; you've been saying that we have to assume it was feasible
and well conceived! That I don't have the right to say that this bloody
mess was defective from birt, deformed, monstrous-that it's the very
prototype of a false innovation. You've made me read page after page
on the subj ect . "
" No, that was about technology that was separated, nonhuman,
inert, autonomous. I 'm not budging an inch on that. You can't blame
technology. But there must be something else in the technological
aspects. It's like in The Mystery i the Yellow Room. If the guilty party can't
be found anywhere else, it has to be there. "
" But where is ' there'?"
" You're driving me crazy . . . I don't know yet. I 'm looking. If I
knew, I wouldn't go to the trouble of doing all these interviews. We
have to go into the technical details, that's all I know; they're responsible
for holding this whole shambles together. We've got a good grasp of
the politics of the interphase, but a whole lot of technological work
was going on for a while there. They spent six or seven months
reconstituting their teams, and then let them go again soon afterward.
We'd better back up a little. "
" It's the ' stop-and-go' disease, Norhert--that much we know. "
" Yes, but they're reformulating the project, so we're going to fnd
out whether the technology is capable of coping with the politics. The
Aramis we knew prior to 1 98 1 has to he redesigned to cope \',ith the
World's Fair. "
" But I 've studied the technological documentation, as I was told,
and I 've summarized the interviews you sent me to. The engineers \vere
very pleased with that phase; everything went very well . So the problem
isn't there. The hidden staircase, as you put it, can't be in this phase. "
" It has to be, or else everything happens i n the CET stage. "
[SUMMARY OF A GROUP I NTERVI EW]
C ||e ooc'evo|d \c|o, ||e ovooodoed o||ce: ||o| |od oe|oged
|o ||e |/|| |eo, ||e egee: c|oge o| ||e po,ec| :.oze ||e
de.e|ope| o| ||o:e J5
^o|o od|ovooc'qc'eo 'evev| gsdc g'o|ose |Ao~ s
coo y|oe ccves geo|e |o|e ~e|es, |e 's od| o|| | ce|vee
|e \o d s o ov ' os o g|y o. o|ed cco oeoso eov y
o. o|ed oes | Ao~. s s od |o ~ e~e|, |e |e | ex c |y og.~e
d soeos
S ~ce gy' ex c' e ~' e~e|o| o~ s |e ~o ogc~e| Ao~ s |ovo
|eeyeso| 'e ~.~ c o oc|o ' es, eseco y cecocseo|^o|e e, | s
esse| o |o ee 'eccve od csos| g'ososs c e So^o|o os|oco~e
.v ' o ccve od .:o'|e ~e|es
.. g ' s e ou, |e o d y s |e vos |eoeed 'e, co~s'.c'ed o
c.vev| o |e~e|eod .s'osee ||e ve c ecoc d| oe |w |oc|s' ~g
odv 'oc|c g| eco|oc|soesovoy|o~| eovesoce A| |ece
o' s|| g |e oco| o~ o|'e soes odv de cg |e gc deo s |o~ ' , 4JJ
|o l ,^^J~ ' ~e|es,Ao~ scecu~ecooc eo||o gccvesv|o'e~e'e
od cs
'eo'e ~o o| oc e~ vos |o'o| ovo oc |, |Ao~ scosoe| oce
c cc o' o, |ey o.e 'o ce oc e' o . 'e o.s o doyv 'o.| ceo ~g
dov `ov| eo yvoy| ooc eve geo|eovo oc |y s|odo.c eo | e
'e o g s|oc Hc|eocve c e os o y|e seo|s So o~y ~ove~e'
e oc |y v ce o d'ocyo y'e osseges
'ove 'od |o ceose !'e ocso'.!e e oo |, o| |e eqc ~e| `ov!' s
s o' y ~og o y oss o e-evey'' cg o voys oeos dov, eve v'e
~ |oy |ec'o ogy s .scd, eve c oe|oo.!cs, vee^o|o voso e'|,
|o~ o| g|ocd 'o eveyco o ' |e eqc ~c| 'od !o oe dc co|ed H.|
|'olvos ~osso'ececo.seo||e :os|.
'o!'eszeo||ecosod|ooe ceosed,|o|voy|'ecos!so|o.|o~o| o
voc'd oe dvded . o~og ~o|c |'o |e eo'e oveve|, yo. co|
lengthen ||e Neh cle or widen i t without l osi ng le|e~e|e c.ve |od .s |o|
ved cs!|osc so ~cc|oco c|oge|
'o^o'o 'od|o |d o so .|o !o| vo. d ee| 'e od .s od ~ove
o.o oo| |, without ceosog coss 'ey co~e u v|o ,o/ed cos, 'o
vc c esysco' yo||oced |oge|eo so' c' o ~o|ed |oc \A. coco
o| cos ~ov 'o ds|e ossegesod|'e oooo' |y |o||e de| co eq. ,
ce| on |e |vo s. g'e|o.s v. | oeo dovu deceoses A| |e .ce of
'ysco cocec|o oe|vee o s o| cos, |'e e oo |,, |e ce, od 'e
| ex o ' |, o|e ~o |o ed o , see ~o|os ] - ] 3]
Mechani sms cope with the contradictions of humans.
Pairs of cars transcribe, or take upon themselves, or accept, or
transfer, or take the place of, the technological i mpasse ( chi ps are fallible,
al as) , the economic l i mitations (the vehicles must not cost as much as
satel l ites), the contradictions of the system (the mobi l e units cannot si mul ta
neously grow longer and turn readi ly) . The connecting bar that attaches
the si ngletons two by to shoulders the responsi bi l i t of si multaneously
hol di ng together the mobile units and the contradictions of the engi neers'
erratic demands, exactly the way the nonmateri al coupl i ngs that sti l l con
nect the pairs of cars shoulder the responsi bi l ity of resolving the contradic
tory dreams of those same engi neers-behavi ng as i f they were automo
bi les, churni ng up a massive flow of cars guided l i ke trai ns. But si nce the
two dreams coexist, the result is material coupl i ng between cars in each
pai r, and computerized coupl i ng between pai rs!
Al though charged by humanists wi th the si n of bei ng "si mply"
efficient, "purely" functi onal , "strictly" materi al , "totall y" devoid of goal s,
mechani sms nevertheless absorb our compromises, our desires, our spi rit,
and our moral ity-and si lence them. They are the scapegoats of a new
A | ^ U S A! ! | | ` > !A t
rel igi on of Sil ence, as complex and pi ous as our rel igion of Speech. What
exegesi s wi l l have to be i nvented to provide commentary on the Si l ence of
machi nes? What secul ar hi story wi l l ever be abl e to narrate the transcri p
tion of words i nto the si lence of automatons?
Beyond our i nfi nite respect for the deciphering of Scri pture, we need
to have i nfi ni te respect for the deci pheri ng of inscriptions. To propose the
description of a technological mechani sm i s to extract from it precisely the
script that the engi neers had transcribed i n the mechani sms and the automa
tisms of humans or nonhumans. It is to retrace the path of i ncarnation i n
the other di recti on. It i s to rewrite i n words and arguments what has
become, what mi ght have become, thanks to the intermediary of mecha
ni sms, a mute function. The physical l i nk between cars, the cal culated l i nk
between pairs of cars, and t he l itle shock absorbers that authorize shocks:
here i s the moral it of thi ngs.
" Hmm, " I said skeptical l y, "we're doing theology now, are we?
Considering where we've got to, actual ly, we may as well start lighting
candles; we're just drifting. Anyway, from day one you've been explain
ing that we have to hold onto the humans and the nonhumans. I don't
see what's new in Phase 3B. "
" But it's the Achlles' heel of the whole Aramis project! We hadn't
yet grappled with the technology. It was still only a project, and proj ects
are words, plans, signs, that sort of thing, whereas now we're going
right to the object, and we're still dealing with the social arena, the
social bond, attachments and values, but now they've been altered,
transformed. The question now is to find out what quantity of the social
element Aramis can absorb, transform, displace, by getting more com
plicated, by folding itself up tighter. If it can hold its whole contradic
tory environment together, then it will exist. "
*Madeleine Akrich, "The De-Scription of Technical Objects," in Wiebe Bijker
and John Law, eds. , Shaping Technology / BUilding SOCiety: Swdies in SOCiological Change
(Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1 992) , Qg. 205224.
A R A M I S AT T H E e F T S T A G E
[SUMMARY OF A GROUP I NTERVI EW]
'e soae s,eoes
' |eAo~ scos |ee eoc o'e o.' cyvoyo| . |oso.d de|e.|os, they
.~ |e |s o| c.~p g |o eo:' o|e| o s|oy g !oo |o opo|, cecocse
c'||osocd ecoes oe sco||eed |ce' s od o ccves \ed ove |o
sepoo|e |e.o sod sov dovu |~ecosve |ey ~ege ad de~erge
Hc| |o| voc'd d scp| |'e y|'~ ocd edcce |e seed, od Ao~ s odvo
|oges, |s|o co|gco| o,vo. dd soppeo 'o^o|oos|o|d so~e| ~g
ese |o ~o |o | epe|o|~oce eve s
"Al l gc dedlospo'o||o sys|e~s, lo s od ~e'os, oe cosed o ''e
p c pe o| fixed sectors. +e |oc sd vded cp |o sec' os od ove c e
s oc|o zed !oe'eoe se:|o ce'oe |'eve c eoeod of it os l eft-that
s, ce|o|e the red ' g! o|eo: sec!o os|c|edgee^ 'o csod sccvoys
are eqc pped v'o s ~p' e cc' o eve cosso sec|os ed ' g|, ve|e
|e g| s.|epe|ed oyo human ce.g ooy |e~o|o.d ec|y
Hc| ||e|o sgo g |e o~e|es o~ 'oc|, |.o crLse|os|e|ove~
' sdo gsx|y, so |co|o ov|e|o ahead ~o|ecoseyv |~oc! ~ceos g
' 'e doge oveve, | e sec|o does| oc|oze | s, cecocse | e~o s
unawore ol || s ~o|g for ego|.o| o | ~o !o s o co~s'oc| d s|oce oe
tween |o s, o ~o||e vo| thei r speed
'|s e o :op v'o |oes ovoy o' the |ex c |y |o~ 'o sod sccvoys
excoge|oo cos deoo'e~o|g o'secc |, A po:edce e| s s|
opp|o|o!e |o A|o~| s, s ce |'e co 'osio oe oo e |o coec' .p v |' 'e
cos |o|p|ecede t ocd|o~o trai n v| o~o|e o cocp gs So |os to
penetrate |he sec|o o~eod cy |ee g |s voy Hc| | 's o.'o;ed |o go |o
|~e so'e|y sec|o|, |'e~ |s ~eoso||ecog| o ove |o ce ocso .|ey |o so|e
|ev se, | |s|oo|o:e|c' , || cos |o |'e o|e:os, o, i f |s'oo| ~| d,
| ' s|oyso|o.ovoy' 'o| | ' s'ovdov| e| ovo||evec'es ce d
^o||o co~es . v | o od co so c|o, oe o eody :os deed 'o\A'
cc| |e ooocdoed ce:ocse o| |s co~p ex |y. | voves do g v |oc| !e
socosoc||xedsec|os, ~ excoge'o ceosed |e| ' geceo |e po|o|
the cars. leArami s vehi cle se~doved v| |e~eoos|o egoo|e |sovo
speed od so|e ds|oce on |: LV/, o oge oy ~eos o| 'xed sec|os
*Even SACEM a model for assisted driving, recently installed on Line A of
the RER, which makes it possible to bring trains closer together than the human
drivers present i n the cabin would dare to do reduces the intervals only by dividing
up the fixed sectors into smaller units. [t docs not do away with fixed sectors.
- ^^ . ^T ! , c . A C c
~s'o' edo~|egoco oc| oy ~eansof e|ee.e ,o|s sc oooo |e 'oc
'o! o 'ov ' o co c.o'e |s ov speed and that of 'e cos oeod oo 'o
decide, n vov.|'|sovp|ogo~o|action, v'o'o |v'' oc'oze |se |o
|ood |se ||o +ovec oso|to a col l eague. ' s s''eodj us|abl e~oo es.|o
,^.| , Arami s +o o ovo|o | |os|o|s ''e o'o~ o| se.'o 'o~ |e
gocoto |e~oo ec'and makes 'fl exi bl e s'eodo| g d Aseac' vehi cl e
moves forward i t projects i t s own doge zoe: oo| ahead and behi nd-for
bi dden zones v.:se de:o: oy occod g to the speed o| |e ve c e
od tespeed o| |eadj acent cars.
"But then 'ovcan safety be +a tai ed- \'e |'e cos oofar enough
apart, the ^. s o~o.g to oi sci pl ~e''e~ \e tey approach zones of
convergence o d vegece, 'e ^. wi l l be suppl emented oy a way o|
|cel i ~g b i dl y oeoo, cl taso.nd detection v ' oo aba~doed as |oo unel i
abl e, o~dwi l l be repl aced by a system of detecti on by +eoso|'ypo|oq.o
ci es, v c oo ~.c ess se~s | ve|o ~'e|ee~ce |o+ !.o s o ti ~e Ul tra
socoecoes v oe .sed only |oso|d s|oces, 'os o|co^' ~e'es v'e~
the cars are movi g |ogo|e| ~ o |o o ]
A technical project always gets more compl icated because the engi
neers want to rei nscri be i n it what threatens to interrupt i ts course.
The scri ptor, or the engi neer who had del egated the driver's job to
a closet i n VAL, was nevertheless as mi strustful of the cl oset as of the driver;
both are fal l i bl e. That is why he had mai ntained the pri nci pl e of fixed
sectors on the track. The program of action-"Keep your di stance, don't
run i nto each other," which the people responsi bl e for automobil es have
so much trouble i nscri bi ng i n the conditioned reflexes of drivers-was
transcribed by the scri ptor i nto a di fferent one: "Don't enter sector n before
sector 1 is free. " And this program was itself retransl ated for human
drivers i nto yet another one: "I f relay switch i n up position, then power
suppl y to motor on; i f relay switch i n down position, then power suppl y
off. " And thi s one was al so transcri bed i nto another, an el ectrical di agram
or software program.
But the cascade of such transl ations, whi l e mai ntai ni ng safety, aban
dons flexi bi l i ty, and thus ceases to authorize Arami s. Either the princi ple of
the fl exibl y configured trai n has to be scrapped, or el se flexi bi l ity has to
be reinscribed, but with no loss of security. Here in a nutshel l is al l the
engi neeri ng, al l the i ngenuity, al l the i ngeniousness of engi neers, those
unsung writers. For they never consi der people or thi ngs; they consider only
competences that can be reshuffled more or less freely. The capabi l i ty of
mai ntai ni ng order, for exampl e, was once transferred by the i nventors of
rai l roads to the ground, whi ch had been marked off at regul ar i ntervals
i nto fixed sectors. Why not redistribute this capabi l ity? let's leave to the
ground, to the track, the task of si mply noting where we are. Let' s di splace
onto the mobile unit the task of negotiating braki ng distance. let's thus
rei ncorporate i nto the confines of the vehi cl e a part of its envi ronment. let's
thereby offer the system a bl end of fl exibi l i ty and safety that is unknown to
automobil e drivers and that no l abor uni on woul d agree to gi ve to the
agents of the RATP, si nce the bri efest moment of i nattention woul d l ead to
catastrophe.
The CMD i s the most beautiful i nvention i n the world. I t reinscribes
in the car what until now has formed the environment of the mobi l e uni t
circul ati ng i n fixed sectors. Arami s is growing more compl icated, the script
i s folded and refolded; but the characterization i s deepeni ng, the character
is taking on depth, subtlety, and body, si nce it is becomi ng both fl exibl e
and sure of itself! Technology i s sociology extended by other means.
" But you've been saying that all along."
" I hadn't understood myself. Bv other means: there's the heart of
w
the matter by other means. You have to respect otherness, the others,
and mediation, the means. Here's the key to the enigma. The CMD
isn't social , it isn't political; it' s calculations. But it isn't technological ,
either. It isn't an obj ect. This Phase 3B is important. It's the frst time
they've redone Aramis, quickly, from top to bottom, instead of simply
implementing it and improving it bit by bit. So it was doable! Aramis
could exist. All it had to do was absorb all the rest of the contradictions.
All it had to do was remain an agency of translati on, of reinscription,
a whirlwind, a soul . "
My mentor's behavior worried me a little. He insisted on our
doing " lab work" on the most ordinary machines. " We have to fnd the
mistake, " he would mutter. " A crime has been committed against
Aramis, and we now know where to locate it: in the reinscription, the

^. ! ! : '

- '
__~ ~

folding. " Carried away with this logic, he routinely thanked the auto
matic ticket machines at highway toll booths. He queried automati c
tellers at banks about communication problems. He had long conver
sations with electric staplers. He noted the degree of politeness, lazi
ness, violence, or nastiness of all the automatic door openers he came
across, going so far as to tip them, which usually left them quite
indifferent. He couldn't buckle up a seat belt without looking into its
st
ffness, flexibility, or looseness, undoing the springs in order to see
where that morality of webbing and clasps could be coming from. One
day he undertook a complete interview with a " sleeping policeman, "
a speed bump, on the pretext that this peace offcer was more faithful ,
more serious, more intrinsically moral than his own nephew, though
the latter was a precinct captain. Brushing my worri es aside, he claimed
that his own director used to converse frequently with coqui lles Saint
Jacques in the Saint-Brieuc bay. " So you see?" * He demanded that I
respect my alarm clock on the pretext that the moral contract I had
signed with myself --and that I tried to forget as soon as sank into
my dreams was fai thfully preserved by the mechanism and punctually
recalled in the form of the alarm bell . He wanted me to get my electric
food processor to admit what it took me for-an idiot, I discovered,
in dismantling the thing, since it was impossible to make the blade go
round without having carefully closed the cover; this alone, through the
intermediary of three little sensors, authorized the motor to start. At
the hotel where we stayed in Lille, he even went so far as to get the
porter to acknowledge the moral of the French hotel-key story. Why
are those kevs so heavy? Because they remind clients that they have to
. < + w
comply with the program known as " Bring your keys back to the desk,
please," a program that tourists, as careless as they are undisciplined,
keep on forgetting, according to the bellhop, but that they are reminded
of by the weight of the key in a pocket. He wanted the bellhop to share
his admiration for this moral law finally ballasted with lead. I was
mortifed.
*M. Laun, Sumc LcmcnIs o! a Sociology of JransaIiun. Domestication of
the Scallops and the Fishermen of St. Brieux Ba
y
," in J. [av, ed. , Power, Action and
Belir A New SOciolo of Knowledge? ( London: Methuen, 1 986) , jQ. 1 96-229.

/ / ^| o / | . L o / |
" We've found the hidden staircase," sighed Norbert without no
ticing my embarrassment. "This is how the guilty party got in. It has
to be this way. Ei ther Aramis transforms itself to hold on to
its
environment, and it gains in existence, or else its environment gets
away from i t, it no longer copes, no longer reabsorbs what's out there,
and it loses in existence. "
[SUMMARY OF A GROUP I NTERVI EW]
||e :o:e :peo|e/:
Soveve +o ~|o ed o ccve od cso' ess |oc'e ~e|es, veve s' ||ed
|o~ s ~g ecos|o ,o s, veve ~ve|ed |'e ^. |o o | s 'ose H odds
seveo o|e 'os|o~o| ocs vo v.g ose ,o '.'o od |e o gop o| |e
vo ooee .c|oce~o|o|o' od 'o oe | dd ed v |' o c '
H.||'e ~os| +po'o|co ce|o|e|o|e o| Ao~ s s |'e s|' |o ~ co
pocessos espose |o |eeed|o ceosed ~|e gece 'e~oo e. |
!ee'ese|o|co cco' osco o ogeoe odv ed, osvos|od ' oo ,
|e cose o sys!e~s, |'ee oe |oo ~ocyo| |e~ | vo. d 'oe o~e'es
o|v e, od 'vo.d |oe'oeve|o c'eco |e coec' os !ee~g ~ees
'o.e 'o es g~ |e~se ves |o pogo~~ gso'|v g|e se| o| |.~c' os
ocd |ooc ev g so|ey oyvef g pevo.s'y e~coded co c. o|os o|e
|o~ oe ~g ' s c, se:. |yovoeco~es,oooo s' c | sessce'o , s c
|epogo~~ g|og.oge svo|ovecs.espo|ec'oc o|e'oc|eeo,
o'o: s|o cood circuits.
"
Every technology may be a project, an object, or an exchanger.
We have been mi staken. Up to now, we have bel i eved i n the exist
ence of objects. But there are no obj ects, except when thi ngs go wrong
and they die or rust. Holdi ng on to the adj ustabl e mobi l e sector i s feasi ble
provided that one doesn't try to mai ntain safety conditions. However, it i s
i mpossibl e not to mai ntain safety condi ti ons, si nce the enti re l egal system
of the world of transportation depends on it. Shoul d the CMD be aban
doned? Shoul d safety be abandoned? No, let's burden the new mi croproc
essors with the weight of our di l emma. Let's entrust our cal cul ations to them!
Let's reinscribe in them the entire set of action programs that we can no
' ' , ,,,,..,.-~
longer take care of by legal, social , or traditional means. The mi croproc
essors become the center of the new Arami s, the pri nci pal object of the
future Center for Technol ogi cal Experi mentati on . They hold everythi ng. Fi ve
years ago they di dn't exist; now they are maki ng Arami s possibl e at l ast.
Where i s thi s being, the mi croprocessor, to be situated? On the side
of human beings? No, si nce humans have delegated, transcribed, in
scribed thei r qual ities i nto nonhumans. On the si de of non humans, then?
Not there either. I f the object were l ying among nonhumans alone, it woul d
i mmediately become a bag of parts, a heap of pi ns, a pi l e of si l i con, an
old-fashioned object. Thus, the object, the real thi ng, the thi ng that acts,
exists onl y provided that i t holds humans and nonhumans together, continu
ously Sl i ghtly out of phase, i t resides neither in the social el ement (it i s
made u p of chi ps and hi nges, shock absorbers and pairs of subway cars)
nor in technol ogies (i t i s made up of passions, transported people, money,
Communi st mi ni sters, and software). On the one hand, it can be said to
hol d people together, but on the other hand it is people who hol d it together.
Give me the state of thi ngs, and I ' l l tell you what people can do-thi s
i s how technologi sm tal ks. Give me the state of human beings, and I ' l l tell
you how they wi l l form thi ngs-thi s i s the watchword of sociology. But both
of these maxi ms are i nappl i cabl e! For the thi ng we are l ooking for is not
a human thi ng, nor is it an i nhuman thi ng. It offers, rather, a conti nuous
passage, a commerce, an interchange, between what humans i nscribe i n
it and what i t prescribes to humans. I t translates the one into the other. This
thing is the nonhuman version of people, i t i s the human version of thi ngs,
twice di splaced. What shoul d i t be cal l ed? Neither object nor subject. An
i nstituted object, quasi-object, quasi -subj ect, a thi ng that possesses body
and soul indissolubly. The soul of machines constitutes the social element.
The body of the soci al el ement i s constituted by machi nes.
A soul ? A body? Naked men? Isolated automatisms? I mprobabl e. Of
course, there are versions and i nterpretations-soci al , soci ologizi ng, sub
j ective, spiritual-of the obj ects so i nstituted; people are said to exist and
to live i n soci ety and to speak. Of course, there are technol ogical , tech
ni ci st, objectivizi ng, material i nterpretati ons of these same objects: they are
said to consist of raw, i nani mate material and to domi nate, or to be
*Bruno Latour, "Ethnography of a ' High-Tech' Case: About Arami s, " in
P. Lcmonnicr, cd. , Technological Choices: Transf(mnotion in Moteriol Cultures since [he
Neolithic ( London: Routledge, 1 993) , jj. 172 398.
domi nated by, people. But there is never any question of the quasi-object,
whi ch bears so l ittle resembl ance to people and so l i ttle to machi nes. We
have been mi staken. What we had called the "technological object"
what l ies on the garbage heap, i n the scrap pi l e, abandoned by people
and by other projects.
The only object we have met i n thi s story i s the Arami s car i n Matra's
foyer, unless we count the CET site, which has become a haven for graffiti
artists and the homel ess [see Photo 2 and Photo 20] .
[DOCUMENT: REPORT ON THE END OF PHASE 38, AUGUST 2, 1 983]
Conclus ion : the work undertaken in phase 3B indi cates
t hat the criti cal problems have been satis factorily re
solved and t hat full cons truct ion of the center for techno-
logical experimentat i on can be undertaken .
" One more phase declared innocent! " I exclaimed. " You see? It's
gone as smoothly as clockwork. All we have left is the CET, Phase 4;
that's our last hope. "
" If they've managed to maintain the object in this state of trouble,
of turbulence, negotiation, exchange, reinscription, in the CET phase,
then they're bound to succeed; they're going to turn Aramis into an
animate body. Aramis is going to live for real , " Norbert cried out, quite
forgetting the sad end to this story, although he had known it all along.
" So we tackle the last phase?"
" Yes, of course! Let's head for the boulevard Victor."
" I 'm fnally going to see something solid instead of reading docu
ments and technical notes. I 'm fnally going to do my job as an
engineer."
" You'd better count on being di sappointed. There are still a lot of
documents to examine at the CET" [see Photos 9 to 1 8] .
" But the CET i s much more complex than anything we've studied
up to now. How are we going to find our way around?"
K ` 1 1 ' ' | | o 1 ' :
"The actors have the same problem we do," Norbert replied,
u
nruf
led. "They, too, have to fnd their way around. So they must have
in
ven
ted a solution. If it were really compl ex, they'd flounder. "
[I NTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
A Matra technician in charge o| p/og
!'e c oss | co| o p o 'o| ~oses | posso e |o code eoc~ docc~ec' . s
|se|o 've|ye g''pogedocc~e|, ocds ce |s ~po||oce|o~ooge~e|
seco~ocs, eve|yevcpdo| cg s |o'ed oyeve|yoody espos o e'o''e
poec|
||: o /e|eve doc.:eo|
e|exve, do ' sov, oy cose | povdes o ce |s g dcode
a~oe ! o4, I~desged |o g.oo|ee |'e cc~oe cg od |~e ~ooge
~e'o'|'e doc.~e|o| o o~ |'e CET , o l JJ, JJJ| , o co| .ocs o|'
'es cs go lo|vod o boc|vo|dlo exo~p'e, |o !'e p'o| .~ p' o| g , o
l z, l I .|o|| 'ec':oso.cd sesos , o ' z^, JJJ|o| 'eo.'o~o|eddevces
,o ' zJ, JJJ `o. see, v|' thi s occoe g sys|ec, ve do| ge| 'os|, ||s
~oogeoo' e, |svooc e, od |oc'co' yosvoedveyve' [see |gce '
It is in the detours that we recogni ze a technol ogical act; thi s has
been true si nce the dawn of ti me.
And i t is i n the number of detours that we recogni ze a project's
degree of complexity. A monkey wants to get a banana that i s hangi ng
from a branch. The monkey is readi ly identified as a creature of desire. If
he stops stari ng at the fruit and explores al l the sticks lyi ng around hi s cage,
he's cal led a fi rst-order techni ci an, si nce he has suspended the first program
i n order to use a second one. I f no stick i s l ong enough, but if he takes the
time to attach two pieces of wood together, transformi ng a short stick i nto
a long one, he is sai d to be a second-order techni ci an, because the detour
itself has been suspended by a thi rd. I f the chi mp were as wel l organized
as Matra, he would code his flow chart as |O Fi gure 1 0.
Technol ogi sts seemi ngly fol l ow i nfi nitely more compl i cated programs
t han those tested i n cages, l aboratories, or cl asses by thei r psychologist or
pri matologi st col l eagues. However, these programs cannot be much more
| ^l| ' /1 ' | | : ' S A |
|
Vehicle
J ! ,
Automatism
PCC spervisio Station Onboard

equipment equipment equipment

!Z, !Z!, !ZZ, !ZJ, ! Z1,
|
Electricol Antenna
network
!Z1, !
| Track
UGE
! Z1,Z
'
Infra
ECA
structure
CET
,

!Z1,J
Integration
'
of workshop
material
I'

Int.tion
o lois
Z1, !
Z1,! Ultrasound receptors OCD
|
Group
!1, E,,.'t" project
Z1, !!Z Platinum plating
Product
! Z1,!Z
L
guarantee

'_, o
compl icated, otherwise the ones technol ogi sts study would become hope
lessly embroi led, just as technol ogi sts themselves woul d. Once the ultra
sound sensor has been set up accordi ng to i nstruction 1 24, 1 1 0, what
comes next? It i s i mpossible for humans as well as for monkeys, for engi
neers as wel l as for ordi nary mortals, to answer that question without other
technol ogi es for management, vi sual ization, codi ng, and recordi ng that
make i t possi bl e to pass the rest of the task on to one's nei ghbor. No l abor
without divi si on of labor, and no division of labor without management and
codi ng, without files and flow charts. Our bureaucracy-so widely
scorned-is our second brai n, as i ndispensabl e as the first. The engi neer
/. ' / / ' /' ' : J/ ' ;
1 00 Get the banana
1 1 0 Fi nd a sti ck
1 1 1 Make a sti ck
| _ .| e | '
Mai n program
Subprogram l
Subprogram 2
in charge of task 1 24, 1 1 0 has j ust a few subprograms to run through
before she reaches her goal . Arami s, for her, consists in a ci rcumscri bed
task whose i ns and outs di sappear above and below. It turns out to be
ensconced i nsi de a bl ack box, but a bl ack box with pl ugs, since the next
one "up"-1 24, 1 OO-can take the sensor as a whol e, and i nstal l it in the
antenna--nd the next one "down"-1 2 1 , 1 1 1 -can al so take the sensor
as a whol e, as a landscape, as a horizon, withi n whi ch it i nstal l s its own
box.
The ci rcumscri bi ng, the codi ng, and the vi sual ization of the division
of tasks al l ows a pi l i ng-up of Russian dol l s that i ncreases the compl i cation
of the whole, yet the technol ogical object, i n the eyes of a gi ven observer,
never i ncreases in compl icati on. Wherever the observer is located, she wi l l
never see anythi ng more chal l engi ng than that flow chart whose content
wi l l sometimes be Arami s as a whole-no. 1 OO, OOO-and sometimes the
plati num plating on the casi ng of the ul trasound sensor-no. 1 24, 1 1 2. The
entire technol ogical wizardry l i es i n the i mpenetrable partitions and in the
pegs that make it possibl e to hook one's task to a nei ghbor's. The paradox
of a technol ogical object with mi l l i ons of i nstructi ons i s that it is, from the
standpoi nt of the division of l abor, a fractal object that i s equal ly si mpl e at
every point, and that the whol e looks nevertheless l i ke a Leviathan that
i nfinitely surpasses human measure.
I was only half reassured by the arguments Norbert was dredging
up out of administrative sociology, for if we are to believe our inform
ants, the whole CET had drifted a good bit.
/ K /. ` ` - l ' : | ' ' ' / |

[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
W
^ |-q.e, poec| |eod, : :peo'g o| ^o|o |eodqco|e:
'eoc e~v 'Ao~ s s |o'|e o voysys'e~ sso|e, c.| eovyocu
'oo lo Ao~ s g' .oslC use \eeo y eeoed so~e | cg l i ke ou|o~o
o ' es, oc|oc'o~oc esoe 'e oc' es|ocs, 'eye o| ~g' e |o oods |o|
esec'-o| g e \A', eve~ocd \A. s| csed o o|o|e e~e|s 'o~
|e
s|o.do.dsccvoy cvoosyaeronautics ad soce~o|e o soe eoo eand
g'|ve g|, cc||eyeex||e~e yexes ve'
Soyo.see|e oc e~-\eod|o ~ve'evey'' cg
.vey| g od to ce doe, o done ovel S ce evey ' cg hd lO oe
edoe~o g o.|o~oo'eeqc ~e| e oc e, ove ~g the cos' o' |e ^
oge ' c~s ,yo. see ov |o ve ve'-, , g|e g 'e co~oe|so' |e
s.cvoyve vee o s'o|e o| co~ e|e .ce'o ',, o| |e ceg c cg os|o
cos|s
!e co~oe|s dd| exs|, od |o| ~ode | vey od |o ce |e~
. des ' o.ged oc 'oces ve ve ve||o os |e~ 'oes| ~o|es o~ |e
ceo|ev~o|e o s, s~o' q.o' | es,|ooede veed, oss cy, ' --.-
'' o |
^ |o||||e, |/'| egee c|oge :| oc|o:o|o, :|odg |o| o| |e
-o:: po|ope ||o| o: |.ng |e o|eoce o|:|op o||e |e poe.|
o: 'o'|ed
Ao~ svos o yc d 'o|s vo| 'cqce ovoys so d lose oc|o~oc e
qco' !y ~o'e o od ~ose ' os so d os o voy od os so s|co'ed os
ovo||o~
Hes des. yo. ~ove' o|ecso v '' |ec'o'ogco deve o~e||o' sd'|e
e~| o , .eve
!e motor voed out letl ve' l'e mechanical s de went al l g'|, so
d d 'e ydo. cs de : ec' c'y|e.e ve 'ov o.voy oo.d .' ee.
|ocs, esec o 'y ~ coocessos|o|vos oo|es'oy
"It vos go g o|' o' d ec| os \e eo' y od ''e ~ess o |o||e,
vee| ~ coc|o' o| |e ogoc~es 'oc' oe od 's ov c.dge', vec|
os|oosecoul d; c.||eevoso v'o|e|eo~ o|yoccggcys, veys~o' c.|
o| vey d sc ced, ~os|o' ' 'e~ vo cg os s.cco~|oc|os !ese~se o|
|eo~vo vos os'
leo o~ ce ' se|go go'', oc|-'e|s c | | svoyeysc.~dedo''
c|eo y
^ | ^| . -1 ! ' t | ` -
..
^ |o/|o|
!eysod |o oJ|oces, S|op scev go|ocd
^. |o|||e
S|op g g |e oe' ' s, yoc ~eo
^ |o/|o|
g|' j'ocg||e/] !o|s |, s|op g g |~e oe 's ' o J]
The work of fol ding i n technol ogi cal mechani sms can go from com
pl i cation to compl exity.
Thi s is because technol ogical detours go from zero to infinity accord
i ng to whether the translation goes through intermediaries or through
mediators. The VAL user takes VAL without even thi nki ng about it. As soon
as he has i ncorporated thi s sl i ght detour i nto hi s accounti ng and hi s habits,
he i s al most i ncapable of recal l i ng whether or not he has "taken" the metro
or not-a few mi nuscule detai l s, a few trivial i nci dents, a face, a poster
wi l l perhaps al low hi m to tell the di fference. "Taki ng VALli i s a subprogram
that has become nothi ng but an i ntermediary between an actor and hi s
goal . It i s, literal ly, a means. From the observer's viewpoint, i t wi l l scarcely
be possible to detect any break i n continuity between the detour and the
return to the mai n task. The part-the subprogram-is i nferior to the
whol e.
Aramis' project head hasn't reached thi s point yet. Fortunately, some
of the intermediaries occupy the precise place expected of them i n the
pl anni ng, without i nterfering with nei ghboring tasks or sl owing them down.
For compl ication i s j ust the opposite of complexity: a compl i cated task is
one made up of many steps, each one of which is si mple; a complex task,
as the name i ndi cates, i s one that si multaneously embraces a large number
of variabl es, none of whi ch can be identified separately. A computer-at
least when it is working-is compl icated, but it is never complex. t An
ordinary conversation is often complex, but it may well not be compl icated.
I n Paris, the subtask "Make concrete and deliver it to the boulevard Victor
on ti me to pour the slab for the bui ldi ng" shoul dn't pose any parti cul ar
*See Bruno Latour, " On Technical Mediation, " Common KnowiedHe J, no. Z (Fall
1 994): 29 64.
t
Trac) Kidder, The Soul i a New Machine (London: Allen Lane, 1 98 1 ) .
A ^ | ' S A T H E C E T S A C'
problem. Thi s task, for the project head, is what taking VAL i s, for the
average user. Entire l i nes of the flow chart consist of such i ntermediaries

pi l ed up, folded i n, folded over, i mpl icating each other, bl ack boxes
stacked up one upon another. The bui l di ng l i nes (no. 1 50, 000) or the
electricity network ( 1 30 ,OOOL or even the track ( 1 40 ,OOO) offer no sur
prises. No i mps are about to pop out of these black boxes. Or at least it
is easy to make them go back i n. Even if cal amities threaten to emerge,
Pandora's box can be closed up agai n quickl y: the concrete arrives on
time, the track i s ready at the right time, and the electricity l i ghts up at the
expected frequency-there i s nothing mysterious in thi s fidelit to al l i es, for
they have been di sci pl i ned, shaped, over a century or two; they have
become rel i abl e technol ogi es, di sci pl i ned resources.
But unfortunately for the project head, Aramis requi res al l i es that are
not so di sci pl i ned-chi ps that ski tter about i n corners, programmers who
are as i mmature as thei r technol ogi es. We move, then, from the lovely flow
chart to the schema of transl ati on, from bl ack boxes to gray boxes, from
division of l abor to undivided chaos. The mai n program i s interrupted. And
as the worst can always be counted on, the whole stack of subprograms
can revolt one after the other. I nstead of fi nal l y bri ngi ng Arami s i nto
existence, on the boulevard Victor, the project's partici pants found them
selves in the research situation they thought they had left behi nd.
Pandora's box cracks open and cal amities emerge one after another.
Is program B a means? or C? or D? Nobody knows. Does program B-or
C or D-ount at al l , or has it become a definitive obstacl e? Nobody
knows. Each one has become a mediator that now has to be reckoned
with, for it transforms the goals and redefines the hierarchy between mai n
and subordi nate, goal and means. What was compl icated has become
complex. Between a and 1 , the observer must become as patient as Cantor
and count numbers to i nfinity. The part has become superior to the whole.
Every engineer grappl i ng with new projects has experienced thi s math
ematico-ontological drama, and many, l i ke Cantor, have been scarred
by it.
Stabi lized state
Complicated
Intermediaries
/ k / o 1 J | | C | ' S T A GE
Instabilit
Complex
Mediators
Fabrication
Means
Counts as 0 or 1
Part inferior to the whole
Flow chart
Research
Ends or means
Counts as 0 or infinity
Part equal to, inferior to, or superior to
the whole
Labyrinth
We were now advancing with infnite care, for without warning
any subprogram of the CET might become a trap door into a dungeon
where no one would ever find us. While the engineers were plunging
into the mud of the 1 984-1 987 construction site, we ourselves were
plunging deeper and deeper, throughout 1 988 , looking for the subpro
gram where Aramis had been lost. I did not yet know that my mentor
was going to get lost along the way before I did.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
l'ee oeo o|o'peopeco~~ed ee, :od M. |o|||e, c|o|dg ||e
p/ogo o| ||e //o: :y:|e copc|e/:.
Ad |ose sxco~c|esvee as'|'e oes eoc' co co|edooood|cs|
ooso'|'eoooo||ccc| oo desc| p| os ' poges'
! s vo .~e s |e po| |o' seos es||o d ges| |s |e oes| sy|es s, | s
vo' ~oes | poss o' e |o dov cp |e spec | co| os ' | s oov ocs y vey
co~p ex
As |o cs, ve d d| ove o oveo vev o| |e | g. \e vee oy
co||oc|o|s `o~o' y vee |e co|oc| g oc|o|y od ve ov vo|s
go g o de|o , oa| |s cose, v |' Ao~ s, ve d d|
ov edgevos so~ev'o|opoqce
cve/o|o d d|'oveo veyc'eop c|ac /o'o scoco'oc|ed o o|o|
vo |o so||woe oc|||s
|'e ed, | eveyoody vos |eod g vo'e Hesdes, so|'vo|e s
oos|oc|, ooody ovs ov |o deocg ' vey ve \ es, cooes, eoys,
|| s c secc|yo ''o|, vee |o~ ' o v' \eve oee pe|ec| ~g poce
dces |o cecs g c |cc |s |o| o .ded yeos, |s o ~o|'e o| ~o|eo s H.'
so||vo|e- |s co|coce|e \evee o pe|\ ~cc gop g |e do
/ .`. ^| O / | L ' 1 ` 1.^ '

\'o| ' |c s s |o| |e ^o||o eg cee|s vee |eod cg vo|e so 'ey

vou|d|go under." co. |
Thanks to computers, we now know that there are onl y di fferen
ces
of degree between matter and texts.
We knew perfectly well that a black box i s never really obscure but
that i t i s always covered over with signs. We knew that the engineers had
to organize thei r tasks and learn to manage the division of thei r l abor by
means of mi l l i ons of dossiers, contracts, and pl ans, so that thi ngs wouldn't
all be done i n a slapdash manner. Nothi ng has a bigger appetite for paper
than a technology of steel and motor oil. We were well aware that they
had to draw, cal culate, antici pate the shape of each piece on pl ans and
blueprints; we knew that every machi ne i s first of al l a text, a drawing, a
cal cul ation, and an argument. No machi ne without a design department;
no huge machi ne without a huge design department. We were wel l aware
that mechani sms are saturated with i nstructions for usi ng them, with tech
ni cal notices and mai ntenance di agrams that make it possible to read them
l i ke a book. Every machi ne is scari fied, as it were, by a l i brary of traces
and schemas. We were well aware that thousands of si ghti ngs, "l ooks,"
sensors, feelers, si gnal s, alarm bells make i t possi bl e to transcribe by sight
on a control panel what the mechani sm seal s up. No machi ne without its
control panel .
But we sti l l thought, i n spite of everythi ng, that the agents mobi l ized
by machines eluded forms and programs. We thought there was a frontier
beyond whi ch one really moved i nto matter, that inert and cold stuff,
functional and soulless, whi ch earned the admi ration of materi al i sts and
the scorn of the humanists. But no, cal cul ators continue to accumulate layers
of forms and di agrams, addi ng them to other forms and other masks, hal f
spi ri t and hal f matter, hal f i mpri nt and hal f text, without our ever crossing
the famous barrier between si gn and thi ng, between spirit and matter.
Thanks to mi croprocessors, we know that "processes" proliferate constantly
at al l levels, from the infinitely l arge-organizations-to the i nfi nitely
smal l-electrons. I n fact, ever si nce a l i terary happy few started tal ki ng
*See P. J. Booker, A Histo
r
y of En
8
ineerin
8
Drawin
8
(London: Northgate, 1 979) ,
and the fascinating testimonies offered in . Robbins, cd. , Why Architects Imu (Cam
bridge, Mass . : MIT Press, 1 994) .
/ / ' /' ' | . ' ' ' / |
about "textual machi nes" in connection with novels, it has been perfectly
natural for machi nes to become texts written by novelists who are as bri l l i ant
as they are anonymous. Programs are written, chi ps are engraved l i ke
etchi ngs or photographed l i ke pl ans. Yet they do what they say? Yes, of
course, for al l of them-texts and thi ngs-act. They are programs of action
whose scriptor may delegate thei r realization to electrons, or si gns, or
habits, or neurons. But then i s there no longer any di fference beteen
humans and nonhumans? No, but there is no di fference between the spi ri t
of machines and thei r mater, ei ther; they are souls through and through,
and the gai n makes up for the l oss. The di sorder that i s wiped away on
one si de by descri bi ng the tasks meti cul ousl y i n neat l ogi cal trees turns up
agai n on the other si de, among the programmers, who are having as much
fun as a barrel of monkeys, shooti ng themselves i n the foot, di vi di ng up
tasks accordi ng t o procedures that can't be described, for their part, i n
neat logi cal trees.
If we were going to have to add the proliferation of chips and
computer program lines to the multplication of flow charts and the
shambles of the muddy construction site on the boulevard Victor, I
really could no longer see how we were going to get rid of all these
hordes so as to do their sociology and pronounce anything like a clear
judgment on that chaos.
"That's precisely the problem, the key to the puzzle. Were they
able to keep body and soul together? That's really the issue. If so, Aramis
lives. But if body and soul, the social and the technological, are
separ
ated, then it will die, " said Norbert. I was not reassured.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
M. Alexandre, head profect engineer under Freque, is speaking at Motra
headquarters:
\ec ve s|o|ed ;Q |e c!, evey| g vos ev. As |o os o' |e
s|odo|d oeos ve|, z,c os |e |ocs o| |oe o' cg s|oc, es|cc|o|e
co|oc|co'| ~e|oo equi te c'osey, ve vee|o||cy~oe|o o |evvees
o| ~o|s
- k /N o /1 1 l | ' 1- ' c
As|o|e oc|o~o| o, I ogee v|' 'o|| ||e ve go|o |'eoe d, odve
o|ced | g|ovoy.
As eo'y os |e secod ~ee|g v|~ !e A!, ve od 'os| goad \e
cdees|~o|ed |e co~p ex |y o| |e oa|o~o| o vo'ved
Hesdes, |vosd|| cJ ||o | d |eo~s o| To; ve 'od !|oco es| c g |o |e
po.
l'e s |||o d g|o |ec'o'ogy ~ode| gs ~oe co~p co|ed \| \A.,
|oo, |eevosso~eo|'o', oc| ess\A.os | cs csecc|y o ' oeosdovs
oeooyzed, od os sooos|'ees o oeodovc , \A.de|oc |s |o seca |y
~ode \| \A., |eeso speed pogo~ csc oedo |e|oc \A. eods |,
oc|doe: | |ov v'o| |s eod g
\|! Arami s it was ~cc' ~oeco~pex
\||'e^., 'e |ac|oo' eedsoed ||ee~| lecoso|e |oco|zed
o |e ||oc !eyve co~~ ||ed |o ~e~oy|e vo o|s o|'e e* od o|
|e ed o| |'e ' e |'ey ge| o:/ge|:, o| e'se oy voy of |e UC1, |'e
|o||ccoc|o' J | , ||eye |o|d, `oce |e ~eod o| |e |o , so |ey |ose o '
|o||ooccoc', |eysov | , od|ey o|e o dec:o, p cs|ey~oyo so
copoo|e so|e|y cos!o |s
Ao~ s, ''eeo epe~ ss veodope~ssvezoesI f |'epossege
pocs o pe~ ssve .oe, |e |o s|ops od |e doo s e'eosed
ope~ssvezoe,o |ce |oexo~p e, |e|o | s|goes ooc|oos|o| o
l' s sd ||ee||o~\A., oecocse| ~eAo~ scocooepecseyoco|ed,
ve|eosv|\A., ves ~pyov|~o'|s sac~odscc'osec|o, oc|vee
exoc|yve co| soy.
!o|sv'o|sso c eveoooc|''e ^.!~eve c eco cc o|es|e pos|o
o||e oe oeod, |co cao|es |sovc oc' co' s o d.s|oce. | | | 'os' oee
|o'd |o o cpv| o |o , |s|ops
| |os oee |od |o o cpv |o |o , |os||e g|| |ooppooc od
!o o.~p . g!|y . !o |'eco|oeod!~o!sv'o!!~e loroussocooso.oe|s
oe|o| |s o pysco' cos'|o ||s o| o g|| |e co ge|s !'ees ovoy,
v| |e e|es | ~eo' oved, |o ge| o ' scpv|oc|o oc~p, oc| |s o vey
s~o' ' o' |o||'ee ~e|es pesecod
!esocoosooevos ve|ed oecocse 'eycoc d| ge||o|o o| co
s o |s ev|oo e, yoc co|evede~ocs|o|ev| co cc' o| os'o| |coc'd
oeovoded' Adoyvoy, ''epossegeco pc'cpv '!,|eoyo'|eo|ve
*For example: "A curve, slow down to 20 kilometers per hour; a straight line,
accelerate to 30; a merge zone, watch out."
_

/
_
'

'

1

1

s|os ovdov |e ^cps, o|o speod |'e~oveccdedso|~e|e|s so|,

vevee oc' ged |oco~e'o |e|~sv ||ese' ||e ca~ps see''o|o l -j
'o, c|oc|, ve od |o eyocg eg eesod co o so||voeco~po
es.\ed d: ove|'e~opove| c'ocse|odo'A`^o^d Ao~ sco|
'Az^ s oo|'e s|oy oy, |e p c. p e s s ~p e Yocve go| o
|ccc| oco s||gcoded s x|eec o|sv|'ou|secc|ycod cg, p' csoco|e|s|cg
cv c|'e |o~o|o scoded !eescoedcdocy, vedoc |docc ecp
oc co~pa|es, ve Js| edo o ' |'e co cc' o| os po|o ' e , ocd | |e :vo
co cu' o| ocs do | ogee, |e secc|y sys|e~ |eqa es |e |ccc| oo sys|e~ |o
s'c|dov !esecc|ysys|e~ osp o!y.* T' ss |eocseop|. o^, |sope
|o d sccss o . ' oc v ev, e'y g oc |ee co~pc|es ocd o :oo vo|e
doesc|povdeocy ~oesecc|y|occod g Hc||'o|so p|oc'e~o|e g o^,
' ~ ^o| co~pe|e|| o, cdge ' ||eyd |od ~e | o~oe | edcdo|, ' voc'd
'oveopeed ~y c~ce o od so d, \yco|- o. z'j
Technological mechani sms are not anthropomorphs any more than
humans are technomorphs.
Humans and nonhumans take on form by redistributing the compe
tences and performances of the multitude of actors that they hold on to and
that hold on to t hem. The form of Arami s' shock absorbers i s a compromise
between what Arami s can know-the speed and position of mobi l e units
and what humans can stand without di scomfort-shocks of less than three
meters per second. let us note that here humans are being treated as
objects that do or do not resist shocks, whi l e non humans are granted
knowledge, rights, a vote, and even refreshments. The shock absorber
absorbs a certai n defi ni tion of what can be done by the humans and
non humans that i t bumps and that it i s charged to l i nk gently together.
Anthropomorphi sm purports to establ i sh a l i st of the capabil iti es that
define humans and that i t can then project through metaphors onto other
bei ngs-whales, gori l l as, robots, a Macintosh, an Arami s, chi ps, or bugs.
The word anthropomorphi sm always i mpl i es that such a projection remai ns
*The functional s\sIcm sends orders for movement. The security system checks
to see if these orders ar correct y comparing them to the orders it ha i its memory.
This amounts to doing the calculations twice - --the first time oQenlyg the second time
n coded IOrm andcOmQrtn_ thcrcsuts. If thcrc is thcsI_htcstdUCrcncc between
the two strings of calculations, the functional order is not carried out.
A R A MI S AT T H E e E T S TA G E
i nappropriate, as if i t were cl ear to everyone that the actants on whi ch
feel i ngs are projected were actual l y acti ng i n terms of di fferent compe
tences. If we say that whales are "touchi ng, " that a gorilla is "macho," that
robots are "i ntelligent," that Macintosh computers are "user friendly, " that
Arami s has "the right" to bump, that chi ps have "a maj ority vote, " and that
bugs are "bastards, " we are sti l l supposing that "in real ity, " of course, al l
thi s fauna remai ns brute and completely devoid of human feel i ngs. Now
how could one describe what they truly are, i ndependently of any "projec
tion"? By usi ng another l i st taken from a di fferent repertory that i s projected
surreptitiously onto the actants. For exampl e, technomorphi sms: the whal e
i s an "automaton, " a si mpl e "ani mal-machi ne"; the robot, too, i s merel y a
si mpl e machi ne. Man hi mself, afer al l , far From having feel i ngs to project,
i s only a biochemical automaton.
We gi ve the i mpression, then, not that there are two l i sts, one of
human capabi l ities and one of mechani cal capabi l ities, but that l egitimate
reductionism has taken the place of i nappropriate anthropomorphi sm. Un
derneath projections of feel i ngs, i n this view, there i s matter. Some even
go so far as to cl ai m that projections shoul d be Forbidden, and that only
designations should be al lowed. No more metaphors. Fi gurative meani ngs
go i nto the wastebasket; l et's keep onl y proper meani ngs.
But what can be sai d of the followi ng proj ecti on: "The chi ps are
bugged"? Here i s a zoomorphism-bugs-projected onto a technology.
Or thi s one: "The gori l l a is obeying a si mpl e sti mul us-response"? Here a
technobiomorphism-the creation of neurol ogists-is reprojected onto an
ani mal . Or thi s one: "Chi ps are onl y el ectron trajectories"? Here we have
a phusi morphi sm projected onto a technol ogy. But what can we say about
the Following sentence: "Arami s can bump i f it wants to; it's not a right that
i t i s given"? I s thi s an anthropomorphi sm? Do rights come from human
Feel i ngs? From nature-phusi morphi sm? From gods-theomorphi sm? And
what do you know, here we are i n the mi ddle of a philosophical quarrel.
The engi neers are right i n the mi ddl e of it when they hesitate between their
vehicl e's "you can" and "you must, " and when they decide that human
security "has priority" over "the functional , " i n cal cul ations and decisions.
What? Could they be moral ists, theologi ans, j uri sts, these poor engi neers
who are said to be pigheaded cal culators (a zoomorphism and a techno-
*In French, computer chips are designated by a diferent zoomorphism, pucc:
("feas") .
/ | / N| o /` | z . 1 o 1/ ' c
morphi sm) ? Let us say that, in their workshop as everywhere else, form i s
i n questi on, that there i s never any projection onto real behavior, that the
capabi l ities to be distributed form an open and potentially infinite l i st, and
that it i s better to speak of (x)-morphism i nstead of becomi ng i ndi gnant
when humans are treated as nonhumans or vi ce versa. The human form i s
as unknown to us as the nonhuman.
" You're going to make some friends among the human-rights
crowd, Norbert, not to mention the technologists . . . And if we don't
know what form humans take, or things either, how are you going to
come up with your fnal diagnosis? And we've just about run through
all the suspect phases. The CET is shaky, but all CETs are shaky, as I
understand it; that's what they're set up for, as centers for technological
experimentation. "
" It all boils down to knowing whether Aramis, as they say, keeps
its promises or not. If it keeps them, it continues to exchange properties
and competences, and it comes into existence. If it's shaky, that doesn't
matter, so long as they continue to exchange forms and in that way
give body to their dreams. "
We attacked the last phase once again i n order to find out how
well Aramis had kept its promises. " There's the beast all laid out, " we
thought as we unfolded the huge sheets of the volumes of technological
specifications, page after page.
"They've never showed ths," Norbert sai d, whistling in admira
tion. " It's Victor Frankenstein's workshop, it's the making of the creature
itself! And look how Shelley was wrong again. Crowds, more crowds.
And in her novel she describes only one tete-a-tete between Victor and
his disgusting anthropoid! A technology isn't one single character; it's
a city, it's a collective, it's countless. All of Germany and Switzerland
together would have been needed to keep Victor's awkwardly stitched
together creature in existence. Look at all these people! And this is just
an attempt at a prototype. It' s only the sketch of the head of a line. It's
missing the arms, the trunk, and the feet [Fgure 1 1 J. "
I was less intrigued than Norbert by this plunge into the CET's

_
____
_

_ -A-R A I. _AJH ; C E T S T AG E
PIaorm
Substation
Station
Plaorm Z
_ |'' vC|<snC

|Qo e | |
Convergent
Exterior track: 996 meters
Interior track: 604 meters
Radi us of smal l l oop: 1 0 meters
Divergent
Contractor's bUilding

technological documentation, because it was fnally beginning to resem
ble what I had learned in school .
" And look," he added, " no matter what page we unfold, it's as
complicated, as populated as the others, no matter what the scale. Up
here it's the boulevard Victor. And down below, it's the inside of a single
pair of cars. Each time, it's a squeeze. Six complete computers con
nected by a communications loop where as many things are circulating
as on the loop up there, on scale one. A single pair of cars is as
complicated as the system as a whole. And now each packet of bits on
the internal circuit is a pair to be identifed, "ith which to encode, to
locate. Here's the title we ought to use in our report: Crowds Press onto
the Boulevard Victor-Frankenstein!"
I understood the problems now, but I also saw why the engineers
were in their element.
" And even so," I explained gleefully, "we're not taking into
account the flow matrices, wit 600 pairs of cars for 1 4,000 passengers,
that the real system would have had if i t had existed. The whole CET
is only one little pair-nothing at all in comparison with the entire
Petite Ceinture system" [Figure 1 2].
" What crowds, what crowds! " Norbert exclaimed naIvely. And
now that they've been taken on, they mustn't be abandoned. Was Shelley
/ | / ^| . /1 1 ' c ' c O 1 /!|
Onboard control uni t (emergencyl
On board
control unit
Transmission Safet
Functional
r| Qc| o | ..
Electronic activator control :
a wheel, a brake,
a steeri ng mechani sm,
two doors

completely wrong, then? Did she lie about the way the monster was
made, as well as about Victor's crime? There's the hidden staircase, " my
mentor added.
" If I 've understood correctly, Matra chose to organize four levels,
four ranks, four classes. "
" You see, what did I tell you? Doesn't Matra have its sociology,
its political philosophy, its Weltanschauung?"
" If you insist," and I explained to him what I had understood.
" Level I : the pairs of cars, which not only serve to move passen
gers about by replacing people's physical strength by a motor, but on
which automatons also embark. These automatons are the UGEs (on
board control units) , which replace the driver.
" Level I I : the tack, which serves not only to transmit a powerful
electric current-high tension to make the variable-reluctance motors
work-but also a weak current, which makes it possible to create a
platform for communicating with the UGE.
/ k / /| ' -1 1 | | 1 ' 1- ' |
" Level III: the fixed equipment, each unit taking care of a sector
and a station. This equipment serves as intermediary between the
mobile units and the command post, and has to sort things out locally
in order to solve most problems without making everything go back
to the top, which would go crazy if that happened. "
"They're missi dominici.
"
" If you insist on your political metaphors. Level IV: finally the
head, the central command post, which sees, understands, feels, de
cides, acts, orders, and manages the entire flow, but which would crash
if all the information from each mobile unit were to come back to the
center. Here's what we've got," I sai d, unfolding a new plate {Figure 1 3].
" Terrific! " Norbert said. "There are human beings only at the two
ends: in the pairs of cars, there are passengers carried away with
enthusiasm; in the Central Command Post (PCC) , there are operators
who steer and drive. Between the two, in the mobile units, on the
tracks, along the sectors, everything is done by nonhumans-but by
tens of millions of them. And these nonhumans have names and capa
bilities; they're human parts. Now don't tell me tat's not a fne piece
of anthropomorphism! "
" What's funny i s tat the PCC can't be a dictatorship, and here
the political metaphor holds up, because as I understand it, there's no
way for a human being both to control 660 pairs of cars and to steer
them by remote control . It would be like driving 660 cars at a time
without an accident. In any event, even if the PCC were made up of
Formula One drivers like Alain Prost, you can't transmit enough
information in both directions fast enough to react at 50 kilometers an
hour and at a distance of 1 0 centimeters. You need a minimum of
democracy- -that is, delegation of tasks : the mobile units have to fend
for themselves, in part. "
" Ah! You see! So this time we're doing politics again for real
politics in things. I 'm playing the dictator, you're playing the democrat,"
said Norbert, whose choice did not surprise me.
And we replayed the software in order to test Aramis' viability.
/ / /v | o / | l | | C ! o / c
| , ONBOARD
EQUIPMENT
2. TRACK
EQUIPMENT
j EQUI PMENT
I NSTALLED
BY SECTOR
A. EQUI PMENT
AT CENTRAL
COfMAND
||Qu |o | J
Direction of movement
Pair of cars I n) Pai r of cars I n- ) )
Upstream
high-frequency
,. link
x
Ultrasonic
short-distance
l i nk
Z
T s rae
/
T",",;;-at
t
'

Sector boundari es
Sector-and station-control uni ts
Other control units
eam
and
eam
Sector control Station control

upstr

downstr
Telesurveillance
of trains and control units;
cable transmission;
remote control
r
Sound system
|LL
I
Telesurveillance;
Video

stationary equip ment

Consoles
Computers
POST
[DOCUMENT]
Organizati on of the "automatisms " subst at i on :
3. 2 . 1. The Onboard Equipment
-An outboard control uni t ( UGE) provides for the func
t ions of safety , driving, and supervi sion within each car .
ME; " I go too fast---you can't send me enough information fast
enough. You have to l et me have an autonomous personality. I have to
drive myself."
H M; "Well then, take care of things yourself, if you're so smart.
A R AM I S AT H ' C E T S T A GE
But since you're not human, I 'd be surprised if you were capable of
doing much. "
A pa i r of cars ha s two redundant UGEs , one per car .
ME: " If one of them breaks down, the other one takes over. I am
a pair of nonhumans. Pilot and copilot. I 'm not asking you for very
much; that's the condition for being autonomous. "
HM. " Okay, but two nonhumans don't yet make one human. "
-An electroni c interface LeLweer the UGE and the subsys
tems to be controlled :rthe car ( doors , brakes , t raction,
steering) called an ECA [ el ectroni que de comande des actu
at eurs ( electronic activator control)
ME: " No one will open the doors; it's too dangerous-someone
nonhuman has to open them. No one will put on the brakes-someone
nonhuman has to put them on and make sure they're working in synch
with the car's speed, so they won't take hold too violently. No one wil l
check to make sure the motor follows suit and idles-someone non
human will have to check i t. No one will be there to say whether or
not the onboard steering is on the correct side --someone nonhuman
will have to say it. And all those someones- me, them, him, it,
someone-have to calculate fast and have to be checked themselves by
the UGE, which is the onboard conscience. "
HIM. " Conscience! You're not afraid of a thing! Computo ergo sum. "
MI: " Yes, but that ought to please you, Norbert, for I 'm becoming
" someone.
HM: " Watch out! It's us, it's I who make you become someone. "
ME: " It comes down to the same thing. In the end, I am someone,
since I am the origin of my own actions. You let me be the origin,

,

/

/

/
,,,
granted; but then it's no longer you, it's me. The ties are cut, the
delegation is irreversible. "
HM. " Well see how long you hold up on your own . . . and how
many Matra engineers you 11 need to set you up as the origin of your
own actions. "
-Three antennae controlling the various ground contacts :
one digital-emis sion antenna; one phonic-emis s ion antenna ;
one general-reception antenna .
HM. " He's arguing over the senses I 'm supposed to endow him
with! Shelley didn't anticipate this in her novel . She gave him eyes and
ears, arms and hands-that's all; she didn't have much imagination. She
didn't have any antenae, or ground platforms, or activators, or vari
able-reluctance motors. And what about consciousness? Victor bestows
it on his monster with a single gesture, without meeting any resistance,
without realizing that consciousness is gradual , that it can come in bits
and pieces, as redundancy, self-diagnosis, feedback. There's nothing to
be gotten from literature, clearly," said Norbert.
As a good engineer, that's what I had tought all along, but I'd
kept it to myself.
ME. " I don't want to be a monad set up with enough refnements
to carry out my program with no communication with the outside
world. I don't want to be either programmed or solipsistic. I would
become dclocalized. I would no longer know if I were head of the train
or the caboose; I wouldn't know what the others were doing, or even
who I was. If I were a ballistic missile during a nuclear war, every effort
woul d be made to isolate me and to create within me te environment
of
total war that would suffce to guide me. But I am not-I must not
be--an engine of death. "
-The phonic wheel s , mounted on the f ront wheel s , and the
sensors of the "traction" subsystem, mounted on the rear
/ M / /l o /' ! | z
r 1 ' 1/ ' |
wheel s, supply information about the distance t raversed
and, through process ing , about absolute speed and accelera
t ion .
ME. "I 'm struggling against myself. That's because I 'm subject to
the principle of relativity. I don't know where I am, or even if I 'm
moving. I have to be given the means to register my displacement, to
keep a trace of it. I need absolute reference points. "
The phonic wheels of each right front wheel are said to be
s ecurity wheel s ( they contain coded informat ion) .
.
ME: " If I begin to exist autonomously, I have to be suspicious of
myself; the phonic wheel might slip, or get stuck, and then it would
send false information which, once processed, would make the UGE
imagine that I 'm going faster or slower, or that I 'm not where I think
I am. All these decisions could lead to catastrophe. So the crucial
information contained in the phonic wheel has to be protected against
betrayal by being encrypted, as in wartime. I protect myself by a double
service of intelligence and counterintelligence. "
HIM: " And all this so you won't have to obey my orders."
MI: " You've missed the whole point, Norbert. You can't give me
enough orders, not fast enough, not in time. You have to let me handle
things on my own. "
HI M. " And j ust how are you going t o do that, now that you've
?
gotten so smart.
This i nformation is a safety measure owing to the physi
cal encoding of the cogged t rack of t he phonic wheel and of a
supplementary sensor, C3 . Every appearance of the t imer sig
nal , C2 , is as sociated with binary informati on supplied by
C2 ; the sequence of these bi ts has to correspond to a code .
/ | / N| o / 1 | : C : 1 o !/ ' c
Encoding makes i t pos sible to detect any reading defect ( an
unseen paras i ti c cog) ; this leads to an exit from the code ,
thus to an alarm. Encoding makes it possible to get a secure
reading of the direction of trave l , supplied by the di rec
tion of reading of the coded sequences . [ p o 4 0 J
HM: " I understand why science fction writers take the easy way
out," exclaimed Norbert, somewhat exasperated, fnally, that I had
become so independent and that some of the technological details he
didn't get came easily to me. "They provide their own fantastic beings,
dei ex machinarum, whereas we see the gods, the little gods, come out
of the machinations. It's a whole lot harder."
An average onboard car-to-car hyper frequency l i nk ( from
u to 3 0 meters ) allows the transmiss ion of digital informa
tion from one pai r of cars to the next ( anticol li s i on mes
sages , alarms , governance instructions for coordinated
t ravel ) .
ME: " Hey, listen, now I need relations with others. I want to be
able to govern them, or to be governed by them. In spite of their good
will and their three antennae, the control units set up on the edge of
te tracks aren't capable of transmitting enough information fast enough
for us mobile units to handle things at high speeds. So we have to set
up direct relationships between ourselves; we have to be able to tell
each other things like, ' You're going too fast, you're going to run into
me, I 'm your boss, you have to go at my speed, watch out, I 'm braking,
careful , I 'm in alert status, pay attention. "'
HI M. " But there 11 be nothing left for me to do. You're stripping
me even of the j ob of setting up interpersonal relationships. What about
the master-slave dialectic? You're going to take that over, too, I suppose?"
I didn't know what that was, but I didn't care, because little by
A R A MI S AT T H E E T S TA G E
little I was becoming the Aramis mohile unit. I understood how it
worked and, like it, I was taking on confdence and personality. I no
longer wanted to be a lowly student constantly lorded over by his
mentor-master. Norbert had been living on my labor for a year, and I
no longer needed his gratitude. I was the one, now, who was dictating
my own technological choices. I had fought hard to win the right to
recognize myself as autonomous. I was no longer afrai d.
-A short-di stance car-to-car ult rasound link ( from 0 to 5
meters ) carries out a di rect measurement of relative dis
t ance between pairs of cars and al so a l lows the recapture of
information that faci l i t ates coordinated t ravel .
ME: " In spite of their good will and their antennae, my hypcrfre
quency links aren't capabl e of transmitting enough information about
the small accelerations of the cars when we have to link up without
bumping into each other too hard. The car that follows has to be
suspicious of the one that precedes. Cars thus have to be endowed with
a means for measuring the distance from one to the next, directly and
locally. Instead of saying slowly, ' I am so-and-so, I am moving at
such-and-such a speed, my acceleration is delta such-and-such, ' the car
tells itself in the third person singular, ' So-and-so is at such-and-such a
distance from mc. ' It says this by cries, echoes, and reception of thc
echo."
HI M. " As always," Norbert murmured, more and more annoyed
by my new self-confdence, " as soon as you have autonomy, as soon as
you have consciousness, you get chitchat. This Aramis car is a real
.
D
magpIe.
-An interphone mechanism provides for bilateral l i ai sons
between users and operators of the PCC ( interphone mode ) and
allows mes sages to be broadcast in cars ( sonori zation mode ) .
HM: " Okay, that's enough. I 'm taking back control o
ver
all your
idiocies in the direct mode, manually, hy voice and hy sight
.
The fun's
over. The passengers and operators have to he able to conn
ect. "
ME. " That's the bilateral component. "
HI M: " But as chief operator I also have to be able
to
address
messages to the passengers, even when they aren't asking
for
anything
and are j ust sitting there without a care in the worl d. "
ME: " No problem-that's the directional componen
t.
I can cer
tainly let you have that, " I said in a conciliatory tone.
3 . 2 . 2 . Track Equipment
This consists essentially of a transmi s s ion module of the
type used in the metro systems in Paris and Lille,
placed in
the axis of the t rack and includin
g the various t r
ans
mission
l oops necessary for the ground-to-car connections ;
-a continuous-broadcast loop serving as suppor
t
for con
t inuous ground-to-car communi cation and program
med
inter
sections that serve to local i ze cars in space;
-a continuous reception l oop serving as suppor
t for con
t inuous car-to-ground information .
HIM: " At least they aren't demanding independence
, a
utonomy,
consciousness, autocontrol , or pronoun forms. They trans
mit,
period,"
Norbert noted with satisfaction.
3 . 2 . 2 . Fixed Equipment . . .
3 . 2 . 3 . 1 . 1 . The UGT ( traffic-cont rol unit ) :
The t rack is divided i nto t ransmi ssion s ectors
with a
maximum length o f one ki l ometer . Each s ector is cont rolled
by a UGT that has five main functions :
-it controls the anticolli sion function between pairs of
cars in the sector and between adj acent sectors ;
it ensures the ret ransmi ss ion of tel emeasurements nO
remote-control instruct ions exchanged between re !' and
/ x / N| o /1 1 | | '
1 o 1/ ' :
the cars located in the sector , as well as t ransmitting
phonic communications ;
i :eg\IaeS the separations , merger s , anU l inkups of
the pai rs of cars ;
-it maint ains survei l lance of the cars present on the Sec
tor, i n order t o supply the PCC with information it can use
immediately to carry out its "vehicle t racking" ;
-it supplies alarm s ignal s t o the PCC plate, in order to
cut off the high-tens ion power supply .
ME: " You have to delegate them something else, otherwise they'll
drown you in information. "
H M: " No, no, that's out of the question. I 'm only delegating the
designation of the head of the line to them. I 'm taking everything else
back."
MF; " You'll never make it. Therel1 be too much information. "
3 . 2 . 4 The Central Command Post
The PCC includes the various elements necessary for the
supervi s i on of the Aramis system and of t he passengers us ing
the system .
It consists o f :
-a computer system
-workstat ions t hat bring together the means avai l able to
the PCC operator s ;
-consoles supplied with functional keyboards and color
video screens that al low the operators to s urvey and modi fy
the technological status of the system' s component s ;
-consoles a llowing video survei l lance o f the stations
and ensuring the various phoni c l i ai sons with the pas sen-
gers . . . ;
-control panels , i ! visual i zation on the consoles turns
out to be insufficient ; these provide operators with a syn
thetic v iew of the system state ( pos it ion of the trains in
/ | / | ` /1 1 | c ' ' 1 ` 1/ ' c
the network) and of the state of the energy-di stributing
equipment ;
-telephone stat ions putting the operators i n contact
with the various operat i onal poles ( workshops , stations ) ,
and, through di rect l ines, with police headquarters, f i re
stations , and the emergency telephone system.
HI M: " Well , here at least I 'm on my own turf. A panopticon,
buttons, calls, alarms, control panels, a command post. It consoles me
for having given you so many rights. Now it's a real general-headquar
ters command post. It's not going to be a question of playing the smart
guy."
W. " You don't realize it, but you're going to break down every
four seconds. Don't forget that you have 660 pairs of cars to manage.
And at the slightest warning I go into security mode and block
everything. You were talking about crowds. Imagine what youl1 get if
we add up all the relationships among all these beings. "
HIM. "It's not possible," Norbert exclaimed, terrifed by a com
plication that delighted me as it had probably delighted the Matra
engineers. " You can't manage crowds like that. You're sure that this is
the price of autonomous existence?"
" Of course; it suffces to make the mobile units more and more
intelligent. You'll seetheyl1 end up managing all those multitudes. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ |o||||e, |/|| egoee | c|oge o| oc|o:o|oo
o'voys|o|ge||o ~e| o |, oecocse |ls|| es~eosse |ev de', oc|eoc
coossesseso /epe:eo|o|oo o| ||e eo|/- |/oc| '| os''e cvo o~|s|sov
J~oe| ' s| o| o , | ovs |o || :, od |' s s coo' ed, ts oee gvec |e
~ox ~c~speed ~|s|o|eoc~ sec| o, | ~ovs 'e po| eso|o 'e s'o| os
|oge'|o soy ', oc| |s s ''e oose ! s s ov | |o: vee .| s
oy, |ese oe |e vo o's, | s s|.|| s e~|eed . |o ~e~o|y oc;eod
|oo
'o, ex|i t eod: |e |o~o' o ~odc e|o|so|e|oc `ee oe|vo
/ | / ^ | ` /! 1 | ` ! '
So it gives
a recal i bration that's
regular but relative, ever
y
2 m. 20 cm.
2 m. 20 cm. 2 m. 20 cm.
J X
50 cm. 60 cm.
0

|| gore | =

*
70 cm.

|
And here the cccode,
i f you like, gives a code, on
absolute measure.
~odc es, e|eece po|sevey z. zJ ~e'es, pe|ec|'y eg. o so os |o 'eep
cecs g|epooc cvoee !'ec|ees|escpp e~c|o|y~oda' e, cocs s| cg
o| eg. o |esec|o~s|o|covey |o~o| o
||: '|e |eodg o oo code-
Yo. ~ g|co' ||oo|, yes, |e|oc so oocode[-e |g.e | 4]
leveo c e|eom: oy |:e||, |o~ |oe |ocs, |o oco!e |se | `o| cg s doe
oye~o|eco||o' ^o||o evevoc|ed |ocsee~o|eco!o|oexo~p e, |o
~ove|oe oco zo|ose|oy |e JC! o |e pee. e~o|e co|o s~cco|oo
do~ge|o.s. !~ecoos|o cov voee | s o |: o
So ||o: |s ov~ de| |y, |ovs |s pos | o, od |o~ !o s | dedcce:
|s ov speed od occe'eo| o A| c|esec| o~s |e s |co| o s ~oeco~p'
co|ed, oeco.se !oe p o||o~ s |e.p|ed So|~eeo|e o 'o|o| ||e poo'e~s
|o oe esoved
|o co s os|, |s o 'oge|e oo eod ec | co oecoe dogeo.:
S.e, oovo.s'y, |e co|co |o'eo|e o ~ s|oe, oecocse | |e cos||o |soe
!oood co , yo. s|op o |e ' ~e od ~o|g vos.
||o~s~ |s!s|'oodo| |o~o|o !o!e .C!|o|ovesees o' |ecos
|ssec|o !e JC!sedsooco |e |o~o|o|o o |ecos, odeocco
A // ' ` ` | l . e f T ' ' ':
I
N Z
O T 5
|| Qute |

Sectorontrol a+ |
e|o: o|y v|o| coce: |:e'|, od v'o| c|o|~s | oooc| |s pedecesso|
l'o|so , | e|s |~ees| go oy
!'ee s o secc||y ~eosce 'ee, o ~o ooe .oc' po o|cossoys,
'ove| ooe c|eogo|ed evey|vo secods |o| | 'eedo| |~eesecocds|'e
UCl os co| c|eogo|ed ~e, | :|op So vey qc cs yyoc eoc' !'e ~ |s o|
e UC!s cooc|y, v c 'oso vey ~|ed oc|cl oy eve| od v' c'
eve|'e'ess ex|edsoveo oHe|e v |o|e| o y dozeso|po |s o|cos
So |epo |s ove |o vo| ||g: oc| oc |'e ov|gce l]
\e' c'e ` ovs |'o|` s o'eod oecocse |'e JC! |o: |o|d | ! s s |e
~o c ooo||eUC' -|o|e ` |'o|Z s |s |oge| ocd |o| ` os|o 'oo c
v |'i t . soy, ` o sosovs|'o| soe' cd, oc| |does|co cco|e|'o|, ''ee
so odeed e'o|ocs' p, |s cp|o |o vos |oc! c |e o|o|o` os` does
c e'o|o |o Z. || co cc' o'es od voss |' cgs ou|. `ex| ' |se| ~oes |e
co' cc o| o oooa||'e apv |' |s|oge|
B.| v|y o| o':o de'ego|e |o ||e ve|c|e ||e joo o| c|oo:g |: ow |oge|-
\oc'd| ||o| oe oe poc|co|-
`o, |'o|s ~poss o e oecocse o| |e |oc ! oooc| | !'e|e oe
ooc' cgs. ov co oe ve c e ovv'e|'e |'e oe o|'eo|'e|oc s
oeod o| |o oe' d- | ovs | 'eoosc sso, | 'exs, ou| ~o| |'e o|d o|e,
t'e ys.
!'evevpo | o| |'e gocd, o||'e ooseveo |'e goLcd=of |'e .C'
iyoc se-s |e oy oe ||o~ v c |e o|oc o| 'oge| co oe dec ded
So| ss|'edeo o ' |e |o~o|o sse||ocg'gocd|oco|osI ss o ,
oc| |e o y e evo| |o~o' o s ||e oge| o| o o'e eyyoc , yoc
e
|e|oge|, co|yoc
Acd|'e|'eco|s|'e~se'vessedeoc'o|'eo ' |'eecessoy |o~o| o0
|'loag' |'e d ec| co|oco 'ype||eqcecy cs ! s oce s e|esed ~cc
/ / | ` /1 ` | c . ! . 1/ ' |
Ordi nate
Viewpoint of mobile uni t
I X
Abscissa
W

Viewpoi nt of seC|o control uni t

|| _.r c | C
~oe o||eevey zJ~ secocdsso | o ovs ~cc'geo|e| esse Hc| os
|ov'e|'eo gve co s |o oe o |oge| o o|, |s |~e JCl ''o| o::g: |e
/o|e, |'o|~oes |~edec s o j|g./e ' O]
'ocg |'|so' eodye|o ' sqc leo|evpoo|e~s, oecocse|'e| ~eeeded
|o eo| ~eco cc' o| os v|~ o' |'ese occe eo|os s o| eosy |o ~o~oge,
od odd | oevey!' cg'os| ooecoded, enc/yp|eo, | oovodeos, 'sos
|eve.y|' g vee oe g doe| ce, oceope yod oce c cyp|c 'o~,
od|'eyoc ~od|oco~poe |'e|vo.
"If |'ey ~o|c', yoc soy, oy, |'e ode co oe coedo;| ||ey do |
~o|c', yo.secdo o o ~, yocscsped |'eoc| oodyoc c'ec''eco cc
o| os
"I n odd |o, |'eeso ~e!'o|ecsaes ''o||'e 'o~o|o .s .pdo|ed, |o
~oeoo.o'.|e ysce|'o||'e |o~o|o sccec|od|o:o | oee |y|og oo.d
|o :eve/o' |':econo: Ha|01 1 |'o| |oes | ~e, spoce, pesoce
^o|o decded|odoo' |'o| l o|s* |ogo speed A|| s||'eys|o|ed
o|' v|' o o |s, oc| |vos |oos ov Hc| v|' l o |s, ''ey co|posso y~ove
secc!y co I , j. -j
*The length of elementary messages. The shorter te message, the quicker the
calculation; hut since, to gain security, the information has to be encrypted in parallel
form, half the bits are needed. If the message is longer, in order to allow security,
the whole set of calculations is slower.
/ | /^ | ` /1 1 ' c ' c ` 1/ ' c
" You think we're going to have to go into the bits?" Norhert asked
me, sounding more and more worried.
" Follow the actors, my dear man, follow the actors. Those are
your methods, right?"
" But the farther we go, the more crowded it is. Every part of the
system is as complicated as the system as a whole. Every plate we unfold
is
itself made up of plates to be unfolded! "
" Pure Borges, my dear mentor. Why let it upset you? You love
literature, after all-and you love folds. "
" I 'm not upset, " he said stifly. "I simply have the feeling we're
getting bogged down. "
" The only question is whether the details are strategic or not. And
these particular ones are important; they're at the heart of Aramis'
autonomy, the adjustable mobile unit. If it can do that, it's an autono
mous being, a real automohilist. It can exist. "
" A heteromobilist, still ; we're the ones who give i t its laws. "
" No, it becomes autonomous for real; we've given it its laws for
all time. "
" But it's like us, " Norbert snapped back furiously. " If we were
characters in novels, we wouldn't escape our author. "
" We would, too, just like Aramis. That's what we used to say when
we were kids: ' You gave it away, you can't have it hack. ' Look, you
taught me yourself, the creature certainly escapes Victor's control , and
the Frankenstein character escapes Shelley to the point where the
monster that was created i s called by the name of the monster who
created i t. "
" But that's j ust the point," said Norbert irritated by my new
mastery of the project. " We know now that Shelley wrote nothing but
lies. None of them can escape on their own. They need a following,
company, a crowd. Even Adam can't go on alone. Even to sin, he still
needs grace. "
Theology allowed Norbert to hide the fact that he had lost his
grip and could no longer write any " sociological commentary, " as he
pompously called it, on what we were discovering.
The next plate administered the coup de grace [Figure 1 7].
A R A M I S AT T H E e E T S TA G E
Phoni c wheel
Coded equi di stant crossings
GROUND
Control
WHEEL
o o
TRACK
uni t
El aboration of
anticol li sion
HF messages
from other cars
messages
TO OTHER
CARS
Functional
i nstructi ons:
Se|v|ce:|op
/ege ceve
Recogni ti on of targets
Abscissa speed target, X l , Vl , X2, V2
Selection HF /GROUND
.-
Xi , Vi
Cal culation of relative di stance: " Xi-X
Determinati on of threshol d: IV " f(, Vi)
Threshold speed: Vi + A\ " V
Compari son of real speed to
threshold speed
V - V threshold
OK
|gllC | Anticollision safety-control principle (Document LB66/ AR/E400
1 8/ 86/SAINT, Figure 4. 4. 2).
The anticol l i s ion system is based on the principle of the
CMD ( adj ustable mobi l e zone ) , which means that the free z one
( the minimum security z one separating two sets of s ucces
sive vehicles) is mobile to the extent that i\ fol l ows
closely t he displacements o f the vehicles ( as opposed to de
tection by fixed sector) and adjustable to the extent that
its length varies as a function of the vehicl es ' speed .
H / ^| O /! T H E e E T ` / 'L
" It 's j ust like in an automobile," I had to explain patiently to
Norbert. " You can follow the car ahead more closely if you're going
more slowly; when you're stopped, you can almost touch i t. With
Aramis, the advantage is to be able to bump a bit, even in motion,
thanks to the shock absorbers. "
This ant i col l i s ion principle leads to ensuring, at the
l evel of the vehicl es , the fol lowing operations :
-absolute and instantaneous measure of the abs cissa and
the speed;
" It's like reading the speedometer M a car, 20 kilometers/hour,
40 kilometers/hour. "
-communication of the coordinates ( abscissa/ speed) of
the target vehicle ;
-cal cul at ion of the relative di stance separating the ve
hicle f rom its target ;
-el aboration of a security speed threshold not to be ex
ceeded, a function of the rel ative di stance and the absolute
speed of the t arget ;
" If you're 1 00 meters away and going 50 kilometers /hour, it's
more dangerous than if you're 1 00 meters away and going 1 0 kilome
ters/hour."
-irreversible emergency braking command i f the speed
threshold is exceeded .
A R AMI S AT T H E e E l S TA GE
" Here deceleration has to be factored in. The faster you go and
the closer you are, the faster you have to slam on the brakes , but you
have to make sure the guy behind you knows you're slamming on the
brakes. You have to warn himit's like the red brake-lights.
To achieve this,
-every vehicle always knows the number of the pair of cars
ahead ( target vehicle) ;
-every pai r of cars measures i ts own abscissa i n relation
to the origin of the sector by count ing the cogs of the
phonic security wheel mounted on every right front wheel .
This measure is periodical ly recal ibrated t hrough detec
ti on of the recalibration intersect i ons , which are evenly
spaced every 2 . 2 meters ;
-every pair of cars calculates its own speed on the basi s
of the count of the number of cogs in the phoni c security
wheel ;
-every pai r o f cars t ransmit s to the ground ( UGT) and to
the rear ( through the average distance car-to-car hyperfre
quency liai son) its own position , its speed, its number , and
its a larms , if any, in the form of a coded mes sage;
-the UGT rebroadcas ts the information received to al l the
pair of cars ;
-each pair of cars calculates the relative distance
( 6x) separating it from the preceding pair through the
di f ference between its own abs cissa and the abscissa of
the target ( transmitted by t he UGT or the hyperfrequency
liaison) ;
-each pair of cars calculates a threshol d speed corre
sponding to a safety z one 1: case of emergency braking;
-each pai r of cars compares its own real measured speed to
the threshold speed . If the former i s higher, the pair or
ders an i rreversible emergency braking action . " [ p . 3 5 ]
/ | / |' ` / 1 | | ! c 1 . 1 /
" And if I give you all that, " asked Norbert feverishly, "you're
autonomous?"
" In any case, I am an automobile without a human driver. Obvi
ously I 'm not all alone. I have the rails, six onboard computers, three
a
ntennae, an encoding service, a decoding service, ten dozen inspec
tors. "
" But then you're moving? You're alive?"
" Let's say that I 'm opening one eye. I 'm stammering. At the
slightest alert, 1 shut down everything and become inert again. 1 fall
into security mode. "
" And the other one, Shelley, with her monster that goes off on
its own to visit Germany and Switzerland without even unhooking its
intravenous tubes! And that learns to read English by studying Milton's
Paradise Lost through a crack in the floorboards! "
" Yes, I didn't want to say anything, Norbert, but that was a little
hard to swallow."
"Are you still as sure as ever that the CET engineers are going
to do away with all those multitudes? If we declare this phase innocent
as well -and this time, you're the one wh011 do it-we have nothing
left to turn to."
"I hope so. In any case, they've done a good job. They're the ones
who've written Paradise Lost. And not in verse. "
" In what?"
" In program lines. "
"We 're going to lose our hides here, " said Norbert, alarmed by
the unanticipated turn I had given to the investigation. " You work on
the techological specifications. I have to "rite the report. "
| ' ' ' | ; C , ' ' 'A '|
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I didn't see Norbert for the next two weeks.
Norbert told me that he'd dreamed he'd found Victor Frankenstein
on an Alpine glacier just when the Creature had finished its horrible
story. And he had interceded on its behalf!
N.H.: "'You're deceiving us, Victor, and you've been deceiving us
for a long time. You bewail your crimes, but you do this in order to
hide another, bigger crime. Your sin is not that you have fashioned the
monster. You created it for its beauty, for its greatness, and you were
right. Your crime does not come from the hubris of which you accuse
yourself; it is not that you played the demiurge, that you wanted to
repeat Prometheus ' exploit. Your crime is that you abandoned your
creation. Were you not the first person it saw when it opened its eyes?
Did it not stammer out your name? Did it not hold out those deformed
limbs toward you? Uwas born good, like you, handsome like you, wise
like you, since you were its creator. Why fee? Why leave it alone, il
adapted to a world that rejected it? That is when it became wicked!
And even now, you turn your eyes away from it. You are horrified by
it, even though it is yourself twice over you in your beauty and you in
your cowardice, you in your marvelous creation, and you again in your
^ ^ | ' / | | | l ' t ` . |
shameful fight. No, your sin is not
that you took yourself to be God,
for God never abandons his creatures, no matter how sinful. He follows
them, sacrifces Himself for them, throws Himself at their feet, sends
them His only son; He saves them. Continual, continuous creation.
Salvifc incarnation. Your inexpiable sin is not that you continued to
play God. You shouldn't have begun in such pride, only to finish with
such pusillanimity. You shouldn't have begun by loving, only to end up
hating so much. Look at the poor thing-horrible, yes, of course it is.
But what is sinful Adam in the eyes of his Creator? A much worse
monster. If you have to expiate something, at least halle the courage of
your own crime; don't hide behind the pitiful excuses of the sorcerer's
apprentice. Your creature didn't escape you, for you and you alone
chased it out of your laboratory. ah, the accursed one who mistakes
the curse! The forked one who turns
away hatred and who continues
to deceive at the very heart of his repentance! Through your fault,
technologies lie accused, abandoned as they are by their creators, by
all the Victor Frankensteins who take themselves to be God on Monday
and ignore their creations the rest of the week. And he preaches mod
esty! 'May his pitiful history, ' he moaned, 'at least serve as a lesson to
all would-be demiurges!' But you're drawing the wrong lesson. It is not
our creative power that we need to curtail; it is our 101le that we need
to extend, even to our lesser brothers who did not ask us for life. We
acquainted them with existence. We n
eed to acquaint them with love.
And what else is it asking you for, the monster that is imploring you to
make him a companion in his own
image, if not for love?'
"Victor, who had been shielding himself from the sight of the crea
ture, lowered his hands and looked at me. Then, slowly, he turned and
looked at the monster lying in the snow. The glacial cold was sus
pended. The two beings, their eyes full of tears, were now looking at
me.
'''Yes: I said, 'it must be done. '
"Victor made a halting gesture of reconciliation and approached the
monster who had lowered its head; he stretched out his hands and his
lips as for a kiss. At that moment, he drew back in horror and, scream
ing, fed once again.
"I remained alone on the sea of lee with the creature. It was my
turn to approach it. It offered me its horrible, pitiful countenance. "
/ / | ; /| ' c | ` `/ ' c
Norbert woke up terrifed.
The next morning, he arranged to take sick leave. As for me, left
to my own devices, I plunged into the CET codes, swimming along
after the Matra programmers and taking as much pleasure in the task
as they had.
/ N| ' 1 1 | | . : ' ' ' ' :
ARAMIS IS READY TO GO
When I went into the laboratory director's lavishly appointed
offce, I knew right away that something was wrong. Norbert H. was
not available, I was told. But given the reputation of the team and the
rapidly approaching deadline, even though my status as a simple intern
made the request unusual, still , the recent discoveries of my professor,
and with all the interview notes it would be easy, and Norbert thought
very highly of me . . . In short, I was going to have to draft the report
myself, in a week's time.
" And since you're an engineer," the director told 1L "I 'd like
you to make a special point of fnding out whether or not it's techno
logically feasible. "
I had to dig back through the fles on my own, and go back over
the transcripts of all ffty interviews. I found out that my professor's
archives were not nearly as well organized as the RATP's.
[ DOCUMENT: RATP, "RAPPORT G
E
N
E
RAL SUR lE D
E
ROUlEMENT DE l' OPERATl ON, "
JANUARY 1 988, P. 53: CONClUSI ON OF THE lAST OFFICIAL DOCUMENT WRI TTEN
AT THE END OF PHASE 4, AFTER THE ARAMI S PROJECT WAS TERMI NATED]
The results o f the CET Arami s-boulevard Victor operat ion
are the following ;
-The team has mastered microproces sor-based aCtomation
techniques as applied t o automated transportati on systems .
This i s the case for the Matra company , which i s currently
us ing a ma j or port ion of the Arami s team for the operat ion of
Line D of the Lyon metro .
-The vehicles , in part icular the P 3 , P 4 , and P 5 proto
types , are nearly ready to go into production . On the whole,
they can be termed a success, pending a few still-needed im
provements .
-The use of Arami s ' variable-reluctance motor
f
approved
by t he RTI , represents an important innovation as a mode of
propul sion .
-The studies and the production o f t he adj ustable mobile
sector carried out during t he Arami s operat i on will be fol
l owed by the refinement of comparable technologies for t he
Lyon metro .
-The studies o f ultrasoni c and hyper frequency t ransmi s
sions may give rise to fut ure developments of interest to
t he world of transportat ion .
In its separate pieces, Aramis is feasible and the engineers are
happy with it, I told myself. The motor, the car, the mobile sector, the
connections - -all these work well and can be used again elsewhere.
Thus, Phase 4 is positive: Aramis is viable, and the dealt has been
upheld. Only one thing left to do-namely, bring together all these
viable elements and get Aramis into production by creating the line of
which the CET on the boulevard Victor is the head. Norbert was on
the wrong track from the very start. Aramis is a fully developed
technological invention abandoned by the politicians just when every
thing was ready for the manufacturing stage. It's a story of the Concorde
variety-technologically perfect, but in need of a massive political push
to survive.
*The traditional subway in the city of Lyon has recently been supplemented by
a new line that is much like the automated VAL.
t
Still i n the contractual sense (the French term used here, marche, CM mean
"market," " deal , " and "contract") .

'

'

_
'

'

_____
[THE SAME DOCUMENT, CONTI NUED]
IV . 2 . 2 . 1 . Functional Observat ions*
IV . 2 . 2 l u I General Framework
The veri f i cations of the funct ional and technological
status of the equipment at the t ime the experiment was termi
nated took place f rom Monday, November 2 3 , I ' c ' , to Tuesday,
December 1 , 1 98 7 , inclus ive ( 8 : 3 0 A. M. -5 : 00 v.. weekdays ) . Of
these seven consecut ive working days, two were neutral i z ed
so as to al low Mat ra Transport to get the P I vehicle t o func
t i on as anti c ipated; despite this addit ional delay and the
initial postponement of the starting date for the t ri als
f rom November 2 t o November 23 , the P I pair of cars was un
able to parti cipate in the tri al s . .
The verif i cations to be carried out by the repre
sentat ives of t he RATP were defined by Matra Transport ,
which prepared documents for this purpose describing t he an
t icipated t rials wi thin the framework of the cod:ci i . There
are f i fteen of these " s tatements . " Each one in fact corre-
sponds to a reduction of the PVRI-the minutes of acceptance
tri al s for proving compl i ance with the specifications set
(cahier d' essais de proces-verbaux de recet t e indi vidu
e11e] . The PVRI , having become statement s by reduction,
were thus insuff icient to " quali fy" t he functions or t he
subsystem . . .
IV. 2 . 2 . 1 . 3 . Results
The veri f i cat ion log intended t o record the conditi ons of
the t rial i s a t rans cript of notes taken on that occasion . It
des cribes i n chronological order the unanti cipated inci
dent s that occurred during the veri fications . .
Without claiming t o deduce f rom these figures anything
other than t rends, let us note that the average t :me between
incidents was approximately ten minutes .
*In the famework of a contract, the contracting authority [maitre d'ouvraBeJ is
required to provide legal verifcation that the commitments made by the contractor
{maitre J'oeuHc] have been carried out. Receipt and homologation are two steps in the
process of legislating the technological capabilities of a transportation system. Verifica
tion is accomplished by contradictory procedures that have to be approved hy hoth
parties.

This figure, in the context of the initial obj ectives of

the contract ( 300 hours f or the complete equipment ) , indi
cates the efforts that would have s t i l l been required to
reach those ob j ecti ves .
IV. 2 . 2 . 2 . Endurance Trials
Adj ust able mobile sector, three pairs of cars . Number of
hours anti cipated : 2 ` ` . Number of hours in YD : o m1nutes .
Number of incidents : 3 .
Function of l inkup, merger, Oeme:ger : with two pairs of
cars . Anti ipated l ength : 4 hours . Duration of the trial :
3 hours I o minutes . Number of hours during which pairs of
cars were in l i nkupy merger, or demerger status : 43 minutes .
Number of incident s : 2 9 . NumLer of successful l inkups com
pared to number of attempts : 6 / 1 3 .
The very high number of incidents shows that the system
was far f rom perfected . . . [ p . 4 6 ]
l . The cost o f the pairs o f cars i s roughl y 3 0 percent
higher than the target figure , whereas there was an al low
ance of 20 perce:lt .
2 . The cost o f onboard automat i on was s igni f i cantly un
derestimated at first ! ` percent ) ; it now represents more
than 28 percent of the cost of the roll ing stock .
3 . The cost o f f ixed automation i s i n l ine with the target
f igures . _ . o2 ;
I don't get it. They've been telling us all this time that Aramis
feasible, yet three pairs of cars can't hold the road together for more
than fifteen minutes, and even so thev stop three times, and the security
. .
systems aren't in place! And it was going to take 600 of them to outft
the Petite Ceinture! It's the story of the guy who wants to go to the
moon, who climbs up a stepladder and is sure he's on the right track,
because " all that's left to do is extrapolate. " When there's enough food
for three, there's still not enough for 600, barring a loaves-and-fishes
miracle. But if the extrapolation from two to 600 is impossible, then
/|/^' S ' S F A D Y | |A_W A ______

it's not like the Concorde. And there are the skyrocketing prices! Still,
the conclusion of the contradictory report is positive. Ah, now I
understand why it's called a "contradictory report"
. . *
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ |o.e, on po|on| |ec|no'ogco| dec|o o| ||e |/|| |seosyecocg'
|o s'ov |'o| |s |eoso' ev |' |'eecos, oc| |s o co~p'e|e'y d ||ee~| ~o||e
|o soyv'e|'eo o| | co oe podcced ocd ~p' e~ec|ed \es|o'edv ''
ogoodoc|o~o| osys|e~, v!'|'e|vopo |o c, ocd '~oeo 'essvo|ed
v|' |'ee
\e |o'd ocse'ves, |so ~os||'ee, yes, oc|v'evego| o'' ^g |vos
v |'oc|sole'y
~eosces, od v'e ve odded |'ose
vevee |'e ~oco'
~ode, o|oc|o~o|c | so|'eso~e|' cg.
!'e| s|p'ose~oyoe ~ s' eod g ^o|o e' edo~ |o 'o|, ~oeove |
voso' ~os|eody I 'od|o| g'||oeep|'ecod c ' |o~ dec' o g|'o||vos
o~o' ogo|ed
' |oc|, |'e cod c ' vos o d sos!e ^o|o vo|ed |o |c ove |'e sey, ve
css|ed oc v cd cg|' gs cp pope'y 'ove|o soy |'o|^o|o o'so ~ode |
o po | o| 'oo |o go |c|'e, |'ey s|opped o .ece~oe 1 l s|eod o|
`ove~oeJJ
Hc' | o' 'y, |'ey d d| o cg o||| 'ede~os|o| oc ' peso^o' ' y ~ss|ed o
see g |'ee po so| cos cc g |oge|'e. ''eyvoc' d 'ove ye'ed, oooy
|o cs' !'eyd d|'e oes|, |'ey d d ! ~oe
Hc| || |o po:, ||ey oc|eved o good |eve| o| |e|oo|||y !~ey |os
po|ed C' oc od Ho' 'odc, v |'oc|s'ess g |'eso|e'y ssce. `
B.| n yo./ j.dgen|, o: | |ec|no|ogco||y voo|e-
!'eevos|'eco~p' e|e|ec' co' evevo| l -o z-oJ, ve'odcocc'cded
|'o| |vos v oo e I co| ce |o |' s|'o| | s, oc| o ~e |o~e|'o| 'ove
|oco'e ex|opo' o|god oyvoy, |s o ' cxcy sys|e~, |s |'eCocode o|
pco' c|ocspo|o|o .
.e|ssoy||ee ee no |oc|o: pec|cdng |'eexs|ecceo'Ao~ s, !'o|vos
|'eop oo||'e|ec'o'ogyco~~ ||ee\ecoc' dc|see|~ee^dol|'e|.ce ,
oc|e |od no eo:on |o ||n| ||o| | o:n| ||ee
!'e poo'e~ s |'o| eve | |'eyd go||e o ex|ecso, ^o|os d ec|os
voc' d ' 'ove goce o, |'eyd 'os| 'ees| |'e po'e~ Hc 'des 'ove o
s|o||e~ v s| o As ' og os |'ee oe o p' os|o ||e | e, ' ~ o| go g |o
ves| Ao~ s|'o|sv'o||'ey vee|e g||e~se ves co ']
He continues to think that it's feasible, even if he's less than
enthusiastic, so maybe I was right. But even if Aramis has been perfected
technologi cally, it's too expensive, and in any event the manufacturer
in charge of producing it didn't give a damn. A peculiar Concorde.
What does it mean exactly, something that's doable and that isn't done,
that nobody wants to do, that nobody can do, that nobody knows how
to do, that nobody can afford?
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^. /|eono|e, ^o|o: |eoo o| ||e C|, :peo|g o| ^o|o |eooqco|e:
|o~|c' y |o `o.e~oe, ved ~ode so ~cc~ p|ogess, ve vou'd ove
go||e ||ee, I do | sov ov og | vocd ~ove |ose, o v'o|ve vocd
'ove ceeded !eso||.oe vosex|e~e'yco~p ex, oc|o||e~odvoe eve
ve d| d| |ove ~ory .e|oo| |||y poo e~s \e vocd ove co.|ed ou| '|e
co|oc| |e 'og uc
'o, o yo. |eo| o| |eo|: . -
\evoc d'ovego||e|e|e, oc|| |voc'd'ovecos|~oe| |o|voc1 o
|occs .
'o |: o ||||e ||e ||e Concooe, |ype:|o|eo||neo|, |eo:o|e oc| :|
co:|e||ec|ve-
Yesod o \e coc d ove pc ed |o|| i f ved oee ~o|ede'e~ ed
\e soc d |ove 'ooed |o oc| e|s |'o|vee ess so've^| oc! ~oe po | co'
\es'o. d |oves|o|ed c ^oc|pe e, |o exo~p' e, ve s'oc d 'oveexpe
~e|edco~~ec. o' yod ~oved |o|e oo|o cs g ~c'|co|||o sod .os
\e s|oc' d ~ove |oec o ~oe godco oppooc|
Hc||eC.!goo' svee|oo | g d
!e ~ec|o s~ |o ~o |eo^ce scppo| vos o cxcy* | cocse |e
so||voe co. d do |e d ogos s, oc' |s oco|~e| ~o|e |o go |o~ |~ee |o
*Autodiagnosis would have led to a reduction of the enormous maintenance
tasks involved in Aramis, once the system was built.
'ov g eoc| co soy, 'ees ||e poo e~, |ees v'ee ' ~ |oJo'e \e
d d|soy so |o ||e A!`, o.|ve |'ocg~'|'o|vos cseess p. 1 1 ]
`o. oc'd |ove goe |c||e | yo.d oee oo'e |o eego|o|e ||e coo
|~c|-
Yoc |ove |o see ''o| |'ee vos |' s ogoc zo| oo ooscess, ~eoc |' s
ogo zo| o^o ospec|\ecoc d|ove'e doc|oeoc||uc|ov |'oc|degod
^g |, oa| oy|o g |'e oo!|o~ o||~e ceevey| ~e|o oosoo, |oexo~p e,
^o|pe e s 'Jcos od o' y o|e~ov ^g|o'|e 'e||e Ce!ues JJ o
exo~p e, |ve d oee~ ooe |o~ove|o zJJ~ secod apdo' g ocd eove
|o||'o|, vecoc d 'ove 'od 'esssop s|co|ed so||voe, od |'o|voc d 'ove
o oved as |o do Ao~s, ved ~ove oee dovgod g, e ox g |'e coc
s|o |s.
\e' , ' coc d evege| `o o| j|s oppos|e .oe o| ||e |/||] |o ogee
|o|~o| \e' e|e|o|'eco|oc!v'ec yocsee .s eo' ygoo|||e deep ed,
yoc e'o d g cpo gaodo ' , oc|v' e|| gsoego go' ogo~o yyoc
|oge| |'o|od ve ~ooge| ~ gsv|| o ce|o o~oc| o|| ex o ' ly
Hc||'e A'` gcys 'od |~e ~pesso |'o|ve veeco~s!o| yoocs d g
e'o|o |o | |eooec|ves o z'|
^o|o: ^ |eqce
.e|~es|ovyocso~e|' g|'o|v' ~e'pyoa cdes|o~d jsee |gce | o.
|coJse |so o|exoggeo|ed, oc|oc|co y|| gso'|e go se|'o| \y
doso~e|' gs ~p ev|eyocco^ doso~e|' cgco~p co|ed-
!'e Al' vos o voys os g |o so~e|| g s g'|yex|ovogo! Yoa s|o|
v|' so~es ~p' edoodod, eosy os p e, o~d yoc ed cp ovespecf g, yoc
ge|so~e|' g |~o| soys ^o~~y, .oddy, oc| |oovocs ycos|s ~oe
Hesdes, yeo|, |~ s s eo' y c oss c, |'eevos o'voys so~eoody v'od
soy, \edd |~o| . ' e , |vos |eo~ ca |ce 'oo|s co.||o so~e|| cg os
ve o |
Yet another interpretation! It was almost perfected technologi
cally, or at least i t all could have been i f the RATP hadn't insisted too
rigidly on impossible constraints. Yet then what they would have per
fected wouldn't have been Aramis, but something else, an Ara-x! The
operating agency says it's feasible but claims the manufacturer has
abandoned the baby. The manufacturer says a different Aramis was
1 . What M. Brun needs; what he
chooses.

o M. Cheval : "Di d you choose a model

that's safe and easily di smantl ed?"
5. M. Lefrere : " Isn' t there anythi ng
l ess expensive?"
. M. Moscovici . "Di d you make sure
i t con withstand Z hours at 1 , 0000 C
whi l e maki ng 1 08 cuts under 1 50 A?"
Pl ate
9. M. Taloin : "Di d you check to see
what the System team thi nks?"
1 0. M. Pere , "We di d that i n li l l e. "
l|_U| C | o. Jhe story o!thc ^ramis switch.
/ | / || ` | . ' | 1 `
2. M. Faucon . '''Vi th a tripl e cut.
i t woul d be better for the ECA. "
A M. Tappe : "What |we were to make
a switch ourselves? Preferably with
vacuum cuts and back pedal i ng\' '
6. M. Genoux : "I sn' t there anythi ng
simpl er?"
" It's too l ate! "
" Im not saying it's i mpossi ble;
we' l l have to see. "
, RATP . "I s |RATP-approved? I s !
equi pped with a red status-i ndi cati on
di ode and a test outl et, to faci l itate
the agent's work?"
I ndicator
1 1 . M. Mimesis : "So go ahead and
put i n static relay at o GTO. "
feasible but claims the operating agency was asking the impossible. I 'm
really starting to wonder whether Norbert wasn't right. It's not so easy
to decide whether Aramis is technological l y feasible or not.
[I NTERVI EW EXCE RPTS]
^e::: Ccegce od |o'o|, o| ||e |/|| |o po/|cpo|ed dec||y ||e
p|ojec| od ||e do|g o| ||e edo|co|oc| co|odc|o/y epo|.
^ |o||o|.
!|e|ec| c osvee'oo' e|os|ocd .p |o |e po' | c os !ec.ec|' e
s |o| |eco' og co' ' y|so scccessoc||o!s co| |e voyve see |
.o ||e C|| o:| c:e|c|-
'yes, |e z! od|ooe doe, |vos cd spesoo' e, v | s'cd es, o
pope,yo. evego|oeocg' Yo. soy, \e' ge|'ee, yoc|| o:' e~s
o'voys ge so'ved, yoc| eg ees co o'voys ~cdd' e |o.g, o.'v|'
|~ec've eo''y'od oa oocs|o|evo'
`oc |o ||o| yoce oeg occc:ed o| |gd, o| oeg c||g |o
:p|( //o:, o| :|g o e:pec|g ||e co|oc| |oo gooc:|y od o|
|ovg :cc|||ed ||e p|ojec| |o ||o| eo:o-
^ Ccegce.
H.' '|o|s o| oe cg g dve d dc| vo! o ~ \A.' | yoc g ve .p
o~o|e. o co.p' gs, |s co|A.o~ soy' oge l|eevee'oydeveop
+e' p.oo'e~s with the mi ni-VAL; i t exs|s ^cocg ocse|vesve veeco' ' ~git
o ARAMIS-VS, |o. vey s ~p |ed'
`e:, oc| | | o:| |ec|o|ogco||y |eo:o|e, o| coc:e yoc |od |o :p|_
| s ~oe co~p' co|ed |'oc |o|. !|e peop'e c c'oge s|oc' d 'ove so d
s!op | |vos |eos o' e, e sev |eevee poo' e~s, oc||ey s'oc dc|
ove co~eoocd|e' ' g.s|vos|ec|o' og co' ' ype|ec|, v|e^o||o 'odc|
pe.|ec|ed |
| ||e |e: |ge: I eod so~e'| cg . |e.es' g j:ee ||e :ecod docce|
||e |o|ogce. |s o |eco' og co' scccess, oc||ees o opp' co| o |o |
od |s o|oc.'oc' | |ve ep|go cgveo oe .eody ov doyoJexpec'cs
|o oe' eve ||o|-
ovocs'y, e co oe occc:ed o| o| |og |ed |o co'| o||e|o |o ||e
poo|e, oc|ved d|y, od o.cocesveec||oe |o occoc!
Yoc ove 'o Jdes|od v'y |'ey o' ' soy, |s o |ec'.' og co' s.ccess
because if so~eoesoys, Al|e|ff|eeyeos, ve |ove o|'| g, ov co ,ou
expec||'e~|o occep! |-T'eyego g|o vocde, \'eed d||e co^ey go-
So |'ey soy |'o| o' ' s|o ''e oes| |'e oes|o|o' ' poss o' evo ds
ve'ee, ve soyv'o|ve | ' s, ve' seev'o|~ooge~ec|does 'o
po | c o soys, |sosoy, | s o ' go g ve|yve| , yo. sov '|s c'eo| g, cc|
|osoy |'o||'eys|opped oecocse |~eevosc|o e s o |o~ o| c'eo| g
do~| cdes|od ~ov |ec' c os co go o' og v |~ |'o| ovousy |~ees
o'so|'ecos|l|eysoy, |s|ooexpesve, | voss, oc| |cos|s|oo~cc', but
eve|'eess |s |ec~o' og co ys|o|eo||'eo| || ooe:| vo| o: ve'| o: ||o|
Yoc co |eve soy |'o| |s |o 'o|e, |o| |'e |c|ce, oecocse |Ao~ s'od
|o oes|o|ed cpogo , ov, eve/y||/g vo.|J |ove |Obe doeoe
`o, |'e od cs|oo|e ||o ve dor| |ov 'ov |o do ||o|, s'o| o| o
|ec'oo' og co .evo .| ooAdo~ee|||espec.|coors,ve'ove ro deo v'o|
|vou'd 'ove cos|, o 'ov 'og |vou d ove |oec, cs||oge||o|ve po s
o|cos, o~d |o~|'ee|oJJ
A||'e so~e| ~e, |s |oo cod |o 'ove go||e so |o od |'e soy, \ee
s'c|| ^g | o dov~ Hu| | |s so ce |oo e, v'y 'od 'goeso |o- Ad | ':
pelec|ed, v~y o|goo-' pesoo 'yvoc d |' se|o oe ~ A exode sp'o.e
j|: oppo:|e .oe o| ^o||o] levossovedoy|'eoe 'e~us|'ovesee
|'e |ec'o og co d|||cc ||es |'eso~evoyved d e~cs|oe o~oyed |'o|
|go.~d|oo ~o | |'evoy |d d, o.|o||~eso~e| ~e e~cs|oehoppy |~o|
'ed dc |'ove|o~ee||~especsyes, 'e ~us|oeeo||ye|eved
'ooc po|, ved d|'eco|od|c!oyepo.!,ve|od |'e .! ' \evee|
oooc |o go os^o|o, Ard vo|dove pc| oee~''o s |o. ~o~oge~e|
|ovoyooo.| . o l J|
Saved by the bell ! That's not what poor Aramis would say. Finished
off, on the contrary, by a fratricidal struggle between the two teams,
the contracting authority and the contractor, with one accusing the
other of downgrading Aramis' principles, and the other retorting that
it was being required to pursue impossible objectives whereas every
thing would be viable if the constraints were relaxed. And t
e
struggle
doesn't even show whether the thing is technologically feasible! It's an
insoluble problem. I have a feeling I 'm going to be in hot water with
Norbert's director.
/ / | o ' S | c / | Y J O C /\/
[DOCUMENT: LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE TRANSPORTATI ON MI NISTRY BY M. DESCL
E
ES,
PRESI DENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE-THE BODY RESPONSI BLE FOR KEEPI NG
SYSTEMATIC TRACK OF ARAMIS ON BEHALF OF THE MI NI STRY]
Dear Director,
You asked me to f ind out what the Aramis development com
mittee thinks about the modification o f the experimenta l
program .
The committee met at my request on September 3 0 , and I am
sending you a report that conveys the views of i t s members .
Let me add that the program i s being terminated at a point
when there seems to be no serious obstacle to perfect i ng the
system, yet at a point when not all the innovat ions can be
ful ly demonstrated . Thi s i s surely regrettable . Neverthe
less , the personal convi cti on of the committee members i s
that t hi s system coul d be brought to a l evel of t echnol ogi
cal real i zation close to what was anti c ipated in the proto
cols and in the RATP contract . However , the committee raised
further questicns about the conditions for operat i ng a com
plex system o f the PRT type ; but only commercial t ri a l s
woul d permit a definitive j udgment . . .
The maj ority of the committee members remain convinced
that a market fer Aramis exi sts , that halting i t s develop
ment i s not j usti fied f rom this standpoint , and t hat i t
would be opport .me to undertake an a posteri ori evaluation
that woul d make it possible, in particular, t o draw up a con
t ract and to see whether it woul d be appropriate to modi fy
certa in functional specif icat ions i\h respect to \lcS of
the contract .
Very t rul y yours ,
Desclee s , Direct o r of INRETS
Ah, but this changes everything. The engineers on the development
committee who studied Aramis from the beginning agree : Aramis as a
mobile unit has been perfected technologically, the contract was nearly
fulflled, only the operational side is left with a few unsolved problems.

,_.__
.
_
.

,
/ /| | ` c / 1 ! CO ( AWAY I

Well then, that's reassuring. started worrying too soon. The engineers
closest to the project have doubts about its technological feasibility, for
psychological reasons perhaps, but the experts who are farthest
re
moved remain quite satisfi ed.
[INTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
^ !e:c|ee:, oc||o/ o| ||e |oegong 'e||e
^y o^'yvoyvos |'o||e o'|co dec s oj|o qc|] soc d co| do~oge
v'o|odoeego edsc e| | co| 'y, od|o||'eysoc' dsoy, ' |so'oecocse
| l d do|vo||'o|ve|e s|opp g 'oo|vos ~ycoce
d d| vo| ^o|o |o oe e|d espos o' e, d dc|vo|i t |o oe so d|~o|
|ey od |os|opoecocse^o|o odc| ~e||s oo go| os, yoc ccdes|o~d`
" I d d|vo||ocos|o^y |c|ed sced |o |e |ec'co' ogy, o^y|' g|o'
coc|d 'o.e g|ve |e Hcdge| ||ce ~oe gs |o |s ~'| j|o C|||/C|23 o||e
ovo|os p.o'c |ospo|o|o]
.o |: oc| o| :o|do!y |o| ||o:e v|o vee de|edg |ec|o'ogco| no
vo|o:- ||: |ed |o ||e |oc| ||o| ||eo |eoed |o||e| |eov|y o ||e B.dge
C|ce-
'o cgs ' e |'o|oe eve|ogo||e, ecce|eode|y e|eol j o ! ' |
But this changes everything once more! The Budget Office agai n!
How am I expected to decide whether Aramis is technologically feasible
or not when they're arranging, consciously and deliberately, to protect
Matra in order to preserve the future of huge, costly, technological
proj ects? The question of technological feasibility is muddled for mud
dling's sake. What? Could there be a conspiracy to protect the engi
neers? Are they behaving like schoolboys who've done something foolish
amI don't want the Budget Offi ce to catch them?
Ouch! I have a feeling I'm getting confused again-starting to do
bad sociology, to use a borrowed phrase. I 'm going back to blaming and
denouncing. It's also because Norbert is letting me work all by myself.
Instead of running after monsters to kiss, he ought to be doing the
technology audit himself . . .
I 'll have to see what the press fle says. With all those j ournalists
who swarm around juicy subjects, there must be some interesting
revelations about Aramis' feasibility.
[DOCUMENT: ARTICLE BY ALAI N FAUJAS, LE MONDE, OCTOBER 26, 1 987)
By November , the definitive results will be in, but they
wi l l not keep the proj ect from being abandoned . Responding
to pressure from Matra, M. Jacques Chirac, mayor of Pari s ,
had proposed to i ns t al l it between the Gare de Lyon and the
Gare d' Austerl itz . But on thi s minor branch l ine, Arami s
would not have s hown it s ful l capabil i ti es . The regional of
ficials seem to prefer the cl as s i c metro ins ide Paris
proper . As for the RATP , it cons iders Arami s a technological
succes s and a commercial fai lure . In its view, Aramis has
too little carrying capaci ty, is too sophisticated, and
costs too much for its intended use-that i s , transporting a
maximum number of passengers . At a t ime when the RATP i s
t i ghtening its belt, it pre fer s to reserve i ts investments
for things l ike progres s ive automation of its existing
li nes . Matra has chosen not t o comment on the probable aban
donment of the program. The CEO of Mat ra Transport , a sub
s idiary o f Matra, s ays only, with a touch o f bitternes s , "We
couldn' t do it a l l by ourselves . "
Yet Arami s wi l l not have been tested i n vain . It has led to
better mastery of automation and improvement of the wholl y
e lectronic guidance s ystem that wi ll go into operation on
the newest l ine of the Lyon metro and that will pi lot the sec
ond-generation VAL, Matra' s other metro, the one that has
been a success in Li l l e, Chicago, Jacksonvi l l e, and Tou
louse and that wi l l win out soon perhaps in Strasbourg and
Bordeaux .
Wel l, it's a good thing there are journalists! The press dossier is
unanimous. I 've found morc than a hundred articles saying the same
A R A MI S I S R E A D Y | C GO
thing, give or take a nuance or two. Aramis has been perfected tech
nologically, but it isn't profitable; the RATP has changed its mind or
has run out of money and is no longer willing, or no longer able, to
fnance the line; Matra has done a good job; and in any evcnt there arc
technological benefts for VAL. So here I am at last with a good, stable,
new version: Aramis has been perfected, but only in little reusable bits,
in separate pieces that are of usc to its older brother VAL, always VAL.
(DOCUMENT: MATRA, CONFIDENTIAL I NTERNAL MEMO, J ULY 2, 1 987]
The attached t ext , developed by the RATP with our ap
proval , constitutes what we have agreed for now to tel l j our
nalists if we are quest ioned :
The refinement and test runs of the Arami s system at the
experimental center on the boulevard Victor are going into
t heir t erminal phase .
Aramis i s making i ts first runs with electronic couplings
cDthe track ; this i s the last stage before the multicar
train without the t radi ti onal mechani cal coupling used by
t rains and classic met ros .
The conclusion of t hese test runs is expected i n November
l >o .
IL will then be up to the four partnersthe State, the I le
de-France Region , the RATP , and Matra Transportto decide
whether or not i t i s approprate to go ahead with test runs
aimed at full refinement of the system ( manufacturing s tud
ies and endurance trial s ) .
The prospects for applications of the system are , in t he
short run, economically less favorable than they wc;e ;
B 4 , when the development contract was s igned .
But a s of now the development of Aramis has l ed t o in
creased knowledge and expertise in the realm of automation;
this has turned out to be very useful :D!!C ref ineme:t cI
the system of automated guidance that is derived from the
SACEM s ystem used on Line A of the RER and that will be ap
plied in Lyon as well as for the second-generation VAL .
'^' ^' ' _ ' ____..
But this memo has the very same structure, a few minor variations
notwithstanding, as all the newspaper articles I plowed through! What?
No independent investigations, no fresh opinions, no research, no
criticism? They all say the same thing: what the principal actors have
put in their mouths! What doormats, these scientifi c journalists! Always
ready to popularize, never to investigate.
If I ever decide to change careers , I 'm going to be a journalist,
but I 'm going to do investigative journalism, and if I come across a
story like Aramis, it won't be my master's voice you11 hear. 1 11 be the
Bob Woodward of technological projects. And to hell with "refined"
sociology.
It's obviously a conspiracy! Norbert is completely off base with
his idea that Aramis is for once a project without any notable scandal .
There certainly is a scandal to denounce! But from another standpoint,
he was right after all : there's no way to decide about the technological
feasibility-everything is muddled for muddling's sake. But why, oh,
why did I get myself into this mess instead of just going ahead to do
technology?
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ |e|o|e, engnee/ o| |ne |||e |e:eocn |:||c|e, o o/ocn o| |||||., wnee
VAL wo: deve|oped.
\os | |eoso'e- .s|ec, | o' ' depeds As |o :e gc docce sys|e~ od
' ups'o'exs|ed cove|ee'se|ee |~ s|~e C.! pcsed |e de~ocs|o
|o^ os|oos | coc' d
vey~cc' ege||'o|| epoec|vos|e|eded|o oo|eyeo |s|oo
ood''e,pc' ' edooc|'e |oceo|v'o|-!ve|y~ ' ' o^|ocs-! |y~ ' o,
| odoo co~p' eede~o^s|o| oc-A| | 'e'eve'|eyd eoc'ed, |~eyd poved |s
|eos o ' |y
\eyou vec||o |e s|eo |eoo.'evo.d \c|o, yocd see |epo s o|
cos o^d yoc eo'y od |~e ~pesso |o|'eyvee co.p' ed ~eco co' '
y
soy, oovocs'y, |'ee vee o' y|vo o| |ec, oc| |ee, |ve, | vos 'eos o' e
` | eo po|ocJ|y convced |'o||eyveege|| g|ee Hc| | s|.e, ||e
deon:|o|on wo: |oc|ng, |e oppe||evosv'e'|ed oc| o|so' s| ed!o ~e,
|'o!s |oo bad Obviously, to go |o~ |' s po | to JJ po so| cos soc|~ o|
`os|~e C:! d d| deo v| |'o'
"50 'oyo. !'e CET dd| eveo' any seo.s impediments<"
`o, |o~ | ~e po | o| vev of ' ``!S, do| see oy ~s.~oa|oo e
de|ec|s, oa!|'e doc|ovv'e|'e^o|o 'od poo e~s, o |!'ey .s|ll
oc|o|| ~e o. z, Q. ']
No, no, clearly it's not a conspiracy. All the engineers have an
unshakabl e faith in Aramis' feasibility. Obviously they aren't committing
themselves as to the costs, or the time frame, or the operational viahility
. . . These are good examples of real engineers. Their faith is indestruc
tible. Nothing induces them to doubt. Their certainty is perhaps a
problem, however. What is a transportation system in which only the
mobile unit works, and not the overall operation? And can the mobile
unit be said to work if two of them can run together for a few minutes
hefore bumping into each other? That's the motive of the crime,
Norbert would say.
[INTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
'wo egees from |'e ''ede'|oMLe |egon, Cevo'dod Levy, respon
:o|e |o|o:po|o|o
C/eo|d.
!'e deo |o|e~[the egee: |o dcVe|Lped the poiec|] s a sys|e~
v|' o posseges '~e |oco'e s, |'ee oe posseges, yoc coc| ovod
th | Mg ooo.|them. What oet|ey gocg odo~
Ad ~ pJ||g ~yse'| |'eoes|posso'es |.o! o, ~og c cg|'o! al l |'e
|ec~o ogco pooe~s'oveoeeeso ved [| |oc|, |e '||: ||: |: :po::o|e,
see ed of C|op|e J ] Hc! |'o|s| ' sc|eoag'|o ~oseo csoo esys|e~
ovo.s'y yoa co ~oe o sys|e~ co||ed Ao~s that vos, v'o| ~
|o| goooc| so sys|e~ |o|eo||yo gsAo~ s|o' |e
'e|sgo |ode|o ' s eve v|' |oo |'ee ooc'es, osyo. ~oveo |'e
`e||e Ce |.e, yo. ceed o ogeo| ~ ss os, p'.s a + g' |eq.ecy, p as o
l ~e|c^edod, cs|~eo|ol scooyo~dde~o~d `ovo| thi s | ~oosesco~|od|c
|oycos|o c|s
Lev
|s c ocsvos, |e s~o' 'es|go o| socd c gsevey| g |o o o'|
Cevo'd
`es | ve seep Ao~ s, | o'y oeco:e: |eo:o|e on'y | | :|op: oeng
/o::
|cocse, ||s o og \A', |e |s o|o poo e~
.oos o|'e cses, |'ey.e o' eody 'os| |e ., * v'e.e|'eeoe |o o|
o| des| ~o| os |o 'oose |o~ Ad Ao~ s does| p. cp o' og |e e| e
p'oo~ Yoc odd|'evo | cg' esode' de' ypeop'e|| cs!' pece|o||e
peop eoe os|,yoc'ovecoos Ad|e |evo oe|vee||o s s4'secocds'
\e vee |o d, \ee go g |o deo v | |'o||o.g |e expe ~e'o
~e|od, oy| o odeo Acd c|eed, vee e|'v |' o s g e ooc g'
Jp| o ov, ve oee !o' s g o' yoooc|| epco c, oooc|| e |e|oce
oe|veec|'epco' c od |'esys|e~ Heyod |o|, |eeos|ooeo od .s|~e|
o|scpp y|ode~od !eeso|'ov~o||x'o oeso|sled|o|oseveoe|oe
od |o oe esoved udes.c co~p|excod| ocs
odd | o, Ao~ s|oseso yseo|ed posseges, v c ~eosg v g . p
o' |ex o ' |y, !ees ooc||e|ood cs| g scpp yodde~od Hesdes''o|,
|e|e o|e|o~ es, g|ocps|o'vo~|voc||o oe sepoo|ed' Ad oesdes
|o!, |'e de~ocd os|ooe egc o|ed cos|oc|y, oecocse |evoves, od ''ee
oe os|o|s|cse|edeocg|odeo' v| |
Yoc ove|ooeoo e!oocco~~odo|e go.pso| sceo~ cg He g os, o
o ve|e.o secoor
.o yoc 'ove |oo! c po|e o pe~oe|excess copoc|y- \'eyo. odd
|ecse, |esys|e~, p' csod( cs|~e|o||escpp'y, ||epoo'e~ s| so' co| e
Hc||eeoe peopeo||eA! vooe eved |vosgo g|ovos !ey
do |sov'ov|o oe!e :vos, v| |s||ee ~ss os, od|ey| s
|ey co ~oseo | g ' se| sc \e' ~ooge, |eyd soy. \e | d o
voy, ve | gc|e | oc|, v |odvoces co~p.|esc ece . .
'o |o yoc, ||e/e : no :y:|ey, oecoc:e |: |ec|no'ogco|'y n|eo:o|e-
!e poo e~, e| ~e |e' yoc, s |o|Ao~ s s o |o':e n.e|on, o |o':e
ovo|o ''e `l'os oee or |eos o' edeo |e|~so|opeo||oo v oo |y
||o~ doy oe o 33]
* As every foreign tourist trying to catch a plan at Roissy or Orly must have
discovered, the signs identifying the trains are mysterious: they are not names of
destinations, but esoteric codes like YETI, BAYA, AZUR.
/ | / N' o | ' ' A c Y C . C | /\-Y l
They sound awfully sure of themselves, those two. Aramis is
intellectually inconceivable. It's a contradiction in terms. They're sure
that it doesn't work, just by looking at operational issues, yet they put
themselves in the best-case scenario. What everyone else perceives as
the biggest problem of all is one that doesn't faze them at all : the 600
mobile units rolling along without a hitch.
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ ||enne, |o ^o|o.
Bc| o: | pe|ec|ed- Coc|d yoc |ove gone |o o |e c|e: cnnng
|e |o ||e on||: o|cpo|ed n ||e co|oc|-
Hy `ove~oe I -o, ve ~od | c s~ed |ego| g o |'e ~os| co~p'er
|.c| os. \e ceeded oyeo, oyeoodo 'o' |,|o ~oeevey|' cge|oo|e-
|o go |o~ ~ c|es |o ~oc|~s, os yoa soy.
cvey| g 'od 'ooedeo.gged,|'ees oeoso|o| ' |'o|vevoc dc|
'ove ooag~| |o|| \evo. d 'ove podcced |~e co|oc|uo Ao~ s, od
eve |'eo~ o Ao~ s |o doco| oooc| | on oc ed, o doco| o| ||e |/||
no doco| n ||e |:||c|e Hc| |voc'd 'ove oee espec o 'y cos|y |o ^o|o,
s ce |'o| p'ose vos| ve | occed, |'e deo.gg cg 'od| eo y oee
o| c po|ed `o, |vos|eos o' eo'|'e .ppeecoo~ c ~ | o|v'o|'odoee
o| c po|ed |veyeos eo e
|: | copooo|e |o ||e Concode-
' |exospeo|es ~e| osee |co~poed| o| 'eCocode.l'epoo e~ s|'e
~ose|, ||'eyd o. | 'JJ Cocodes s|eod o| zJ, |vo. d 'ove voed
S ce evey|' cg s ev, v~e|'e |s |'e lC\, ''e Cocode, o Ao~ s, |
oeco~es ecoo~ co o y | |'ees o ~ .ge oc''e| |o | ||: o qce:|on o|
vo|c|o:, |'e de|e~. o| o |o co' ccevo g oc Ao~ sd d oe|o L
de|e~ o|o |o co| .ev'' |'e e o z ! |
Ow! Even over the Concorde there are controversies. Now it's a
question of continuity in the political will . Everything new has to be
imposed by will . It's worst of all when will is subject to eclipses, va/antos
interrupta, as my mentor would surely say. They push the Concorde
/ | / | ` ` | | / | Y 1 | G
prototype, which is effcient and perfected, but not the 500 Concordes
that would, as a bonus, make the first one proftable.
Parenthetically, M. Etienne doesn't agree with his coll aborators.
They say that they'd have pulled it off if they could have simplifed.
They don't claim they would have fulflled the contract.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
| ||e |o:po|o|o ^:|y o|ce ||o| deo|: v|| ev e:eoc| p|ojec|:,
^. |ec|o/ : :peo|g |e ove/:ov ||e /o: opeo|o ee ||ocg| /o:
vo: o| eved o: o e:eo/c| p/ojec|
e~e~oe, I vos ||ee o| |e vey oeg . go|Ao~ s 'od oo|' o|||e
poec| 'eods |o| o| ~e, Co|e od eqce, v |' |vo|o' ' ooc poec|s,
oe vos |'e 'eod o| Ao~ s, |'e o|'e ~eod o|\A..
^oyoe |'e poo'e~s v |' \A. vee ove.co~e oecocse |'e sys|e~ vos
s ~p'e, ~oe eo|s|ceocg' so|o covce' ' ' eod :'ecooco~~;^|y.
\e eve|ocd |'o| v|' Ao~ s, oecocseve eve 'od ||e |ecco' poo|
|'o| |voc' d vo !~e ceosedcos||os|o oe cs| | ed,|oc | es,|o| oc o'
ooces, oy |ec|o'ogco| pe|o/oce
|ov do yoc oo|yze ||e |ec|o|ogco' |eo:o||y o| ||e pojec|- !d ||e
poo|e o| |:c :ecc|y ||o| Co|e vo: OL ::|e| oooc| p|oy o o'e-
`o. I || ||esys|e~ s ~p' yd d|sccceed oveco~ g|'e|ec~^o' og
co' d||cc' | es ve'' eocg', |os|eocg~ , |o o||oc|| oc o' ooc g eos ' y
B.| yoce ovoe ||o| yoc| |ep/e|o|o : o| ||e c:co| oe- ||e co:e:.:
: ||o| |: |ec|o'ogco|'y |eo:o|e oc| ||o| ||ee: o o|e|
Yes, ~ ovoe o| |'o|, oc| | ~cs|s| ' ' oe so d |o| |'e |ec' cos vee
uIoo'e |o oeo| v |h 'e poo'e: te, ': oo:cd to say that //: |ec|oo|og/
co|'y pe|ec|ed v|e ||e Ct| p|ogo vo: | coed o.| :cce::|c||y.
ove|o soy |o||'ees so~e| go ' ||'e poyoooc|o' ' o|cs, o|yoc,
oecocseyoceo| |'e|e' d, oc||'ees|o|cs |ve eoso~eo^esoy, | s
o |o ' ce, vesoy, ' o, | so' ' oeeveycse|.' , |ee|oveoeeodvoces,
| e' ped v|| \A.. l|ee 'ove oee odvoces, do|do,o||o| Hc| co |
soy|'o|||esys|e~osov|o' e|osoee~o|ec'o' og co' scccess|~o|odvo~ced
cs|ovod |'e |eded goo'
\e' ' , yoc ove|o ovv'o|yocvo| |yo.vo|ed o sys|e~, od|'ey
ge|o |evcc~os oc|o|so~eo| |sco~poe|s, yoc co^|co ' |o scccess,
oy co:e o| o |ec|o|ogco' :.cce::
c |e|eyd d| pc| eocg eegy |o |cJ! | doc || |'o| vos |'e
poc e~o, qu |e s ~py, w|eo ||e pogo doe:o| wo| we|| |ec|oo|og
co|', || oecoe: |ode ood |ode |o ||od ooey `o, o, ve|'ey |e' yoc
|o| |s |eco' og co y pe|ec|ed, cc| |'ees o ~oe| , | does ! vos |
|eyd eo y so ved |epoc e~s, eo ' yeso'ved |e |eco og co d||cc |es,
||eo ||ey woc|d |ove |ocod ||oooc|og A|eos||'eyvoc'd 'ove|o.d |~oe
eosy, |eyvou'd 'oveo|'eos||c | ' 'ed |ecoc|oc|
'e eo| o| |e poc'e~, os see |, s |'o| ^o|o vos oog |o
~pove~ec|s|o \A' od evedd ce' eve Ao~ s o J l |
So it's technologically infeasible after all . I 'm back to my original
interpretation. Aramis is not viable: not only is it operationally unviable,
but the mobile unit itself is impossible to build. As for the secondary
benefts, they're a justifcation after the fact, a rationalization, for saying
that the whole thing hasn't been a waste. Norbert is completely
mistaken. We have to go back to doing " classic" sociology, as he calls
it; we've got nothing but scandal s, irrationality, coverup operations, and
ex post facto rationalizations.
[I NTERVIEW EXCERPTS]
^. |oedo, ||eo w||| ||e |e:eoc| ^|o|:|y, o :peco'|:| |o :ceoce po||cy
ood evo|co|oo o| e:eoc| pogo:
'|s o poc e~ o| scecce po . cy, o| po ec|~ooge~e|, |yoc se \e
led |o cse |e Ct' |o do|o |oo ~oyl' gs ol oce, || cgs||o|vee~o
o| eso~eeve .
| doccdes|odv'o|yoc eos. cg, cc| os|o| eqces|oo||eco og co'
|eos c |,, yoc |eo|'y |ove |o oe ogoo|zed |o oe oo|e |o oo:we | |evse,
yoJ doc| ov, od ees vee |e Cc! |o'ed we coo| oo:we ||o|
qce:|oo
!e Cz! vos o so supposed |o ce |e eod o|o ' ce o ce|vos, o ' o|
|'e so~e| ~e, |o| vos |e |o|o' |ov
''eCer!e| lo 'ec'o| og|co :xpe.~e!o||o~ .s o oo|c|ed coHpIoH:e
ce|vee expe ~e|o deve op~e' od cc d g |e 'eod o| o e !e
~ecoccso||e|os|o|o|eC'ls|ogecoodeoed ||e pojec| |o |o||. `o
||o|s p.|| cg | |oo s|og' y, 'e|s soy |'o' | oc |e . s' o| 'eod g ||e p.oec|
|o |o ' ce if |'e ~os|o| ~ s|c posso'e .esc|s vee|oceved g'| ovoy
'eexpe~e|o deve op~e|, c c'ec. s~ d, voso ~edo|dec||yg
|'e|ec'co'ogco' scogs, evey|' g e'sevos secodoy
|seosy|osee'ov |vos d ||e.e||.o~ .y 'y vos|'epo|o|yev|'
oooo|oy ~e|'ods, |~eCz!s s| ' |'e po|o|ype, oa|v|' osse~oy e ~e|'
ods Ao~ svos| ye| c podac|oc
l'e Cz! s'oc' d 'ove |es|ed o ' |'e |ec'co og co so' c| os 'o | o| |~e
ocdge|vosspec|oc oc' s' |
l'e Cz!voscocevedv |'o c eo deo, c' eo|o'c'ec., o|oddg o
:|oge |'o| vos csao y s pped |'e s|oge o| expe ~e|o deve op~e|v ''
' cdcs| o' |ec' qces !'o|s|oge co|oess ppedv |'oJ|o 'o|o| ~ocey, od
o| c o pe.od o|| oc o' c s s
^c~e' c~ec, v'ovosv ||'e^S!, v~ c' 'od deveoped \A', , od
Co'ec, v'ovoso' gcoeo|oeooc|cso||'eeseoc^| ' s|y, 'odc'eo
deos oc |'o| saoec| ocg' y speo ~g, yoc 'ove |ve p'oses* |'o| .eo' y
eed |ooe ep| sepoo'e s|, |'ees oos c .eseoc', |'edeve o~e|co
cep|, cood'yspeo cg, |'o|s|'eHo.de||e||epoc' 'ec yoJ 'ove `ose z
|'s s y, yoccse oooo|oy|ec' qcesocdyocve|y|'o|'so|oco~p e|e
ood o| 'ogvos' Hc| o||e |'o|yoc 'ove o ''ose J, o~d |' s vos cev, |' s
vosexpe ~e|o'deve' op~e', o|v |''ooo.o|o.y|ec' qces, cov, oc'v |'
d.:|o| |ec|q.e: ~|'e'copeoCo~~c|y|'eyco ' ''o||~ep opoec|
Yoa de| |y |'e |ec'o og co sogs, |'o|s o | |'e |' g does| vo, yoc
go ooc |o `~ose z o eve |o `'ose l !~e, yes, yoc go oc |o |'e
dcs|o'deve op~e| pose, od yoc ge| eody |o 'o~o ogo| o v|' o
scpep.ecse ocd scpe.go.ocs se| o| spec|co| os Ad |'e yoa go |o
`~ose', |'ede~os|o|oc p~ose |'ecoseo|\A' , |' svos''e| s|seg~e|,
yocge| | cpod a cg|oseveo ~o~|~sod|'eyocgoo|odoose es
\e , v'o|'oppeed v| Ao~ s-|e dov: o :|e|c|:ee |g.e ' '
'o occodg |o yoc :c|eo ||e CfT :|eod of coe|g ||o:e J, coe:
||ee p|o:e: o| oce-
Yes, ocd eve |oc, oecocse |'ee oe ~o+e|s, ' |~e so||voe, |'e
opeo| o, v'e yocge||'e ~pesso~ |'o'so~e eopeveego gooc|o
''ose l , |o oosc eseoc', ocd o| |'e so~e | ~e o|es .ee se|| g |'e
*The phases and their numbers do not correspond to the RATP numbers used
up to !bis goint tnc !attcr art assigned on!j in LcT5 OI budget catc

orJcs corre
sponding to contract signatures.
Phase . Concept devel opment
phose o. Prototype
Phase A
5
Phase 5:
Demonstration after
homologation
with i ndustrial means;
bugs identified;
devel opment of test model
Industrial devel opment
||_ot e | >.
qces|o o| |'e soop |'e ~o |eoces|o||vos sapposed |o cse |o vos' |'e
v dovs `oc oegn |o :ee ||e |e:o- Yoc co|seep |oJ p'oses go g o|
|'eso~e| ~e
Ad o |'eo|'e 'od, |'eA!`vosdeo gv ||'e poo'e~ 'ose
4o' os | | veeo cev~e|o|o , v' eso~e^o|oeg ceesveego g
coc|o| s| p cc p' es'
` s|eod o| ~os g|'e|ec'o' og co o |eo|vesco~pe'e^s c eocd co~
pooc e, ||e C|| |oc|ed /~m:
o c'ec, |'e C`! vos o vo do| o, o|o 'o~o ogo|o
Hc|''ee vos |oo ~cc' |'o|vos| c'eo, ocdocyoy |'e A!' does|
'oveo 'o^d eo!'o|s|oge !'eS|o|edoes|e'e, cy|'evoy, | s^| oc e
|osoy, Yoc e go cg|odeve'opocdvo' do|e !'eo~c gc|y s|'ee|o~ |'e
s|o|!'eyveec|evec oce|o de| |y|~ec | co po|'sov' c~|o|occs|'e
s|cdy |oexo~p e, |'eopeo| ^gcod | osvee deved|o~|'oseo|\A.,
so |vos ' og co |o pa|o|| |' s g ococ||'e~ cc| o|e, |'eyvee|o|'e
c | co' po|' l'eyexs|ed esev'ee od 'od cee esoved e'sev'ee
^o|eoce, o |'e o|'e 'ocd, oag'||o ~ove cee o poce~ |o |'e
eET cc| | vos cevedeo |v|' |vos c''eog ^o deo, |so |~ec | co
po|~
l'ev'o e ssaeo|s|o|os ocd |'e des gvos o|o poc e~!'eydeo |
v |', |'ey s'oa d 'ove pos|po^ed it t i l l o|e
^o|o vos ovoys pJs' g|o co~c e|'e p'oses ''o|s o~o , |s cp
|o |e '|o|e, |o co' c oc|o | es, |o ee ''e~ seoo|e o ^o|o, |s oc
ced o' edeo |eco~oyge|so d|odeve o~e',v |scosys'e~s|o|
|ees| |, o~o ogo|oseves|o ~ose |evo e|' cgced o e So ~cc'|o
|'e^o|o s de
c|eAl's de, yocove|eoos|eoo' e~leyocg||od s| g. s
o~og 'oses, oc||'eydo| ove|eexe|se !eA!` |eeds ogeeo
| ocs o| ~e|os |'o| |ey ~ove ce~e|o ' y, so |o |'e~, 'o~o ogo| oc :
vey mcc| '||e cemeo|o| de.e'opmeo|. ' ocy cose, !s co| |e ca |.eo|
ecg cee|s
' |eoe oo |'e cocoge|osoy, '|s ssy, :ssedcc|ve, ve oo |sov
ov|o~oe |vosye|,sovedoe||e|oe|eosy,~oveo'eods|eoys|e,
|o|voc o o' ' ovoec|s |o evove o veyd ||eec|voy
A| |e A!, |e eg ees do | sov 'ov |o do ||s |o| s ~ e A'
^o|o, |'eeg eesoocov'ov, oc|co~~ec o' ' og ced |e~ !osc|ess
o| eess|e ov edge 'o ossoo os|'e A'` |oeso|e |oec, od
| s ~oss o e|o|e~oo| | o|ose |o, |eyo y| ~e | og co|o~o ogo|o
leysoc' d ove|oseo o ||ee|oooc !eysoc d oveooce |
|e ov ces. | |'eyd c'ose ^o|e ' e, ~ cocvceo |o|Ao~ svoc'o
exs||odoy o J'|
Al l right, fine, so now it's a problem of project management. They
weren't properly organized to answer the question of technological
feasibility. If the CET had been better conceived, they could have
answered my questions. But I don't have 1 50 million francs to do it
over, personal ly, plus three years and two hundred employees. I 'm just
one guy, and only an intern at that! You have to pay a staggering price
to answer a question that's really pretty simple. And they keep referring
me to Montpellier, which I know nothing about.
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
M. Coq.e|e|, on o||co' || ||e |'ede|oce |egoo.
veo , |so |o ce oso 'oso|o|o sys|e~ o.| o|os eseocco
|oy|ov'o|yoc esoy g .ocs g~oeecse |o~o' o, | ' ' c'eevee
epecc::o:, 'oSAC.^o|veycov c goes, |o'esecodgeeo|o
\A. o. ' see, ve e go g|o | d peces o|Ao~ s ^o|os oce|s !'ee
vee cc |co' epecc::o: os ve ' |e ~oe oess co ~o.s occep|o:e,
excep| cy|'e . os, o|o.|o~o c p. o| g, od occep|ocecy'e '`` o|
|~e 'A'^ gcdocesys|e~
`o, ' ' .Ou eo''ycove|o q.o''y |he o|o o'|o|o' 'o'.e
Yoc so. d oss ^ occodc oooc| |'c eo;|o o| ''e eg oco epe
se|o| ves ' ~yse'| oo.g| |e eg oo' |ospo'o|o co~~ ss o |o :ee \A.
odAo~ s |'cv |eol ' -o !e v s |vosdvded c|o'vo s|oges ` s|,
ve sov|eve~ c eod |ed ' oc|, o||o| po| |voscde~o.o co|o
||e poc| o: vey po:|ve
!eve |oos |'e~ |o |~e 'ogo, v~ee |ee voso scspeoed ~odc e,
ve'ooedo||e |e o, |epysco|co~poe's ||ey :|e'ed |o|' |s
o o~c o ce, |s ~os|o.s, |s ~ype|og e ley oegoc |o dv de .p'e
pce |o see ov ~oy o's oyces |ey coc d ccy'o |e ~oey 'ee, |'e
eoc|oc vos .o ~o.s ycego' ve jo 4|
Aramis, paor Aramis-now elected offcials are sticking their
noses in as if they really counted, poor blokes. People are telling
themselves now that you didn't die in vain, because pieces of vou will
w w
turn up in Matra's rockets! What's worse, now you're reduced lO
cultural repercussions; thanks to you, specialists in the classic metro
have gotten used to the idea of automation! You were only a pretext,
A red flag to distract people long enough to stick a few banderillas into
the poor populace and force members of the drivers' unions to give up
their trade.
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
M. |ee|, e|ec|ed epe:e|o|ve |o ||e c|y o| |o:, oe o| ||e e|ego|
|o|e|eo::oce o|'|ce: ||e |o|e' de \'|e
`o. |ove ||e pe::o ||o| /o: |o|ed oecoc:e ||e ed | dd
coe:pod |o ||e c: eed:-
`o, |coespodeo|oo eo| eed, o eed''o||iscpo|o ' eve'so~
|~e' oc eceoe|voy, o|epe peo ooc evods \eoveood o o s
| ~ee'|e e |ce, veeeded | odo so~e'' cg
\eoe||ec c osocseves, oc|A|o~ ssee~ed ve odop|ed |e~s
o'vo' c~e od odop|oo ' |y |o |e s |e, p as | od oo~ces |o o' ov p po |
sevce. `o, ve sov epoec| o vey|ovooo'e ' g'
'o|e( | de|e|oo|ed-
Yes, oyeve|e eeo | |ep| o'o:ed, coc d||e yocv'y |dd~ '
vos oc|, |e|e vos~|eocg |o~o|o oooc||e d || cc' | es
!ee vos o soov co ' pc| |-o peo~e~o~ o| |o| o o||e |e
|oc|
~ o||y g |o soy v~o| eo 'y oppeed, cs' ov | ~gs|e ||o peop'e
o||e | ~e
\esov| 'eAl` oc 'd o |!es|o| o, o '| eco!vo , o '|eo||soo|, vey
ve coce ved ~eco s~s, s go sys'e~s, g| g sys|e~s, evey| g ve|y
| e|ced |so|o|gove |e ~pesso o| ds ov g 'e | ~e o| |e ves
le ~oyo o| `o s ve| o.| |ee j:ee ||o|o ' '] |see~ed oos.d 'o
vo|o|es~o 'es|de|o so||ep o||o|~so|es go sys|e~veo~eod
|e ~pesso|e|' gvos |vos g !o ~y~ov'edge, ogo , ~ ~o!|y g
|ogveyoaso~eso|o|ooso' c|e'c'ee|, |'es|a~o go oc,|eeoo~o,
vos ve |e A!` od |oloce cp |o |e 'o ov g qaes|o . \e 'ove |o
oc do o dge|o coec|He|cyod!o o oc \o|dove eed |oo| c po|e
|o| s o dge- \ ve ove |o pc| Ao~ so |- J~, ve , ~o, Ao~ s sc|
go gso ve ' , do||ose | ~|ooccoc||o|'e o|dge
lo|s ov ve |ocd oc| | vos|vo| g, os de |o~ |o!, |ee vee
eos, a~os
.o, |o yo., |e||e ||: e:eoc| o| oo| doe:o| oo||e/ yo. C |ong Cb
yo.e |o'd |o| |o epec|.
`o, |does| oo|'e ~e. l'ey ove|go| ||o vos- lo|s o~o , oc|
yes, |eysoc' d|e ' as !epoooo |.es eed |ooe evsed pe od co y, od
veeed | ~e|os|ady|eo' |eolves
Yoc cde|s|od, vee ed |o expec| geo| | ' gs |s |e vode o| |e
ce|cy, |s ocese z g|e |o|veoceogo , |s^o|o, |eg oyo|oc
dcs|y, e|ce|eo, e|ce|eo. Ad|eveeo|o~o|eoooa| |, o| g~oe
s so dscdde'y, o| g |s o ~ys|eocs | g, vee deo g v |~ g
oovs, 's gove~e| |e ~os| d s|c|o g sese o| |'evod
Yoc eo yeed 'odoexoc|y|'e oppos|eYoc eed |o ep'oo |o peop|e
*Two Paris stations located on opposite sides of the Seine. The new bridge is
still supposed to include a modern, lightweight, short-distance transportation system.
o o ogo|g oo:|: ov | cgsoe evo'v cg, |yoa vo|socej|ooe ~oe
sy~po|e|c
Hc| ee, v||Ao~ s, ~o, |vos o pooceo, ocd |ec o' o|occe |vos
o .ey ood | g \edoc| covve|e'|soeco.se'!voso |ecco og co
|o ' .e, ooecocse|eo||c o sd d|voc| |, ooecocseit vos|ooexpecs ve
"I 'ove|osoy!|o!ococpo|ee ' ~ speos gooe'o| |o|!'e e'ec'ed
o|' c o s cvoved|eeso ce||o c e:go|oo c |'e|oceo|scpe~eoe cgs,
veedeo' cgv | |~eeo| o| ||e god: | so s.oec|ov' c'peopedoc |
os'o~y qces| ocs, v|| |e deo |o| | 'os cos| o geo| deo' o| ~ocey ocd
| 'o| ||s |oo ood
"But even so, o: you see!, dd ||e o|'co': ego|ve eoc|o p'oy o /o'e
`o, co| o~ce, osI see | , |!s se |eoeo|o| c \'e !oeco~eoovo.s
|~o| | d dc|vos|ecoogco' y, |ec |'eeoc|'oo| peop'e ' e ~e, e'ec|ed
o|| c o s, vos|o||'eexpe||s soc doveco|ced ~ccsooe|o||epoec|
s'oc'd oveoeec cc|
"But e'eced o''co's veeo|en :o|d |o 'ove oeec e|ce|oboc|-o~s
"I d| d | oove o ego!|ve ~pess o 'o~eo| ~yco |eogces'odo so~e
vo| ocxocs |ee cg, os | |eyd oeec ooocdoced |o |e ~ecy ol o ooo!
Hc|||s ' 'e \A've doce o o|o|s| cg, |ecoo csd' dc| oo!e ~e
`o,o~| evo' e,ve|occd |o|e|o||oc|ve.!'ee'ec|edo||| c| o sveec|
ogo cs| |, o~d|~o|vos o eodyo geo| p'cs, oc||'eyd dc| |g| |o | 's o
eo ~veethey co!lgo| . ocy evec|, it vos!oecoc!o|oe ocds `o,
yoc coc|o' o~eAo~ so' 'ee'ec!ed o||| c| o' s co 37]
The elected offcials aren't responsible; they have no technological
information except press clippings (and I know how trustworthy those
are), and they weren't kept informed about anything. But the funniest
part is that here is an offcial who is perfectly prepared to accept
technological uncertainties as long as he is kept informed. This
M_ Pierret has a lot marc good sense than many of them; he would
agree with Ficheur_ The point of te CET is to explore the technological
snags, not to let "supreme beings" "play with their toys. " M. Pierret
understands the hazards of the research process better than the techni
cians do. Necessarily: as a politician, he's well-acquainted with long
shots.
[ I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
^ |eq.e o| ^o|o
S| ' , |ees oe o|o||o oc||'o| ope |o 'od oc |o |'e seo'sdes ged
|o Ao~s :'eye o geo|scccess ' ~ go g |o|y|o cov ce |'e A!` 'o
eep|'e~ | |ecev\A' o| y' co ^ l |
Oh Aramis, unhappy Aramis, they're really kicking you while
you're down. A seat! This is what they've made of you, what they've
kept of you. Fifteen years of research for a seat! " Half a billion francs.
The most expensive armchair in the history of technology. " Ah, I can
see the headlines of the tabloids nowif only they would pay attention
to Aramis' love troubles instead of Lady Oi's.
After taking this plunge into the transcripts, I wasn't much further
along. With the help--precarious as it had been--of my mentor's
sociology no longer available, I clung to the methods of detective novels.
Like Hercule Poirot when he's stuck, I had written out a list of the
most Signifcant interpretations. They didn't converge at all . Norbert
was right about that. We had found all the phases innocent, yet I was
incapable of eliminating a single one of the possibilities.
1 . Aramis has been perfected and wil l be built soon.
2 . Aramis has been perfected but is too expensive for industrial
construction.
3. Aramis had almost been perfected; more money and more time are
all that would have been needed to complete the experimentation.
4. Aramis has been perfected and would not have been so expensive
if there had been the politi cal wi l l to produce it on a large scale.
. Aramis has been perfected, is very expensive, and has been aban
doned politically by the ministries involved.
6. Aramis has been perfected and is very expensive, but has been
abandoned politically by the l ocal Parisian elected officials despite
the support of the ministries concerned with technology.
/ | / | ` | ` | | / . 1 ! , /\/Y
7. Aramis has been perfected as a mobile unit, but not as an operating
system.
8. Aramis has been perfcted as a mobile unit, and could have been
perfected as an operating system, but would have been very expen
sive and was abandoned politically.
9. Aramis has not been perfected as a mobile unit.
\ . Aramis has not been perfected as a mobile unit because the manu
facturer has abandoned it in favor of its cider brother VAL.
\ ! , Aramis has not been perfected as a mobile unit because the oper
ating agency set impossible requirements instead of simplifying the
system.
1 2. Aramis could not be perfected as a mobile unit, even if the operating
agency agreed to simplify, because then it would no longer be
Aramis but a mini-VAL.
1 3 . Aramis simplifed, transformed, transported out of the Paris re
gion-to Montpellier, for example---could have become techno
logically and politically feasible.
1. Aramis cannot be perfected as a mobile unit because it is infeasible
with more than three cars.
\ b . Aramis cannot be perfected, but pieces of Aramis have been per
fected and have repercussions for other activities.
! b, No piece of Aramis has been perfected; everything would have to
be started from scratch if the project were taken up again. But there
are cultural repercussions: Paris has grown accustomed to automa
tion.
1 7. No piece of Aramis has been perfected. There are no repercussions;
it is a false innovation.
1 8. All the questions about repercussions and technological feasibility
and profitability could have been answered if the Ll had been
well conceived.
. It is impossible to judge. The question of the technological possi
bility of Aramis is a black box.
Z. The question of the technological possibility of Aramis must not be
raised, so that the Budget Offce will not keep coming around
harassing guided-transportation systems.
2 1 . The question of technological feasibility will not be raised.
My list went from the clearest
points to the most opaque. From
lightest to darkest. From most open to
most secret. And not a single
element was stable. Either Aramis really
existed and it had been killed
(the elected offi cials, the Budget Office, the politicians
had killed it;
there really had been murder, blindness
, obscurantism) , or else, at the
other extreme, Aramis had never existed: it had remained inconceivable
since 1 98 1 , and a different crime had been committed by a different
sort of blindness, another obscurantism; for years on end they'd been
drawing funds for nothing- -a pure loss. In the frst case, I was explain
ing Aramis' unjust death in 1 987; in the second, I was explaining Aramis'
unjustifed reprise in 1 984. But there's
the rub: I couldn't explain them
both at once, and I couldn't choose one over the other. Norbert was
right: I was like Buridan's donkey; I was going around in circles,
indignant at having to do my professor's work, but furious at being
unable-me, an engineer! to pull it
off bctter than he coul d.
While I was rereading, for the tenth time, the report on the end
of the CET from October 1 987, I fnally found the hidden staircase.
" Good Lord, but of course! That's i t! "
I exclaimed, just like Hercule
Poirot.
[DOCUMENT: DETAI LED DESCRI PTI ON OF THE AUTOMATED COMPONENTS OF
THE ARAMIS SYSTEM; MATRA, OCTOBER
1 5, 1 987; ORI GI NAL EMPHASI S]
2 . 1 . Bas i c Principles o f the
Arami s System
The principle ctt rains of v
ariable length makes it possi -
ble :
-to adapt the length o f the t rain eas i ly to the demand for
transportati on . I t is pos s ible
to retain a high
quality of
service during sl ack peri ods by means of short trains used
at interval s that remain brief ;
-to exploit a network with mu
l t iple origins and destina
t ions wit. hout reqJ i ri ng passe
ngers to trans fe
r , as the
trains demerge and merge on both
s ides of
Lhe switchin
g
point s ; this type of operation
makes ` pos s ible , i n par
t i cular, to retai n bri ef i nterv
a
:
s on the various branch
es
|/' ` | O / .1 | ~~_
of a network, to the extent that these i nterval s can be equal
to the i nterval on the common t runk line;
-to offer, i n the most sophisticated version of the
Arami s system, direct or semidi rect servi ces, by using off
l ine stat ions; certain pairs o f cars from a train may in ef
fect short-circuit the station by taking the main track and
avoid intermediate stops .
In addition to the speci f i c features described above , the
chief characteristics of the system are the followin g :
-the smal l size and thus the ease of insertion i n a n urban
site, the minimum curve radius being 1 0 meters without pas
sengers at the t erminus , 25 meters with pas sengers on the
lines ;
-the very bri ef servi ce interva l .
The report presented the 1 987 Aramis, word for word, as identical
to Petit and Bardet's 1 970 Aramis. I myself had found twenty-one
interpretations, but the technological documents remained mute about
this dispersion. Aramis had not incorporated any of the transformations
of its environment. It had remained purely an object, a pure obj ect.
Remote from te social arena, remote from history; intact. This was
surely it, the hidden staircase Norbert was looking for. Its soul and its
body, as he would say, never merged.
I saw my professor again only on the eve of the debriefing session
that he called " restitution. " While I was stamping my feet in excitement,
he seemed to be at a low point.
" Oh, I 'm all washed up, " he told me. " I 'm going to change careers.
Technology isn't for me. Even in dreams I haven't been able to embrace
Frankenstein's creature. I 've pulled away in horror. I 've been a coward.
I haven't reached any credible conclusion. I 'm going to go back to
classical culture. Do theology again. Reread Tacitus, as my Poly technique
colleague Finkielkraut advises. Habermas is right, after all ; there's no
love, no culture, in technologies. The farther behind you l eave them,
the better you think. How about you, what have you found? We do
have to turn in a report. And you're the engineer, after all . "
``

,,

" I was! 1 could have been! I was going to be! And you're the one
who dragged me into this ' mission impossible. ' And you're asking me
to pass judgment in your place? It's your job to present the conclusions. "
I showed him the 1 987 document.
" But we've read that a hundred times, " he said dejectedly.
" They've been saying the same things for ffteen years, ever since Petit
and Bardet. Nonmaterial couplings, small size, adaptability to the sites,
no transfers, comfort for seated passengers, a network with multiple
origins and destinations. It's all there. Where does it get us?"
" But that's just the point-it doesn't get us anywhere. Look at
the date: October 1 987, one month before Aramis' death. Aramis has
been exactly the same for seventeen years. The basic concept hasn't
undergone any transformation, any negotiation, except for the pair of
cars and the ten seats. It's held up against all comers. Yet you inter
viewed quite a few skeptics! Things have happened in the last ffteen
years! And now, look at my list: the interpretations are all over the
map."
His eyes lit up when he had run down the list.
" You see," I continued triumphantly. " Nothing changed it. It didn't
incorporate any skepticism, any random event. It reaches the moment
of death absolutely intact, fresh as the day it was born. Without aging,
without being ' degraded, ' without being 'adulterated, ' as they all say.
On the one hand, Aramis; on the other, my little chart. "
" But wait, I don't understand," Norbert interrupted, more and
more intrigued. " There's absolutely no relationship between these two
documents. "
ity."
" Exactly. Does Aramis absorb the 600 pairs of cars?"
" No, operational viability comes later, at the end of the road. "
" Do they transport i t to Montpellier?"
" Ah! No, everybody talks about it, but it remains a pure possibil-
" Do they increase its height so as to be able to include standing
passengers and restore el asticity to the traffi c How?"
" Oh, no, that's at the very end, and it isn't Ara
mis any more if
people aren't seated. "
" Are they interested in elected officials, in what they think?"
" No, you can't expect too much from them. They're dragged into
it only during the final months, and they aren't happy. "
" Do they take into account the skeptics at Matra or at the RATP?"
" No, not at all . "
" Well then, there you have i t, Norbert! They don't discuss i t. They
don't know what research is. They think it amounts to throwing money
out the "vindow! While everything is shifting around inside the Aramis
mobile unit, outside everything is carved in stone. They don't renego
tiate. The only one who explicitly accepts research as such is an elected
offcial who has nothing to say! "
" I 'm beginning to understand. Yes, yes, there really is love in
technologies. Poor Habermas ! For a minute there I almost agreed with
him. That's where the formal defect was, the sin, the crime-right in
this chart. Your chart. They didn't make Aramis a research project. They
didn't love it. You've saved me. "
We hugged each other.
" But then we have to understand, " he continued, as excited now
as I , "whether our interlocutors actually do hate research. We have to
go back to the interview transcripts. "
[I NTERVI EW EXCERPTS]
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|o.e |o oe poc|oged-
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|ec|, yoc co |se o oec|ocdos|o |veyeos !ece:o od~ s|o|oc
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posses !ovc |o |'e Al o ^z|
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sovov|odo |, oc|~oyoeso~edoyvev '
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oooc|
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|ove o|ee:|ed :oe peop|e, ood ||ey oc|do | |ove |e|| ||e |:pe::on ||o|
||.yd |o|ed, ||ey cocd /eo||y :oy ||ee o: c:e|c |o||oc| vV|eeo: o, ||e
|o||oc| ogc:eo| g|ve: ||e |:pe::o ||o| ||:, |o coo ' pc| |, o o|ono|zo|on.
j|og :/eoce ] ' do see the s|J~o go|oc Yes, it does co' | |o o.es|o
|'e decso~o g p|ocess
||e/e wo:n/ o lot o| d|sc:::o.
| vos o ve|yde oeo|e oc|o o~ |~e po|| o| |'e geeo d |ec|ood|e
pesde|. | ove|o soy|'o|||ee o: oo d|:cc::oo o~ocg |oepeopevoo
'od |' ^gs|o co|oc|e.
cocl oe ~cco c eoe:'o |o|.
Sep|cs vee cos deed e|ogode ||: |od |o ogce |n o :|co|on ||e
||o|. o J|
"Well, now we have the key to the puzzle, " I exclaimed enthusi
astically; " the fal lout from advanced basic research always comes after
the failure of the project! The whole thing should have been a research
project. They abandoned technology while thinking that it was going to
be finalized all by itself, that it was autonomous, that they'd see how
things worked out afterward, that it had to be protected from its
environment. "
" Yes. They really succeeded i n separating technology from the
social arena! Thev reallv believe in the total difference between the two.
. .
To cap it off, they themselves, the engineers and the technologists,
believe what philosophers of technology say about technology! And in
addition, research for them is impossible, unthinkabIc; its very move
ment of negotiation, of uncertainty, scandalizes them. They throw
money out te window, but they think research means throwing money
out the window."
" Not enough negotiation! "

c / ' ! '' 'V/
" No, no, not enough love! Love and research-it's the same
movement. They abandoned Aramis so as not to compromise it; they
committed the only sin that counts-the sin of disincarnation. They're
hardened positivists; they believe the soul and the body are distinct, "
murmured my mentor, completely enraptured.
A P A /' S | P ' / | Y '
/
E P I LOGUE: ARAMI S U NLOV ED

Quai des Grands-Augustins : all the major players in the Aramis

affair are seated around a large oval table. The project heads from Matra,
the RATP, the Region, the research institutes, and the government
ministries have all been convoked by the clients of the study. Only the
elected offi cials are missing.
" In detective stories there is always a moment when all the
suspects and their buddies gather in a big circle, quaking, to hear
Inspector Columbo or Hercule Poirot name the perpetrator," Norbert
began.
"The gUilty party is often the one who is the most ill at case, who
says foolish things and gives himself away. Yet even though our situation
this evening bears some likeness to that one, even though you've been
summoned here, we're not in a detective story, for two reasons.
" First, because today, around this table, the person doing the most
quaking, the one who's going to say the most foolish things, who's going
to give himself away, is me. Don't go looking for any other perpetrator.
" No, I 'm not Hercule Poirot-I'm not going to reveal the truth,
unveil the guilty party, or unmask anyone. We get the truth only in
novels, and this isn't a novel . In real life, reality sets anyone who looks
for it to quaking all over.
" It isn't easy to restitute what killed Aramis in this company, under
your watchful eyes, knowing that you have often given me information
ahout each other in strict confi dence. And l must hetray no secrets, yet
you are expecting me to uncover the secret.
" Don't worry, I can no longer escape.
" But sociologists are otten noted for being good at getting them
selves off the hook. They practice a scorched-earth policy and then
disappear as soon as the interviews are over; they go off to talk to their
peers, other sociologists; they don't give a damn about what their
' informants, ' as the)'
l
)ut it, will say; and anywav the informants have
. . .
to be forgiven they don't know what they're doing.
" But today, it is to you that I am making restitution, and what I
am restituting is what you have told me. What I have to be forgiven
for is everything I know, everything you've said to me. You are the ones
who trained me; you are also my j udges. You are the ones before whom
I have to make myself understood, because I have tried to understand
you. You are the ones I do not want to betray, yet you are expecting
me to pass j udgment. You are quaking-less than I am, of course, hut
still, we arc even, because you are the judges of my judgment as I am
of vours.
.
" The second reason that what we are doing here cannot be equated
with the fnal chapter of a detective story is that Aramis was not
murdered.
" Aramis is dead, but there was no murder. There is no perpetrator,
no guilty party. There is no particular scandal in the Aramis affair. The
funds expended and the time frame are normal . There has been no
scandal. The Personal Rapid Transit concept is somewhat out of fashion,
but failing to follow fashion is not a crime, and tomorrow people will
no doubt be talking about PRTs again. The Petite Ceinture line needed
to be equipped; it still needs something on its tracks; tomorrow it will
probably be outftted with something that will look very much like
Aramis, at least in its dimensions. You have all told me the same thing,
one way or another: every part of Aramis was necessary; each one still
corresponds to a need and will most likely resurface later. No, there's
nothing scandalous here. Everybody, every one of you, believed you
were doing the right thing. There wasn't a shred of wickedness in this
collective drift of good intentions. Even the Machiavel l ianism-and
| ' | ' ' c
there was a bit of that-was not pursued vi gorously enough to let us
designate a mastermind or a bad guy. Lined up together, al l the
accusations-and there were many, some of them pretty potent-can
cel each other out. From the standpoint of justice-even from the
standpoint of the immanent justice that has you all sweating a little,
that of the Budget Offi ce-there would be a fnding of no cause.
" Yet the good intentions drifted. Aramis died in 1 987, Aramis
came back to life in 1 984, it didn't take place, it did take place.
" We are gathered this evening around Aramis, around an obj ect
that did not take place but that was not without object. The proof is
that we all loved it. I myself am an outsider in the world of guided
transportation, and I too have been susceptible to the contagion. I don't
mind telling you al l that I really loved it. I shed real tears as I followed
the ups and downs of this being that asked to exist, to whom you
ofered existence.
" If Aramis didn't exist, it would have to be invented. If Aramis
had not tried to exist, it would have had to be invented. If you had not
tried to invent it, you would have fai led in your mission. Anyone who
does not feel this every single day, taking the metro or getting into an
automobile or swearing in a traffc jam, is not part of our circle, has
no claim on our attention.
" Yet we were wrong, we made mistakes, we misled one another.
Where is the error? Where is the crime? Maybe the question needs to
be put differently: Where is the sin?
" Aramis has been fragile from the outset-we all know that; not
fragil e in just one respect, in one weak link, as with other innovations,
but fragile on all points. It is limited-"hyperrefined, " as you put it.
The demand for it is undefned, the feasibility of the vehicle is uncertain,
its costs are variable, its operating conditions are chancy, its political
support--like all political support -is inconsistent. It innovates in all
respects at once-motor, casing, tracks, chips, site, hyperfrequencies,
doors, signal systems, passenger behavior. And beyond all this, it is
hypersensitive to variations in its environment. A case of shilly-shallying:
the history of Aramis is proof. Not one ministerial portfolio has changed
hands without Aramis ' coughing and catching cold.
...-.~ .... ..
: . C ' |
" Yet in spite of its fragility, its sensitivity, how have we treated it?
" Like an uncomplicated development proj ect that could unfold in
successive phases from the drawing boards to a metro system that would
run with 1 4, 000 passengers an hour in the south Paris region every
day, twenty-four hours a day.
" Here is our mistake, one we all made, the only one we made.
You had a hypersensitive project, and you treated it as if you could get
it through under its own steam. But you weren 't nuclear power, you
weren't the army; you weren't able to make the ministries, the Budget
Offi ce, or the passengers behave in such a way as to adapt themselves
to Aramis ' subtle variations, to its hesitations and its moods. And you
left Aramis to cope under its own steam when it was actually weak and
fragile. You believed in the autonomy of technology.
" If the Budget Offce can kill Aramis, what should you do, if you
really care about it? Impose yourselves on the Budget Offi ce, force it
to accept Aramis. You can't do that? Then don't ask Aramis to be capable
of doing it on its own. If elected offi cials from the south Paris region
can kill Aramis, what should you do? Make them change their minds,
or get other ones elected. You don't think you have the power? Then
don't expect that Aramis wil l . The laws of physics and the three-body
problem make it impossible to calculate the displacements of more than
three pairs of cars? Can you change physics, redo Poincare's calcula
tions? No? Then don't charge Aramis ' pairs of cars with the overwhelm
ing task of handling, all by themselves, knowledge that even God
Almighty may not have. It's only in horror stories and epistemological
treatises that omniscient humanoids invade the world on their own and
reshape it to their own needs. In worlds like theirs, don't ask the
impossible. You want Aramis to be automated, irreversible, real? It will
be, it could be, it could have been. But at the beginning it is still unreal ,
reversible, manual, terribly manual. Don't ask Aramis, don't ask a
proj ect, to do something you, as individuals and corporate bodies, fnd
yourselves incapable of accomplishing. Either you change the world to
adapt it to the nominal Aramis, or else, yes, you need-you needed-to
change Aramis.
c | | . C C ' .
" But then you would have needed to acknowledge that this was
a research project.
" Oh, you do l ove science! You were formed by it in your graduate
schools. As for technologies, you drank in its certainti es with your
mother's milk. But you still don't love research. Its uncertainties, its
whirlwinds, its mixed character, its setbacks, its negotiations, its com
promises ---you turn all that over to politicians, journalists, union
leaders, sociologists, writers, and literary critics : to me and people like
me. Research, for you, is the tub of the Danaldes: it's discussion leading
nowhere, it's a dancer in a tutu, it's democracy. But technological
research is the exact opposite of science, the exact opposite of tech
nology.
" Ah! If only Aramis could speak! If it were Aramis speaking to
you here instead of me, if it were he who had called you together,
gathered you around himself, he would have plenty to say about those
changes you didn't ask him for in order, so you said, to respect him,
to keep him pure. "
Yes, he'd say to M. Etienne, who i s here today, you modifed me
from top to bottom, but to tur me into what? A mini- VAL, a more
compact version of my elder brother VAL. I was willing, I would have
been quite prepared to come into existence in that form; but then you,
M. Maire, who are here today, you hated me, you accused M. Etienne
of degrading me, of adulterating me. I interested you only if I remained
complex, I had to have all my electronic assets, I had to be able to
couple and uncouple electronically. I would have been happy to do
that; perhaps I could have. But you loved me then in separate pieces,
pieces that could be used again elsewhere, to help out your business, I
don't know where, in the RER, in Lyon, at Orly. You loved me pro
vided that I did not exist as a whole. And then you, M. Coquelet, you
who represent the Region: if I did not exist as a whole, you wanted to
hear no more about me, you threatened to have nothing more to do
with me-you and your billions of francs and your millions of passen
gers. Then people grew frantic on my account. They had meetings
about me again. ! had to exist as a line so everybody would still love
me, so the Budget Ofce would support me. I would have been happy
c | | | ' L |
to be a line. What more could I ask of the god of guided transportation?
But then what a fuss there was, in your own services! The engineers
threw up their hands. M. Freque, who is here today, said I was impos
sible, and you, M. Grinevald, you called me infeasible; you even ac
cused me, I remember, of being a subsonic Concorde, inoperable, un
proftable, and passengerless, or I'm not sure, maybe an attraction for
an amusement park. What? I could have existed, for one of you, but
on the condition that I should exist as a prototype and not transport
anyone! I would have been happy to be something, in the end, anything
at all-but frst you have to agree among yourselves. I can't be every
thing to everybody. The fnest project in the world can't give more than
it has, and what it has is what you giue it.
" That is what Aramis would say, and perhaps he'd be even less
tactful than I . Perhaps he'd forget himself and accuse me in turn of
faintheartedness."
You're really too gutless with them, he would cry out suddenly like
a condemned man who challenges his lawyer and addresses himself
indignantly to the court. You're in cahoots with them. I haue no use
for your sweet-talking ecumenicism. Not to blame anyone-that's too
easy. No, no, he would perhaps say, a terrible doubt has struck fear
into my heart time after time. If they cannot reach agreement on my
behalf if they refuse to negotiate with one another over what I am
supposed to be, it's because they want me to stay in limbo foreuer. For
them, I'm just something to talk about. A pretext-object. One of those
plans that gets passed around for years so long as they don't really exist.
No, no, you didn't loue me. You loved me as an idea. You loved me as
long as I was uague. The proof is that you didn't even agree as to
whether I am possible in principle, whether my essence does or does
not imply my existence. Euen that would be enough for me. Oh, how
happy I would be to return to limbo if I knew that I was at least
conceiuable. I won't be granted euen that much.
You built the CET by mistake, to sallie your consciences, to assuage
your guilt; there had been so much talk about me for so long, I really
needed to exist, to move into action. But in reality no one, during those
' | | ' . |
years, could hold on to any trace of the reaso1S for producing me. You
got yoursel
ves all mixed up in your goals and strategies. Of what ends
am I the means? Tell me! You hid from one another in order not to
admit that you didn't want me. You built the eET the way human
couples produce one child after another when they're about to divorce,
trying to patch things up. What horrible hypocrisy, entrusting to the
whimperings of the most fragile of beings the responsibility for keeping
together creatures that are much stronger than itself
Whatever you do (you say) don't argue! Don't doubt! Don't nego
tiate! Don't
fght! But that's not how one loves brothers of my sort.
Silence is for me to bear, not you. You humans need to talk, argue, get
mad, that's
your role in this imperfect world. A frightening conspiracy
of silence is
what imposed silence on me. I wo
uld exist, on the contrary,
if you had s
poken, you silent ones. And the funniest thing of all is that
you really thought you'd said enough about
me. You really had the
impression
that twenty years of discussion, o
f plans and counterplans,
were enough, that it was time to quit, time
to move on at last to the
serious things; you had the impression that ! had to be fnished. But
that is precisely what fnished me off. No, no, you didn't argue for
seventeen
years, since you didn't redo me, didn't redesign me from head
to toe. You
skirted the issue, you concerned yourselves only with two
mobile units,
not with all of me. Does God ab
andon his creatures when
they are still
of unbaked clay? And even if you don't believe in God,
does nature
abandon its lineages in the sketchy state in which fossils
are found?
Isn't Darwin right? Isn't creation continuous?
It was so
I wouldn't be degraded! he will perhaps shout out with a
sardonic laugh.
They wa
nted to keep me pure of all compromise! "Be suspicious of
purity, it's the vitriol of the soul. " They wanted to keep me nominal,
as they put it. Noumenal, rather. Well, too bad for them, since because
of that insistence
on purity, what am I? Nothing but a name! And what
a name, by
the way! How could they stick me with the name of that
mustachioed swashbuckler?
But no,
they didn't want to complicate their lives. Everything in its
time. Later
for the crowd problems; later for
the social problems; later
for the operating problems. There'll be plenty of time to fnd a place
to use this stuff As if I were rootless! As if ! were a thing! As if things
were things! Let's not lose time on complicated problems, you said!
But didn't you really lose time, in the lo
ng run? They wanted to
concentrate on the components, the motor the casing, one mobile unit,
then two, then three. But that's not how we
exist, we beings
made of
| '| ' C

things. That's not what brought my elder brother VAL into existence.
"Technologically perfected, " you say. But how do you dare treat me
that way, when don't exist? How can you say of something that it is
perfected, achieved, fnished, technologically impeccable, when it d
oes
not have being! As i( existence were additional, as i( it were supplemen
tary, accidental, added from without to beings of reason! As if breath
fell miraculously onto our bodies o( clay! Accursed heretics who th
us
curse your own bodies (ull of souls, your own incarnate God, and your
own Darwinian nature in perpetual agitation. But you yourselv
es
would not exist, at that rate!
We are not little bits added one to another while waiting (or a
totality to come (rom elsewhere. We are not without humanity. We are
not. We are-h! what are we? Whirlwinds, great loops of retroactio
ns
,
troubled crowds, searching, restless, critical, unstable, complex, yes,
vast collectives. They wanted simple, clear, technological solutions. But
we technological objects have nothing technological about us. Are all
you engineers ready to hear me sputter with rage one last time, before
I disappear (orever into the void from which I could have been saved?
You hate us; you hate technologies . . . A local elected ofcial knows
more about research, about uncertainty, about negotiation, than all you
so-called technicians do. This message is veiled (rom the scientists and
the literati, and revealed to the meek and the poor! They say they love
me and don't want to search for me! They say they love technology
and they don't want to be researchers! They say they love nonhumans
and they don't love humans! And then there are the others, who say
they love humans and who don't love us, us machines! Oh, you really
do live in Erewhon, you live among things and you think you remain
among yourselves. Well then, may you perish like the residents of
Erewhon, along with the object o( your hatred!
" But no, no, if Aramis had been able to summon you to his side,"
Norbert went on, enraptured, " if Aramis formed the center of a great
unanimous circle, he would not speak in order to point out where you
went astray. He would not speak at all . Because then he would exist!
As Samuel Butler says in the Book i Machines, ' Won't it be the glory of
machines that they can do without the great gift of speech? Someone
has said that silence is a virtue that makes us agreeable to our fellows. '
Ah, Aramis, you would fnally enjoy that silence. Why would you waste
` ' ! C . c
your time speaking? What you aspire to is not bearing the ' I . ' On the
contrary, your dignity, your virtue, your glory, lie in being a ' one. ' And
it is this silence, this happy anonymity, this depth, tis heaviness, this
humanity, that we have denied you. I am speaking in your place, I am
offering you the awkward detour of a prosopopoeia, but it is precisely
because you are dead forever. ' It' wanted to become not the subject of
our discourse, but the object, the tender anonymous object by means
of which we would travel in Paris. Is that so hard to understand? I t
wanted the happy fate of VAL, its ' elder brother, ' as i t naively put it.
lt wanted to be silence, and thing, and object, and to spread throughout
its great, finally mute body the fow of our displacements. And you, by
not speaking more among yourselves, and I , by speaking so much of
it, have turned it forever into a being of reason, the pitiful hero of
an experimental novel . Neither autonomy nor independence. Thus, it
docs not exist, since it is speaking here, since it can speak through my
mouth, instead of being over there on the boulevard Victor, a happy
thing. "
And Norbert sat back down to stunned silence.
"Ahem, ahem, thank you very much, Professor H. , coughed the
presiding offcial who had ordered the study. " I must say, it's a real
novel you've done for us. I suppose there are reactions, questions . . .
Yes, M. Etienne?"
The discussion lasted until I was asked to present, more prosai
cally, the practical solutions that we had agreed to recommend to the
RATP
At the end of my internship, in June 1 988, I met Norbert for the
last time.
" What are you going to do now?" I asked him.
" I 'd really like to publish that story, since everybody tells me it's
a novel . "
" But it's unpublishablc! What about confidentiality? And besides,
you didn't fnd the solution; you weren't able to prove that if you'd
done the study five vears earlier vou would have seen the flaw and saved
. .
millions. "
E P I L OGU E

" Obligation to use all appropriate means, not to produce results" -that's
what the fne print says in all our standard contracts. And we certai
nly
didn't skimp on the means, I don't think. Confidentiality isn't a problem;
I 'm not denouncing anyone, I 'm not laying any hlame, there 's no scandal ,
no wrongdoers. It's a collective drift, there were only good intenti
ons.
And I 'd actually like to do a hook i n which there's no metalanguage,
no master discourse, where you wouldn't know which is strongest, the
sociological theory or the documents or the interviews or the literature
or the fiction, where all these genres or regimes would be at the same
level, each one interpreting the others vvithout anybody being able to
say which is judging what. "
" But that's impossible; and besides, i t would be incredibly horing.
And what good woul d it do?"
" Well, it would be good for training people like you. And it would
be good for educating the public, for getting people to understand,
getting them to love technologies. I 'd like to turn the failure of Aramis
into a success, so it won't have died in vain, so . . .
" You're funny, Norbert. You want to reeducate the whole world
and you want to produce a discourse that doesn't control anyone!
Readers want a line, they want mass transit, not point-to-point, not
personalized cabins. You want to know what I think? You're about to
embark on another Aramis proj ect, another wild-goose chase. As i nfea
sible as the first one. Rememher the lesson of Aramis: ' Don' t innovate
in every respect at once. ' Your book is just one more rickety endeavor,
ill-conceived from birth, a white elephant. "
" But if it were viable, at least i t would be useful to others, to
future engineers l i ke yourself. To help them understand research. "
I f I had indeed discovered the importance of research. . . I was
hardly convinced by Norbert's science, but since it was he, after all ,
who was to give me a grade on my internship, I grunted and fel l silent.
He continued.
" Never mind, I 'll write one more report, another colorless text,
an expert's audit; I 'll follow the advice of the Times: ' Make it boring. "'
After a few moments, he went on in a tone of feigned indifference
(for I knew he wanted to keep me in his lab):
| | ' c
" And you, what arc you going to do now?"
" I hardl y know how to tell you . . . Sociology is fascinating, but
think . . . " Then I took the plunge: "I 'm going to be an engineer
again, a real one; I 'm going to work for a big software company."
"Too bad for me, but I suppose it's good for you, it surely pays
better," Norbert said in a tone at once bitter and paternal . "At least
you've learned some things you can use, haven't you?"
" Uh, yes, the glorious uncertainty of technological research; but
to tell the truth, in fact, I think I 'm going to work now more on real
technological projects, trying, really, I mean, to forget, wel l , not to
forget, but to set aside . . ; this was after all, don't take this the wrong
way, a parenthesis. "
"Because Aramis . ?"
"Yes, no, of course, but anyway, I 'd like, I think, I hope to come
across a technological proj ect, purely technological , I 'm not sure how
to put this, but they've got a really well-conceived proj ect, really
doabl e. "
" Ah! ah! " Norbert interj ected sarcastically. "So you haven't been
immunized? You think Aramis is a special case? That they could have
done better? That it's pathological? I 've never seen such a stubborn
engineer. Aramis will have died in vain if you think it was a monster.
Aramis gave you the best . & . "
"Stop, stop, no, I 'm not abandoning Aramis, and you know why?
On the contrary, I 'm continuing it. The place where I 'm going to
work- you11 never guess what they're working on. A huge project to
develop an intelligent car. And you know what they talk about in their
documentation?" I went on proudly. " Adjustable mobile sectors, non
material couplings, reconfgurable trains, ultrasound devices, UGTs! Yes,
it's true-it's Aramis backward. Instead of starting with public trans
portation to end up making a car, they're starting with private cars and
turning them into public transportation, into trains. You sec, now, I 'm
not ungrateful ! But there, at least, i t's technologically perfected; they're
spending billions on it. "
" More than on sociology, I understand. And what's your proj ect
called?"
t ` ' . . U '
"Prometheus. "
" Prometheus! The ' smart car'?" And my former mentor burst out
laughing vengefully. " And it's perfected? And it's technologically feasi
ble? But the stealer of fre is Arami s to the tenth power, my poor fellow.
Frankenstein's monster looks like the Belvedere Apollo compared to
this project. "
" Not at all , " I replied, piqued. " It's technologically state-of-the
art, but feasible. "
" After one year! Listen t o him, look what he's saying! He's
forgotten nothing and learned nothing. But in five years I II come along
and study it for you, your Prometheus, my poor little engineer, they'll
be asking me for another postmortem study . . . "
" In any case you won't have me as your assistant, " I said stify. I
closed the door of the offce and left Norbert H. to his " refned"
sociology. As for me, from now on I 'd be devoting myself to hard
technology.
Ah, my internship grade? A well-deserved A+.
Two years later, on the plane coming back from a colloquium on
" smart cars, " I was stunned to read the following article in the April
28, 1 990, San Diego Union:
FAMI LYSI ZED MASS TRANSI T CARS TO BE STUDI ED AS ANSWER TO CONGESTI ON
"Called a ' personal rapid t rans i t ' system, the i dea is to
construct a network of lightweight, automated rail l i nes
that make it poss ible for commuters t o direct individual
rail cars to a spec i fic destination, without making interme
diary stops , " Franzen t ol d reporters here .
"You would walk into a station and buy a t icket , " he said .
"The vehicle wi l l read that ticket and t ake you exactl y
where you want t o go .
"The technology exists al l over the world, " Franzen said .
" I t has not been put together in this form anywhere in the
world .
| | ' . C C 3 .
" Damn! " I said to myself. " If they'd just waited a couple more
years, Aramis would have been on the right path, technologically! 'This
revolutionary transportation system is soon going to transform the city
of Chicago . . . Thereby solving the problems of congestion, . . .
pollution. ' But it's Bardct, it's Petit all over again! . . . ' A billion
dollars. ' They should have held out. It's all becoming profitable again.
I should have stuck with gUided transportation . . . "
. | | ' ' | |
GL OSSARY
A-320 An airplane built by the European consortium Airbus
Industry. Designed to compete with big North Ameri
can commercial aircraft, it was a major success for
Charles Fiterman (q. v. ).
actuator A word which, in robotics, desilrates any motor that
exercises physical force, as opposed to an electronic
circuit that conveys information.
aerotrai n A mass-transit system that resembled Aramis and that
underwent extensive testing from 1 965 to 1 976. Ac
cording to the Encc0pedie Larousse: "The whole his
tory of the aerotrain, which has lost government sup
port in France, at least for the time being, after an
initial period of heavy investment, is intertwined with
the history of the various means of propulsion that
were tried. But its history also reflects opposition
from other transportation systems, railroads in particu
lar, which saw the aerotrain as a serious rival that
they did not want to exploit for their own purposes,
despite proposals made along these lines. " This failure,
like the relative failure of the Concorde, had repercus
sions for the Aramis project at several points.
AIMT Automatisation Intlgrale du Mouvement des Trains: A
plan devised by the RATP that would completely auto
mate the Parisian subwav-- that would make it, in ef
fect, as automated as VAL. Currently, the subways are
automated only in part, since each train has a driver
who can take over in case of failure or emergency.
ai r gap A narrow break in an electromagnetic circuit. Its
width affects the motor's power.
Aisthom A large company that has long specialized in manufac
turing locomotives, electrical turbines, and railway
cars.
ANVAR Agence Nationale pour la Valorisation de la Recherche
C National Agency for the Valorization of Research") .
This state organization providcs matching funds for in
novative projects to bc carried out by small private
companies in collaboration with public research labora
tories.
Aramis Acronym for Agencement en Rames Automatisc.es de
Modules Independants dans lcs Stations ("arrangement
in automated trains of independent modules in sta
tions" ) . The name is an allusion to one of the four he
roes of Alexandre Dumas' well-kown novel The Three
Musketeers.
Araval A transit system that, like VAL, would have been auto
mated; but unlike Aramis, it would have run on a stan
dard line, without a dense network, without
branchings, and thus without the state-of-the-art elec
tronics of the nominal Aramis. Orly-Val is in effect a
belated realization of this " downgrding" of Aramis.
Ariane The European space rocket, which was developed
with the aim of breaking the American and Russian
monopoly on satellite launchers. The enterprise is
both a technological and a commercial success, and is
often cited as an example of the usefulness of coopera
tion among European nations.
AT-2000 One of the many PRT systems dreamed up by Gerard
Bardet. The direct ancestor of Aramis, it was based on
the rather wild idea that train cars could be divided
lengthwise into separable parts. The carrier function
would thus be distinct from the feeder function, as if
the aisles were detachable from the seats.
Automatisme et
Techni que
An engineering company, founded in 1 95 1 by Gerard
Bardet, that specialized in transport technology.
Balladur
Barde!
G L OS S A R Y
Edouard Balladur was minister o f finance in the gov
ernment of Jacgues Chirac ( 1 986-1 988), during the
period when Aramis was being developed. He later
served as prime minister, from 1 993 to 1 995.
Gerard Bardet was a brilliant engineer responsible for
many technological innovations, especially in the feld
of transportation. Trained at the Ecole Poly technique,
he was director of Automatisme et Technique (g. v. )
and held the frst patents on Aramis.
Berti n Jean Bertin ( 1 91 9-1 975), French engineer who frst
worked for SNECMA (q. v. ) , then set up his own con
sulting and engineering frm. With Paul Guyenne, he
invented the aero train (q. v. ) .
Bienvenue Fulgence Bienvenue, one of the engineers who de
signed the Paris subway. See the excellent report pro
duced under the direction of Maurice Daumas, Analse
histori
q
ue de l'evolution des transports en commun dans 1a
region parisienne, 1 855-1 930 (Paris: Editions du CNRS,
1 977) .
Bus Division The " Routier" : one of the two major di visions of the
RATP (q. v. ) . The other is the " Ferroviaire, " the Rail
Division.
Cabi nentaxi One of the many PRT systems-a cross between a
train and a taxi. It was developed in Germany over a
number of years, at the same time that Aramis was be
ing built and tested.
Cantor Georg Cantor ( 1 845-1 91 8) , German mathematician
who developed set theory and demonstrated the exist
ence of transfnite numbers.
eatadiopter A type of refector, invented by a French astronomer
(at least, this is what the French claim) , that is made
of mirrors and lenses-i . e. , that operates by means of
both reflection and refraction. Catadiopters are com
monly found on bicycles, cars, and other vehicles.
CEl Centre d'Experimentation Technique (" Center for Tech
nical Experimentation," or full-system site study) .
This is not a fxed site but rathcr the name for the
phase during which the chief innovations of a new
techology are tested.
CGT Confederation Generale du Travai l: one of France's
many labor unions-the biggest in terms of member
ship. In tactics and ideology, it is strongly associated
with the Communist Party, which was still very
influential when the Aramis saga began.
Chausson A company that specializes in the manufcture of cars
and buses and that made the frst buses for the RATP
The Chausson APU 5J was the ancestor of the buses
that ru in Paris today.
Chi rae Jacques Chirac, head of the Gaullist Party, served as
prime minister of France 1 974-1 976 and 1 986-1 988.
He was also the mayor of Paris from 1 977 t o 1 995,
and was elected president of France i n 1 995.
CMD Canton Mobile Deformable (" adjustable mobile
C . S S A Y
zone" ) . As opposed to fixed sections along the track,
the CMD i s a responsive zone around each car which
increases or decreases depending on the car's speed
and its distance from the car behind. It is the equiva
lent of the safe driving distance for an automobile,
which varies according to speed. The CMD is the soul
of Aramis (see Chapter 6).
Concorde Supersonic plane developed and built by a Franco-Eng
li sh consortium during the presidency of Charles de
Gaulle. It was deemed a major technical success but a
complete commercial failure.
Conseil General des " General Council on Bridges and Roads" : A supervi -
Ponts et Chaussees sory board that brings together the highest oflicials
from the prestigious three-hundred-year-old " Corps"
des Ponts et Chaussees, the body that has overseen
much of the Fren('h highway system since the time of
Louis 7l` The Corps is made up of a small number
of highly gifted students selccted from the Ecole
Poly technique and sent on to specialized elite engi
neering schools. In the course of their careers, these
chosen few go on to head various national agencies as
well as the principal semiprivate industries in France.
Unlike their American counterparts, the top French
engineering schools such as the Poly technique, the
Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines, and the Ecole
Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees are much more pres
tigious than universities.
conversational A term having nothing to do with the art of the sa
lon. In cybernetics, it refers to a feedback loop be
tween a command and its activator.
Dassault Marcel Dassault, hero of the French aircraft industry
and founder of a vast and highly profitable business in
military and civil aircraft after the First World War.
DATAR Delegation a I 'Amcnagement du Territoire et a l Ac
tion Regionale, a regional planning commission.
DATAR is one of the many institutions that attempt
to redress the i mbalance between Paris and the rest
of France by planning more equitable development.
DTI Direction des Transports Terrestres (" Bureau of
Ground Transportation") of the Transportation Minis
try. This is the agency that oversees all related re
search institutes and developers.
ECA Electronique de Commande des Actuatcurs ( elec
tronic activator control"): an electronic interface be
tween the onboard control unit (UGE) and the subsys-

''

___
tems to be controlled in the car (doors, brakes, steer
ing) .
Eole One of the new, fully automated transit l ines that are
now being constructed in the middle of Paris to re
li eve congestion on the RER.
EPAL Etablissement Public de I 'Agglomeration Lilloise : a
semioffcial body that oversees the creation of new
townships and new infrastructure in the Lille Region
in the north of France.
Espoce A car designed hy Matra and produced by Renault.
The Espace (" Space") served as the model for the
Aramis cabin.
Fi cheur Michel Ficheur was the man behind VAL. Later he
moved to the Research Ministry to oversee transporta
tion research at a time when the ministry was becom
ing increasingly powerful . Ficheur develo
'
ped a method
ology tor supervising research projects in a more
systematic way.
Fiterman Charles Fiterman, a Communist, was France's trans
portation minister from 1 98 1 to July 1 984. He played
a crucial role in the Aramis storv.

FNAC A Paris hookstore chain that created a small-scale,

short-distance transportation system for the parking
garage of its store on the rue de Rennes.
Fourcade Jean-Pierre Fourcade, former mi ni ster with the UDF
(a right-of-center party) and first vice-president of the
I l e-de-France Regional Council.
Franci l i enne beltway A highway around Paris that allows through traffic to
bypass the city instead of clogging its arteries.
Frybourg Michel Frybourg, a graduate of the Ecole Poly tech
nique, founded INRETS (q. v. ) and headed it until
1 982.
Giraud Michel Giraud, from the same party as Jacques Chi
rae, held several cabinet posts and served as president
of the !Ie-dc-France Regi onal Council.
Giraudet Pierre Giraudet, the RATP's director from 1 971 to
1 975 , was responsible for a major modernization of
the metro. Under his leadership, the Paris system was
largely automated-with drivers-and tht' last ticket
puncher disappeared from the Porte des Lilas station.
guided transportation Transportation that runs on rails--subways, trolleys,
commuter trains, and so on.
Habegger A minitrain developed in Swi tzerland in the early
1 960s. Based on the monorail . with electric power
and tiny cars, it was never completely automated and
has been used only in amusement parks. Though it
was not a fully fledged PRT, it demonstrated to trans
portation engineers that systems of intermediate size
and complexity existed between trains and automo
biles.
heterogeneous Expression coined by John Law to describe the multi-
engineering plicity of worlds in which an engineer must function
simultaneously in order to construct an artifact. The
phrase is used in opposition to the idea that engineers
deal Vith nothing but "purely technical" matters. See
John Law, "Technology and Heterogeneous Engineer
ing: The Case of Portuguese Expansion, " in Y E.
Bijker, J l Hughes, and Pinch, cds. , The Social Con
struction q Technological Systems: New Directions in the So
ciology and History i TechnoloB (Cambridge, Mass. :
MIT Press, 1 987), pp. 1 1 1-1 34.
homologation A technological and legal term. To say that the trans
portation minister and the RATP (the minister's desig
nated contracting authority) "homologate" Aramis
mcans that they formally declare the system to be not
only feasihle in principle but also safe and authorized
to transport passengers.
hyperfrequencies Extremely high radioelectric frequencies, above 1 ,000
megahertz. Hyperfrequency makes radio electric cou
plings of very high capacity possible with power of
just a few watts.
lIe-de-France Region Since 1 982 France has been fghting a tendency to
ward increasing State control and has heen doing so
through a process of decentralization, creating adminis
trative "regions" with sizable powers and fnancial
abilities. The He-de-France Region is one of these. But
the fact that Paris lies in the middle of it means that
the Region is very complicated to manage, since Paris
is at once a city and the seat of national government,
and is administered by both the elected mayor and a
prefect designated by the government. In addition,
Paris is a departementone of seven smaller administra
tive units inside the Region. Each of these administra
tive levels has its own responsibilities and concerns in
the matter of transportation.
C| CS S A | Y
I NRETS Institut de Recherche sur les Transports (" Institute for
Transportation Research") : a research center depend
ent on the Transportation Ministry. INRETS examines
the ministry's technical dossiers, often a diffcult task
given the scale of operations both technological and
fnancial-of the SNCF, the RATP, and the major auto
mobile manufacturers.
isotopy In semiotics, the set of procedures which gives the
reader the impression that there is continuity among
the characters and parts of a narrative. The term was
imported into semiotics by A. J. Greimas; see A. J.
Greimas and J. Courtes, Semiotics and Lan8ua8e: An Ana
lytical Dictionar
y
, trans. Larry Crist et al . (Bloom
ington: Indiana University Press, 1 983) .
Lagardere Jean-Luc Lagardere has been president of Matra since
1 977.
Lepine competition An annual fair, conceived by a famous prefect of Paris
and first held in 1 901 . The fair offers inventors of
every stripe the opportunity to present their devices
to one another and to would-be investors. Its name
has become synonymous with weird and useless gadg
etry.
Matra company French high-tech company (also known as Societe des
Engins Matra) , founded in 1 945. Under the leadership
of Jean-Luc Lagardere, it has become preeminent in
its fi eld, with major divisions devoted to military appli
cations, telecommunications , automobile technology,
and mass transit. It is also involved in many activities
relating to publishing and the media. Its branch Matra
Transport is one of the central characters in this
story, since it was set up to handle the business gener
ated by VAL and, at least in part, by Aramis.
Matra Transport A subsidiary of the Matra company founded in 1 972
to develop the VAL system in Lille, as well as Aramis.
It has since become an important company in its own
right, selling automated-transport systems around the
world (e. g. , the city of Taipei , and Chicago's O'Hare
Airport).
Mauroy Pierre Mauroy was prime minister from 1 98 1 to
1 984. He was replaced by Laurent Fabius up to the
1 986 l egislative elections, which were won by the
Right.
Mi rage I I I One of the most sophisticated of the Dassault fighter
planes.
Mitterand Fran<ois Mitterand, a moderate leftist, was elected
president of France in 1 98 1 . He won reelection Or a
second seven-year term in 1 988.

module A unit that is considered to be reusable in other trans

portation systems without any specifc adaptation to
the particular circumstances of a given site. " Modu
lar" research is the opposite of " specific" research. In
practice, the complexities of guided transportation
make a modular approach very dificult.
MST Mission Scicntifique et Technique (" Scientific and Tech
nical Mission. ) Branch of the Research Ministry re-
sponsible for the politics of science.
.
Notebart In the 1 970s and 1 980s Arthur N otebart was presi
dent of the Lille urban community, mayor of the city,
and a member of the Chamber of Deputies. He put
all his energy into the VAL project.
orange card A special fare card that allows Parisians to pay just
once a month, or even once a year, for ulimited use
of public transportation withn the city and its imme
diate outskirts. Half the cost of the card is borne by
the passenger's employer. This rate structure makes it
diffcult to calculate the profitability of a new invest
ment-but it docs make public transportation in Paris
relatively inexpensive, indeed a real bargain compared
to other costs (as tourists can hardly fail to note).
The low fees are the result of a decision by Pierre
Giraudet (q. v. ) to simplify the subway- and train-fare
system.
Orly Rai l Traditional rail system that links Paris with Ody Air
port. It has one major disadvantage: passengers have
to take a bus to reach the terminals.
Orly-Val A VAL system a few kilometers long that was opened
in 1 990 to link Orly Airport to the RER station in
the Paris suburb of Antony. Built with private funding,
it quickly went bankrupt- -as predicted-and is now
run jointly by the RATP and the SNCF.
|\\ Poste Central de Commande (" central command
post") : supervi sory hub of the Aramis system. It in
cludes a computer network, workstations, consol es,
video monitors, and telephones that permit electronic
control and surveillance of the system's components,
stations, and movements, as well as communication
with maintenance, police, and emergency services.
Petite Ceinture An old rail line that circles Paris and that, for much
of its length, has fallen into disrepair. See map in the
frontmatter.
phonic wheel A cogged wheel that allows very fne calibrations of
its axle's rotation.

.=
Poro 2000
A lHJ system which is based on the same principle
as the ski lifts at mountain resorts and the cable cars
in San Francisco. Each car, which is small and has no
driver, is automatically linked to a continuouslv run
ning cable and circulaes between stations. Th system
has been operating for several years in the French
town of Laon.
Prometheus The code name for a European Community project to
develop " smart cars. "
PRT Personal Rapid Transit: the adaptation of mass trans
portation to the needs of the individual or small
groups of passengers , in order to fght the hegemony
of automobile transportation. The concept of PRT be
came very popular during the Kenedy administra
tion, but it has since fallen out of favor somewhat .
Aramis was the longest-running PRT project. In re
cent years there has heen a renewal of interest in this
technology a hybrid of car and train.
Qui n Claude Quin was a member of the Communist Party,
an elected representative from Paris. He headed the
RATP from 1 98 1 to 1 986.
Rofole A military aircraft developed by Dassault amid much
controversy over its cost and specifcations. Like
Aramis, it was a symbol of France's high-tech ability.
Rai l Division The " Ferroviaire" : one of the two major divisions of
the RATP (q. v. ) . The other is the
"
Routier,
"
the Bus
Division.
RATP Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens: the operat
ing agency responsible for the subways and buses of
the city of Paris and its immediate outskirts. Its status
is intermediate between that of a private t'nterprise
and that of an administration. Like the SNCF (q.v. ) , it
functions as both buyer and client: it is responsible
not just for transporting passengers but for designing,
commissioning, and ordering the means of transporta
tion. The ministry that supervises it has only limited
control over its operations. The agency is the product
of a merger between two companies-one involved
with aboveground transport and the other with under
ground transport-which had completely different
missions and technical cultures, This difference is still
apparent in the fact that the RATP has two branches
the Rail Division ( Ferroviaire") and the Bus Division
(" Routier")-and it played a role in the Aramis case,
since Aramis is a hybrid creature, bothferroviaire (it
runs on tracks) and ro()) (it has a buslike construc-
tion). See Michel Margairaz. Histoire de la 1: ra sin
guliere aventure des trmpons
p
arisiens (Paris: Albin
Michel, 1 989) .
refre&h time The speed with which the data in a computer or on a
screen are brought up to date.
RER Rescau Express Regional ("Regional Express Net
work" ) , a mass-transit system that is saturated during
rush hours in its central Paris stations, especially on
Line A, which runs east-west. Two major competing
projects are slatcd to reduce the pressure on the RER
network: the RATP's Mcteor (an automated metro sys
-
tem for which Matra won the contract), and the
-
SNCF' s Eolc.
Roissy Rai l A traditional rail system that links Paris with Charles
de Gaulle Airport. Its major disadvantage is that pas
sengers must take a bus to reach the terminals.
SACEM An automated gUidance system used on traditional
metros (RER) . It allows trains to approach each GIcr
more closely than human drivers can permit them to
do: it overrides the safety instructions and enables
trains to follow each other at the hair-raising interval
of one and a half minutes. It was developed at the
same time as Aramis and involves much the same kind
of software.
Sauni erSeite Alice Louise Saunier-Selte, right-Wing minister of
higher education and research; the bete noire of rc
searchers, who compared her to Margaret Thatcher.
| o o / | Y
OChneOer A manufacturing company that made some of the
RATP's frst buses.
SK A short- distance transportation system, a kind of hori
zontal cahle car much like the one in Morgantown,
West Virginia. The SK can be seen in the Villepinte
Exhibition Park north of Paris.
SNCF Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer: the French
state-owned railway company. Like the RATP, it is re
sponsible for transporting passengers, as well as for de
signing means of transportation, having them con
structed, and ordering them. It thus combines the
functions of buyer and client, and enjoys a large meas
ure of administrative autonomy.
SNECMA Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de
Motcurs d'Aviation ("National Company for the Study
and Construction of Aircraft Engines") : a major high-
tech French company specializing in airplane and
rocket engines.
snifer plane An airplane that was the focus GI a huge scandal in
the early 1 980s. Oil companies and bogus scientists
collaborated in financing and developing a revolution
ary system designed to sniff out oil reservcs from
above. The instrument's black box, when it was fnally
opened, turned out to be empty. The scandal was pub
licly acknowledged in 1 983, after being denied several
times by former president Valery Giscard-dEstaing.
SOFRES One of France's largest polling frms, specializing in
political and marketing polls.
SOFRETU A consulting and development frm for guided-trans
portation systems. The RATP owns 80 percent of it.
South li ne The Rocade Sud: a maj or transverse line into the sub
urbs of Paris (see map in the frontmatter) which al
lowed people to travel , without passing through Paris,
among many small communities where demand was
too small to support a standard metro system.
testing phase The last phase of a proj ect before fnal approval that
is, acceptance by the public authorities of the transpor
tation system's safety.
TGV Train a Grande Vitesse ("high-speed train") . These
trains, which criss-cross France at a speed of 300 kilo
meters per hour, have been a great technical and eco
nomic success for the SNCF.
TRACS A very clever system of moving sidewalks that suc
ceed in the apparently impossible feat of going faster
in the central portion than at either edge. It was aban
doned in 1 986. Since the same engineers and the
same decisionmakers work on all such transportation
systems, successes or failures in one area have reper
cussions for the others, even though the technological
principles may be quite different.
UGE Ln!t de Gestion Embarquee (" onboard control
unit") : an electronic unit on board the transportation
vehicle that functions to control safety, driving, and su
pervision.
UGT Unite de Gestion de 1'ron<;on ("traffc-control unit") :
one of Aramis' lowertier electronic control systems,
in charge of dispatching the various vehicles.
'
For each
one-kilometer sector of track, the UGT controls the
anticollision function, exchanges data with the Central
Command Post, regulates merging of the cars, moni-
' | | . . / | 1
a
tors the cars' positions, and transmits alarm signals
when necessary.
VAL An automated suhway similar to the shuttle that
serves the Atlanta airport. First implemented in Lill e,
a large city i n northern France, it has since he en ex
ported to several countries, including the United
States (it is now being used at Chicago's O'Hare
Airport).
valori meter Any instrument that measures a value ---for example,
in units of money, in kilocalories, or in petrolcum
equivalents. It designates any measuring instrument
that establishes an equivalence between di ssimilar things.
variable-reluctance The main mechanical invention of Aramis. The rotary
motor engine allows engineers to do away with the gears
that, in ordinary vehicles, link the rotation of the elec
tric motor with the axles. By varying the reluctance-
which is, in magnetism, what resistance is in electric
ity--the engineers connect the functions of axle and
rotor.
Vi l l ette (La) A slaughterhouse in the north of Paris. It was a fail
ure, in technical as well as economic terms-a real
pork harrel. The building was converted into a gigan
tic Museum of Science and Industry, four times the
size of the Beaubourg museum. It is now a huge
monument devoted to the "glory of Science and
France. "
BIUND /ATOUI, 0""
o SOOoIogy, Co N.ro
. d /, P, .
_"I_fla
fll ; Se i A;ood W
H _ & -. (al
Hl.
HARVARD UNIVfRSIrY PRESS
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