STEM, social science & humanities scholars are joining forces to create high-quality videos of black holes with an Earth-sized virtual telescope. New white paper out now (open access): https://www.mdpi.com/2139392If you are a philosopher, historian, sociologist, HPS, STS or legal scholar interested in contributing to the Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (ngEHT.org), contact n.c.m.martens[at]uu.nl or @EU_phil_cosmo with a brief description of your background and thoughts about contributing to the ngEHT.
GOAL 1: Responsible telescope siting—taking into account not only environmental & technical but also social, cultural and ethical specifications when choosing and developing telescope sites.
GOAL 2: Tailoring the aesthetic choices of the final black hole videos to the context of our broader visual culture, taking into account scientific considerations and public perception.
GOAL 3: Mitigating risks like user bias, holism, opacity and entrenchment within the various algorithms and inferences that come into play when imaging black holes, using, for instance, robustness-type arguments.
GOAL 4: Bridging the gap between theory and observation. How to apply idealised mathematical results such as no-hair theorems to the messy real world?
GOAL 5: Be a role-model for other large collaborations in terms of the relationship between individual members and the whole collaboration qua transparent decision-making, diversity, fair credit assignment and accountability. Designing a governance structure that enables the desired social epistemology.