Abstract—One of the most important stages in many areas of engineering and applied sciences is modeling and the use of optimization techniques to increase the quality and performance of products or processes. This paper is an attempt to conceptualize the optimization process at a more abstract level with the aspiration to capture the multidimensional interdependencies and to question issues of cooperation and conflict. It is argued that actor-network theory approach, a discussed line of thought in science studies, offers a new and radical stance for understanding the optimization process and that it is able to grasp its ontological complexity. The starting point is to look at the optimization process as a complex socio-technical practice where material things, human beings, theories as well as representation intermingle in a complex becoming of negotiations and mutual reproduction.
Index Terms—Actor-network theory, evolutionary computing, global optimization, no free lunch theorems.
The Author is with Kuang-Chi Institute of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen, China. (e-mail: loris.serafino@kuang-chi.org).
Cite: Loris Serafino, "Towards a New Conceptualization of the Optimization Process: Actor-Network Theory Approach," International Journal of Modeling and Optimization vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 103-108, 2012.
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