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Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the 'tension' involved in STS and social innovation through a comparison of models dealing with 'extensive and intensive growth' (K. Marx, A. Marshall, G.A. Feldman, S. Kuznets, G. Ofur, P. Thiel, et al.). In particular, it focuses on strategies of social and economic innovation in both market and non-market environments in the work of Soviet engineer-economist and planner Grigory A. Feldman and in previous and subsequent studies on the theme.

Special attention is placed on the connection between 'innovation diffusion theory' (E. Rogers) and 'extension theory,' in agriculture, higher education and other collective (shared or distributed) learning projects. The paper includes a short genealogical study of the terms 'extension' and 'intension' across several academic fields, including philosophy, mathematics, economics, mass media and STS, running from Descartes and Leibniz to A.N. Whitehead, M. McLuhan and S. Lash.

The historical analysis of 'extension' re-connects with contemporary challenges of science, technology and innovation in the ideas of entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. This approach presents an updated version of 'intensive and extensive growth,' which uses the classical Degrees vs. Units distinction to highlight modern-day problems of innovation diffusion and scale. According to Thiel, 'intensive thinking' (vertical) contributes more to innovation than 'extensive thinking' (horizontal), which makes it of greater value and demand for science and technology development.

The paper ends by addressing socially responsible innovation based on proportionality, which can be measured in degrees using the notions of extension, intension and the root term 'tension.'