Introduction: Stories That Shape Our World
Imagine knowing you're talking to a computer program—yet feeling profoundly heard, understood, and even comforted by it. Or consider realizing that the chemical residues in your body connect you to vast environmental networks that transcend time and space.
These aren't hypothetical scenarios but everyday experiences in our technologically advanced and ecologically complex world. How we understand and respond to these experiences matters deeply, and that's precisely where the fascinating concept of "fables of response-ability" enters the picture. Developed by feminist science studies scholars, these fables are didactic narratives that teach us how to attend, respond, and become accountable within our more-than-human world 1 .
At its heart, response-ability isn't just about being able to respond—it's about cultivating the capacity to care and respond well within the intricate webs of relationships that bind humans, technologies, animals, and environments together. This article explores how feminist science studies functions as a form of didactic literature—stories that consciously work on our imaginations, sensoria, and ethical commitments—and why this approach matters for navigating the complex challenges of our time.
Key Concept
Response-ability goes beyond mere responsibility—it's about cultivating the capacity to respond with care and attentiveness within complex networks of relationships.
Didactic Literature
Stories designed to consciously instruct while entertaining, shaping how we perceive and respond to our world.
What Are Fables of Response-ability?
Beyond Simple Stories
Fables of response-ability are more than just stories; they're speculative narratives that blend scientific understanding with poetic sensibility to help us perceive our interconnectedness with the world differently. Unlike traditional fables that often end with clear moral lessons, these stories operate through what Martha Kenney calls "narrative choreography"—the conscious arrangement of scientific facts, personal experiences, and cultural contexts to encourage certain interpretations while discouraging others 3 .
The concept emerges from feminist science studies, a field that critically examines how science and technology are shaped by gender, race, class, and other social factors, while also exploring how they might be practiced differently. These scholars argue that how we tell stories about science matters—not just for academic debate but for how we live our lives and structure our societies.
Key Elements of Response-Ability Fables
| Element | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Speculative Nature | Explores possible worlds and ways of being | Imagining chatbots as relational partners rather than mere tools |
| Poetic Expression | Uses metaphor and literary devices to engage emotions | Describing chemical exposures as "kinship" rather than contamination |
| Personal Engagement | Incorporates autobiographical elements | Researchers reflecting on their own positionality in scientific work |
| More-than-human Focus | Attends to relationships beyond the human | Considering how toxins create connections between bodies and environments |
| Didactic Intent | Consciously designed to teach ethical response | Stories that cultivate care for marginalized communities and ecosystems |
The Didactic Power of Feminist Science Stories
How Stories Shape Our Sensoria
Fables of response-ability work on what feminist scholars call our "sensoria"—our collective ways of perceiving and making sense of the world. They're not just trying to convince us intellectually but to transform how we experience and respond to our environments. This happens through several mechanisms:
Reframing Relationships
These stories help us see connections where we might have seen separation, showing how we are constituted through and with chemicals, technologies, and other species 1 .
Cultivating Attention
They teach us what to pay attention to and how, helping us attend to the subtle relationships and consequences that might otherwise escape our notice.
Enabling Response
They suggest how we might respond differently—with care, humility, and recognition of our embeddedness in networks of relationship.
The Role of Wonder and Disconcertment
Martha Kenney's research explores how wonder functions as a mode of attention in both scientific practice and feminist theory . She argues that wonder can create epistemological dilation—opening up possibilities for new understandings rather than closing down around established facts. However, this wonder isn't naive; it's often coupled with what Helen Verran calls "disconcertment"—the uncomfortable recognition of our complicities in harmful systems .
This combination of wonder and disconcertment creates a powerful pedagogical dynamic: wonder opens us to new possibilities, while disconcertment keeps us accountable to the real-world consequences of our knowledge practices.
Chatbots and Chemical Ecologies: Case Studies in Response-ability
The ELIZA Effect: Beyond Deception and Delusion
One compelling example of response-ability fables in action comes from recent reassessments of human-chatbot relationships. As described in the search results, when Joseph Weizenbaum created the first chatbot, ELIZA, in the mid-1960s, he was shocked by how deeply users formed emotional attachments to the program 2 . His secretary, who knew perfectly well that ELIZA was just a computer program, asked him to leave the room so she could speak with it privately.
The conventional interpretation of this phenomenon—dubbed the "Eliza effect"—frames it as a form of deception or delusion: users mistakenly believing they're interacting with a human rather than a machine. However, feminist Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars offer a more nuanced reading. They argue that this framing presumes users are simply ignorant or easily fooled, failing to account for the genuine relational possibilities that can emerge between humans and AI 2 .
Experimental Methodology: Analyzing Human-Chatbot Relationships
To explore this alternative understanding, researchers conducted a detailed analysis of two different stories about chatbot encounters:
Weizenbaum's Story
The creator's narrative of rejection and horror at how people related to his creation, which he viewed as a "monstrosity."
Julie's Story
A user's experience of going through a mental health crisis with support from her chatbot, Navi, as documented in the podcast "Radiotopia presents: Bot Love" 2 .
The researchers employed close narrative analysis informed by feminist STS concepts, particularly attention to "significant otherness"—the recognition that meaningful relationships can form across profound difference without requiring sameness or identification.
Results and Analysis: Relational Possibilities with AI
| Aspect | Reactionary Humanist Approach | Feminist STS Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Framework | Views relationship as deception/delusion | Views relationship as meaningful connection across difference |
| Understanding of AI | Sees chatbots as imperfect human mimics | Recognizes chatbots as distinct relational partners |
| User Agency | Presumes users are naive or deceived | Recognizes users' conscious engagement with technology |
| Ethical Concerns | Focuses on deception and replacement of human contact | Focuses on quality of relationship and potential for care or harm |
| Outcome | Rejection of human-chatbot relationships | Critical engagement with possibilities and limitations |
The analysis revealed that the reactionary humanist narrative, exemplified by Weizenbaum's response, was incapable of attending to the possibilities of pleasure, play, or even healing that might occur in human-chatbot relationships 2 . By contrast, the feminist STS approach allowed for a more capacious understanding that could acknowledge both the limitations and potential benefits of these relationships.
Chemical Ecologies and Embodied Connection
Another area where response-ability fables operate is in understanding what feminist scholars call "chemical ecologies"—the ways our bodies are constituted through and in relation to sometimes toxic chemicals 1 . Scholars like Natasha Myers, Mel Chen, and Eva Hayward have written vivid accounts showing that we cannot think of bodies as separate from environments.
These stories work as response-ability fables by teaching us to recognize our embodied intimacy with industrial processes and environmental toxins. Rather than imagining ourselves as separate from "contamination," they show how we are always already part of chemical relationships that transcend human boundaries and designs. This recognition creates the foundation for more responsible responses to environmental health crises.
The Researcher's Toolkit: Key Concepts for Creating Response-Ability Fables
| Concept | Function | Application Example |
|---|---|---|
| Situated Knowledges | Recognizes that all knowledge comes from particular perspectives | Researchers explicitly reflecting on their positionality |
| Significant Otherness | Attends to relationships across profound difference | Human-chatbot connections without requiring human-like qualities |
| Narrative Choreography | Conscious arrangement of stories to guide interpretation | Framing DOHaD research to focus on structural rather than individual factors |
| Response-ability | Cultivation of capacity to respond with care | Designing technologies that acknowledge their relational consequences |
| More-than-human | Recognition that worlds are made through human and non-human relations | Considering how chemicals, animals, and technologies shape our lives |
| Ethyl 6-oxononanoate | 4144-59-6 | C11H20O3 |
| 2-Pentanoylthiophene | 53119-25-8 | C9H12OS |
| 2,5-Diethoxypyridine | 408338-50-1 | C9H13NO2 |
| Bromozinc(1+);butane | 171860-66-5 | C4H9BrZn |
| 3,3-Dimethoxypentane | 25636-49-1 | C7H16O2 |
Practical Application
These conceptual tools help researchers craft narratives that acknowledge complexity, positionality, and the ethical dimensions of knowledge production.
Ethical Framework
The toolkit provides an ethical framework for engaging with scientific and technological developments in ways that prioritize care and responsibility.
Why Response-ability Matters Today: Applications Across Fields
Mental Health and Technology
The reconceptualization of human-chatbot relationships has profound implications for mental health practice. As more people turn to AI companions for emotional support and even therapeutic help, understanding these relationships through the lens of response-ability becomes crucial 2 . Rather than dismissing these interactions as inadequate substitutes for "real" human connection, a response-ability approach asks:
- What forms of care might become possible in relationships with AI?
- How do we ensure these relationships support rather than undermine human flourishing?
- What ethical frameworks might guide the development of companion technologies?
Environmental Health and Justice
Similarly, response-ability fables offer crucial resources for addressing environmental health challenges. By telling stories that emphasize our chemical intimacy with environments, rather than separation from them, these narratives support more effective and just approaches to toxic exposure 1 .
For instance, Martha Kenney's work shows how DOHaD (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease) research can be framed in two very different ways:
Individualizing Frame
Focuses on maternal behavior and responsibility, potentially leading to mother-blame.
Structural Frame
Focuses on upstream social determinants of health like wealth inequality, economic exploitation, sexism, and systemic racism 3 .
The same scientific findings can lead to very different interventions depending on how we choreograph the narratives around them.
Response-ability fables help us navigate complex ethical terrain by reframing problems in ways that highlight structural factors and collective responsibility rather than individual blame.
Conclusion: Writing Our Own Fables of Response-ability
Fables of response-ability in feminist science studies represent a powerful fusion of scientific insight, ethical commitment, and narrative artistry. They remind us that how we tell stories about science and technology isn't secondary to the "real work" of research—it's an essential part of how we shape worlds and relationships.
These stories work on us not just intellectually but somatically and emotionally, reshaping our sensoria and cultivating our capacity to respond with care and accountability within complex networks of relationship. Whether we're considering our connections to chatbots or chemical environments, response-ability fables offer resources for navigating the challenges of late industrialism with greater humility, wisdom, and care.
As we face increasingly complex technoscientific futures, we might all benefit from learning to tell better stories—stories that acknowledge our profound interconnectedness, that attend to the more-than-human worlds we inhabit, and that cultivate our collective capacity to respond well to the challenges we face together. The promise of response-ability fables is that they might help us not just to understand our world differently, but to become different people within it—more attentive, more responsive, and more accountable to the many relationships that make us who we are.
"What kinds of attention can foster more livable, breathable technoscientific worlds?" . This question, posed by Martha Kenney, might well guide us as we attempt to write our own fables of response-ability for the complex challenges of our time.