in this edition of 3minut theory we'll be discussing interaction a term that comes to us from feminist physicist Karen Bar bar describes interaction as the mutual constitution of entangled agencies and what's agency again simply we can understand agency as the ability to act so in other words interaction is the mangling of people and things and other stuff's ability to act sort of sounds like interaction though doesn't it well let's break down the difference first let's look at the prefixes inter and intra inter means among or in the midst of whereas intra means within when we add the word action to these prefixes we get a whole different meaning when two bodies interact they each maintain a level of independence each entity exists before they encounter one another however when bodies interact they do so in co-constitutive ways individuals materialize through interactions and the ability to act emerges from within the relationship not outside of it so why is this distinction important well interaction gives us a whole new way of thinking about our relationships with each other with matter with materials with nature and with discourses when these different things are in relationships with each other our ability to do stuff changes transforms or emerges let's take the recent Ebola phenomenon as an example we can say the Ebola phenomenon is not just the virus itself but is an interaction of the actual virus with human and non-human actors including human bodies discourses on Africa pandemics the role of politics political pundits news channels and fear ebola is not just a virus but a phenomenon that's made and unmade through interactions between nature culture and technology through interaction we are all brought together into the Ebola phenomenon and yet this interaction separates us into new co-constitutive subject positions through interactions we become at least temporarily the afflicted and non-afflicted the at risk and the not at risk and the exposed and the unexposed so studying these interactions reveals how differences get made and unmade it's unlikely that many of us will interact with the Ebola virus but we will all interact with the Ebola phenomenon and therefore we are all responsible for the matter produced in these interactions the discourses the materials and the subject positions interactions defer and deflect responsibility but in interactions responsibility is distributed among the constituive entities this is where agency comes into play agency is about action reconfigurings doing and being it does not pre-exist separately but emerges in the relationships in these interactions thinking with interaction means giving up cause and effect relationships individual agency and subject object dichotoies we gain new understandings of ethics and justice as not things that are predetermined but always changing and unfolding interaction calls into question steadfast boundaries and borders and linear time and in turn it helps us think in terms of simultaneity it tears down the walls that contains disciplined thought and action to reveal the artificial boundaries we forgot we invented