Discourse about Synthetic Biology and Responsible Innovation: Notes from a Historical Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.2016.055.01Keywords:
Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), Synthetic Biology, Progress, Transhumanism, Bio-Utopianism, SynenergeneAbstract
Dominated as it is by visionary images of the future and influenced by the ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ (RRI) approach, the discourse about synthetic biology (SynBio) and the prospects for its application may be interpreted as an arena for argument about the future of our societies generally. At a time when the widespread end of the systemic conflict between capitalism and socialism has made it rare for the whole of society to engage in debates on fundamental political and socioeconomic issues, discourses on science and technology can apparently be used to address questions of this kind indirectly. It is possible to clarify this function of SynBio discourse by setting it in its historical context, in which respect the focus is placed on older discourses about the societal significance of biology and its technological applications.
Downloads
References
Bernal, John Desmond (1939), The Social Function of Science, London: George Routledge and Sons.
Bernal, John Desmond (1967), The Origin of Life, Cleveland: World. PMid:6066719
Bernal, John Desmond (1970 [1929]), The World, The Flesh and The Devil. An Inquiry into the Future of the Three Enemies of the Rational Soul, London: Jonathan Cape.
Blumenberg, Hans (1974), Säkularisierung und Selbstbehauptung, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Bud, Robert (1994), The uses of life. A history of biotechnology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bush, Vannevar (1945), Science the endless frontier. Washington: United States Government Printing Office. PMid:21007941
Church, George / Regis, Ed (2012), Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves, New York: Basic Books.
Coenen, C. (2014), "Transhumanism and its genesis: The shaping of human enhancement discourse by visions of the future", en Humana.Mente – Journal of Philosophical Studies 26, pp. 35-58.
Coenen, Christopher (2015), "The earth as our footstool - visions of human enhancement in 19th and 20th Century Britain", en Bateman, S., Gayon, J., Allouche, S., Goffette, J., Marzano, M. (eds.), Inquiring into human enhancement. Interdisciplinary and international perspectives, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 183-204. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137530073_10
De Chadarevian, Soraya (2002), Designs for life: Molecular biology after World War II, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ferrari, Arianna, Coenen, Christopher y Grunwald, Armin (2012), "Visions and ethics in current discourse on human enhancement", en NanoEthics 6(3), pp. 215-229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-012-0155-1
Frank, Daniel, Heil, Reinhard, Coenen, Christopher y König, Harald (2015), "Synthetic biology's self-fulfilling prophecy - dangers of confinement from within and outside", en Biotechnology Journal 10, pp. 231-235. https://doi.org/10.1002/biot.201400477 PMid:25515923
Freeman, Christopher (1974), The Economics of Industrial Innovation, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Fuller, Watson (ed.) (1971), The social impact of modern biology: Papers and discussions presented at an international conference held in London on Nov. 26-28, 1970, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Godin, Benoît (2015): Innovation Contested: The Idea of Innovation Over the Centuries, New York: Routledge.
Haldane, John Burdon Sanderson (1924), Daedalus; or, Science and the future: a paper read to the Heretics, Cambridge, on February 4th, 1923, New York: E.P. Dutton & Company.
Haldane, John Burdon Sanderson (1937 [1932]), The Inequality of Man, Harmondsworth: Pelican Books.
Hesse, Christian, Oschema, Klaus (2010): "Aufbruch im Mittelalter – Innovation in Gesellschaften der Vormoderne. Eine Einführung", en Hesse, C., Oschema, K. (eds.), Mittelalter – Innovationen in Gesellschaften der Vormoderne. Studien zu Ehren von Rainer C. Schwinges, Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke, pp. 9-33.
Hölscher, Lucian (1999), Die Entdeckung der Zukunft, Frankfurt: Fischer. PMCid:PMC1171552
Khushf, George (2004), "The Ethics of Nanotechnology – Visions and Values for a New Generation of Science and Engineering", en National Academy of Engineering (ed.), Emerging Technologies and Ethical Issues in Engineering: Papers from a Workshop, October 14-15, 2003, Washington: The National Academies Press, pp. 29-55.
Knorr Cetina, Karin (2005), The rise of a culture of life, en EMBO reports 6 (special issue), pp. 76-80. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.embor.7400437 PMid:15995669 PMCid:PMC1369282
König, Harald, Frank, Daniel, Heil, Reinhard y Coenen, Christopher (2016), "Synthetic biology's multiple dimensions of benefits and risks: implications for governance and policies", en Boldt, J. (ed.), Synthetic Biology. Metaphors, Worldviews, Ethics, and Law, Wiesbaden: Springer, pp. 217-232. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-10988-2_14
Koselleck, Reinhart (1979), Vergangene Zukunft - Zur Semantik geschichtlicher Zeiten. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Krauch, Helmut (1970), Prioritäten für die Forschungspolitik. München: Hanser.
Krauch, Helmut (1971/1972), "Priorities for research and technological development", en: Research Policy 1(1), pp. 28-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-7333(71)90005-9
Manuel, Frank E. y Manuel, Fritzie P. (1979), Utopian Thought in the Western World. Cambridge/MA: Harvard University Press.
Owen, Richard, Bessant, John y Heintz, Maggy (eds.) (2013), Responsible Innovation: Managing the Responsible Emergence of Science and Innovation in Society, Chichester: John Wiley.
Pielke Jr., Roger (2014), "In Retrospect: The Social Function of Science", en: Nature 507, pp. 427-428.
Reade, W. Winwood (1910 [1872]), The Martyrdom of Man, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Company.
Riehm, Ulrich (2003): "Helmut Krauch's 'Priorities for Research Policy' (1970) revisited", en: Technikfolgenabschätzung – Theorie und Praxis 12(2) (https://www.tatup- journal.de/downloads/2003/tatup032_rieh03b.pdf).
Rip, Arie y Voß, Jan-Peter (2013), "Umbrella Terms as Mediators in the Governance of Emerging Science and Technology", en: Science, Technology & Innovation Studies 9(2), pp. 39-59. PMCid:PMC3897797
Schmidt, Markus, Meyer, Angela, Cserer, Amelie (2015): "The Bio:Fiction film festival: Sensing how a debate about synthetic biology might evolve", en: Public Understanding of Science 24(5), pp. 619-635. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662513503772 PMid:24164747 PMCid:PMC4466099
TAB (Büro für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung beim Deutschen Bundestag) (2015), Synthetische Biologie – die nächste Stufe der Bio- und Gentechnologie, TAB-Arbeitsbericht 164, Berlin.
Vogeler, Rolf-Dieter (1992), Engagierte Wissenschaftler. Bernal, Huxley & Co.: Über das Projekt der "Social Relations of Science"-Bewegung. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Werskey, Gary (2007), "The Visible College Revisited: Second Opinions on the Red Scientists of the 1930s", en: Minerva, 45(3), pp. 305-319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-007-9047-x
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the print and online versions of this journal are the property of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You may read the basic information and the legal text of the licence. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 licence must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the final version of the work produced by the publisher, is not allowed.
