A primer to 'bio-objects': new challenges at the interface of science, technology and society.

Matthias Braun,Peter Dabrock,Uwe Sonnewald,Jens Ried

doi:10.1007/s11693-013-9104-8

Abstract

Biotechnological and life science innovations do not only lead to immense progress in diverse fields of natural science and technical research and thereby drive economic development, they also fundamentally affect the relationship between nature, technology and society. Taken this seriously, the ethical and societal assessment of emerging biotechnologies as for example synthetic biology is challenged not only to constrain on questions of biosafety and biosecurity but also to face the societal questions within the different fields as an interface problem of science and society. In order to map this vague and stirring field, we propose the concept of bio-objects to explore the reciprocal interaction at the interface of science and society serious as well to have the opportunity to detect possible junctions of societal discontent and unease before their appearance.

Highlights

Biotechnological and life science innovations do lead to immense progress in diverse fields of natural science and technical research and thereby drive economic development, they fundamentally affect the relationship between nature, technology and society
The situation is changing: the supposedly neutral or even positive societal perspective on and evaluation of synthetic biology is at risk. 111 civil society organizations (CSO) call for a moratorium on synthetic biology: ‘‘The Precautionary Principle must be applied to synthetic biology because the risks of the technology are inherently unpredictable with potentially far-reaching and irreversible impacts’’ (Friends of the Earth U.S, International Center for Technology Assessment, ETC Group 2012)
The different scientific, societal and economic actors are put in a flurry: Will synthetic biology suffer the same fate as the so called ‘green biotechnology’? How can this vague and stirring field be mapped?

Summary

Introduction

Biotechnological and life science innovations do lead to immense progress in diverse fields of natural science and technical research and thereby drive economic development, they fundamentally affect the relationship between nature, technology and society. The ethical and societal assessment of emerging biotechnologies as for example synthetic biology is challenged to constrain on questions of biosafety and biosecurity and to face the societal questions within the different fields as an interface problem of science and society.

Results

Conclusion