Abstract
Technoscientific objects are penetrating ever more profoundly into the socio-ecological systems that shape the contemporary lifeworld in ways that have brought about widely celebrated benefits, and also many kinds of risks for human health, the environment and society. There are many kinds of technoscientific objects, such as physical, chemical or biological objects that are outcomes of technical/experimental/instrumental interventions made in the course of research conducted in such areas as computer science, biotechnology, nanotechnology, neurosciences, geo-engineering, synthetic biology and artificial intelligence. Moreover, every technoscientific object is itself an object of many kinds, not only an object whose genesis, functioning and effective use are well understood in areas like these, but also a social, economic, ecological and cultural object; and, for each kind that the object is, there are associated specific causal mechanisms whose operations, when triggered in the course of using it in the lifeworld, may lead to effects on and risks for human lives, social arrangements and the environment (Section 1). I will illustrate these claims as they apply to the exemplary technoscientific objects, transgenics (GMOs) used in agriculture (Section 2). Then (Section 3), generalizing the discussion about transgenics, I will argue that appraising the value and legitimacy of introducing and using technoscientific objects adequately requires being informed by the results of scientific investigation that take into account all the kinds of things that they are, and (to the extent possible) all the causal mechanisms from which the effects and risks of using them may arise.Keywords: Technoscientific objects, transgenics, ecological and social responsibility.
Highlights
RESUMO Objetos tecnocientíficos estão penetrando cada vez mais profundamente nos sistemas socioecológicos que moldam a vida contemporânea de maneira a trazer benefícios amplamente celebrados e também muitos tipos de riscos para a saúde humana, o meio ambiente e a sociedade
E.g., in molecular biology and biotechnology, transgenics are investigated for their genomic and molecular biological properties and the effects that are triggered by these properties and changes of them; but not for the effects of using them on the agroecosystems in which they are planted and cultivated and in the specific socioeconomic contexts in which they have been developed, produced, marketed and processed, and not for the impact of using them on, e.g., biodiversity, the viability of small-scale farming and worldwide food security
Ncoete,hvaeerdrotbphyteilnveigsrst,DuwSeistohafinndretahladethihoeinrsitsnogroibtcotaalVitnrTiaPnjegmcutboteurtywaloelyfenrmeiotnhdfoeermrcne, such as that technological developments are furthered by being informed by knowledge obtained in decontextualizing strategies (DSs)-research, and DS-research often makes use of instruments and equipment that are themselves adaptations of technological innovations made possible because of advances of DS-research (Lacey, 1999, p. 117)
Summary
The mainstream of the modern scientific tradition has fostered research that utilizes methodological approaches that involve adopting decontextualizing strategies (DSs). In order to understand this multi-dimensional impact as fully as possible one must keep in mind that, in addition to being outcomes of technoscientific research (objects that have come into existence as outcomes of technical/experimental/ instrumental interventions made in the course of DS-research), technoscientific objects are social, economic, ecological and cultural objects They are, e.g., components of social/ecological systems that embody VTP and (most of them) V , as well as values specific to the areas (e.g., medicine) of tCh&eMir intended use.. I will illustrate the claims just made as they apply to an exemplary class of technoscientific objects: transgenics, transgenic seeds and plants that are being used (or whose use is anticipated) in agricultural practices that produce foodstuffs.
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