Prospective Technology Assessment of Synthetic Biology: Fundamental and Propaedeutic Reflections in Order to Enable an Early Assessment

Abstract

Synthetic biology is regarded as one of the key technosciences of the future. The goal of this paper is to present some fundamental considerations to enable procedures of a technology assessment (TA) of synthetic biology. To accomplish such an early "upstream" assessment of a not yet fully developed technology, a special type of TA will be considered: Prospective TA (ProTA). At the center of ProTA are the analysis and the framing of "synthetic biology," including a characterization and assessment of the technological core. The thesis is that if there is any differentia specifica giving substance to the umbrella term "synthetic biology," it is the idea of harnessing self-organization for engineering purposes. To underline that we are likely experiencing an epochal break in the ontology of technoscientific systems, this new type of technology is called "late-modern technology." -I start this paper by analyzing the three most common visions of synthetic biology. Then I argue that one particular vision deserves more attention because it underlies the others: the vision of self-organization. I discuss the inherent limits of this new type of late-modern technology in the attempt to control and monitor possible risk issues. I refer to Hans Jonas' ethics and his early anticipation of the risks of a novel type of technology. I end by drawing conclusions for the approach of ProTA towards an early societal shaping of synthetic biology.

Challenges of Global Technology Assessment in Biotechnology—Bringing Clarity and Better Understanding in Fragmented Global Governance

“…Synthetic biology has dual-use potential and there are concerns about biosecurity, the potential for misuse and biosafety, and the potential unintended consequences of the technology (see: NASEM, 2018). One suggestion has been that prospective TA in combination with ethics is necessary (Schmidt, 2015), or that it can be complemented with an analysis based on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) (Stemerding, 2019). One way to go about this is to review the literature and case studies of TA in dual use in other fields such as cybersecurity (e.g.…”

The Ethics of Synthetic Biology Research and Development: A Principlist Approach

“…An important issue in terms of the principle of justice arises where governance of synbio imposes onerous and protracted regulatory requirements on synbio: this leads to a situation in which only rich countries or multinational corporations can participate. (Schmidt 2016). This threatens to limit the potential benefits from synbio for poorer nations.…”

The Ethics and Ontology of Synthetic Biology: a Neo-Aristotelian Perspective

“…Unfortunately there is no straightforward answer to this question. Although, as Jan Schmidt notes, the defining characteristic of synthetic biology is that it 'harnesses, or aims to harness, the self-organization power of nature' [35], the discipline is comprised of a multitude of techniques that have differing implications for our present enquiry. Simplifying matters greatly, however, we can divide these techniques into two kinds.…”