Machine metaphors and ethics in synthetic biology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8248596 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joachim Boldt (0000-0002-9219-7933, University of Freiburg, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 12-12 |
| Publication date | 2018-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Life Sciences Society and Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2195-7819 • E-ISSN: 2195-7819 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1186/s40504-018-0077-y |
| PMID | 29862436 |
| OpenAlex | W2805759789 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 23 |
The extent to which machine metaphors are used in synthetic biology is striking. These metaphors contain a specific perspective on organisms as well as on scientific and technological progress. Expressions such as "genetically engineered machine", "genetic circuit", and "platform organism", taken from the realms of electronic engineering, car manufacturing, and information technology, highlight specific aspects of the functioning of living beings while at the same time hiding others, such as evolutionary change and interdependencies in ecosystems. Since these latter aspects are relevant for, for example, risk evaluation of uncontained uses of synthetic organisms, it is ethically imperative to resist the thrust of machine metaphors in this respect. In addition, from the perspective of the machine metaphor viewing an entity as a moral agent or patient becomes dubious. If one were to regard living beings, including humans, as machines, it becomes difficult to justify ascriptions of moral status. Finally, the machine metaphor reinforces beliefs in the potential of synthetic biology to play a decisive role in solving societal problems, and downplays the role of alternative technological, and social and political measures
Biology · Cognitive science · Computational biology · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Interdependence · Metaphor · Organism · Social science · Sociology · Synthetic biology · Computer Science · Engineering · Gene Regulatory Network Analysis · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Philosophy · Psychology · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life · Artificial Intelligence
Tragic Flaws and Practical Wisdom
Low expectations within conservative wing of discourse coalition for innovation and technoscience
Reconstructing Resistance
Circles of Care for Safety
From Buzz to Burst—Critical Remarks on the Term ‘Life’ and Its Ethical Implications in Synthetic Biology
Living Machines
Gene drive communication
Metabolism Instead of Machine
Artificial agency and the game of semantic extension
Synthetic biology
Modéliser la transition de l'inerte au vivant
Modeling the transition from the inert to the living
The Case For Animal Rights
Machines as Moral Patients We Shouldn’t Care About (Yet)
Artificial Consciousness and Artificial Ethics
Synthetic biology
How a ‘drive to make’ shapes synthetic biology
Organisms≠Machines
The mismeasure of machine
Synthetic biology as understanding, control, construction, and creation? Techno-epistemic and socio-political implications of different stances in talking and doing technoscience
Between the possible and the actual
Genetic essentialism
Clocks to Computers
| Citations per year | 1.71 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2026 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |