Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
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E m e r g i n g b i o t e c h n o l o g i e s<br />
specific technologies, ‘golden opportunities’ or, ‘royal roads’, for example, risks making any<br />
resistance to specific technological commitments appear to betoken an ‘anti-science’ or ‘antitechnology’<br />
prejudice. In fact, resistance to innovati<strong>on</strong> is indispensable, and criticism of<br />
novelties valuable, in revealing the diversity of opti<strong>on</strong>s available and the viability of those<br />
alternatives. 35<br />
1.18 The questi<strong>on</strong> of ‘opportunity cost’, of what is foreg<strong>on</strong>e in the attempt to secure a selected<br />
benefit, is <strong>on</strong>e that is familiar to ec<strong>on</strong>omists but too seldom adequately c<strong>on</strong>sidered in relati<strong>on</strong> to<br />
technological commitments. Such c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> may appear difficult because it is usually taken<br />
to mean speculating about a range of futures where both the possibility of realising them and<br />
the values attached to the realisati<strong>on</strong> are so uncertain. It can, nevertheless, provoke a<br />
c<strong>on</strong>structive examinati<strong>on</strong> of the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s that c<strong>on</strong>strain decisi<strong>on</strong> making, help to illuminate<br />
unquesti<strong>on</strong>ed assumpti<strong>on</strong>s, and identify a broader range of choices that are available. We<br />
therefore make the recommendati<strong>on</strong> – <strong>on</strong>e that has guided our own deliberati<strong>on</strong>s – that<br />
commitments to particular technological pathways should be evaluated not <strong>on</strong>ly in terms<br />
of their expected future impacts but also by comparis<strong>on</strong> to possible alternative<br />
pathways; this can help to illuminate obscured assumpti<strong>on</strong>s, c<strong>on</strong>straints and<br />
mechanisms of the innovati<strong>on</strong> system, and help to identify sites and opportunities for<br />
more c<strong>on</strong>structive governance, prioritisati<strong>on</strong> and c<strong>on</strong>trol. Guided by this recommendati<strong>on</strong><br />
we now turn our attenti<strong>on</strong> to the c<strong>on</strong>textual c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s within which <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> emerge and<br />
the role that those c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s play in c<strong>on</strong>straining or opening up possible trajectories of<br />
development.<br />
C H A P T E R 1<br />
C<strong>on</strong>tingency and its c<strong>on</strong>sequences<br />
Material and discursive c<strong>on</strong>texts<br />
1.19 We have seen that the emergence of new <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> may be characterised as a<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tingent, branching process whereby some possible trajectories are selected in preference to<br />
others. Different pathways may be explored simultaneously, although probably not all of those<br />
that are possible; sometimes a single approach becomes dominant and others are neglected<br />
(although they may be returned to later, especially if c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s change).<br />
1.20 The unfolding of this process is governed by a mixture of intrinsic potentialities and c<strong>on</strong>tingent<br />
c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s. Intrinsic potentialities will include things like hard physical c<strong>on</strong>straints that limit the<br />
viability of a given technology and define its operati<strong>on</strong>al parameters. C<strong>on</strong>tingent c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s will<br />
include things like instituti<strong>on</strong>al structures, networks of communicati<strong>on</strong> for the transfer of<br />
knowledge between researchers, inputs of funding and investment, allocati<strong>on</strong> of resources,<br />
legal c<strong>on</strong>straints and regulatory requirements. Together, these intrinsic and c<strong>on</strong>tingent<br />
c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s make up what we will call the ‘material c<strong>on</strong>text’ of biotechnology emergence.<br />
1.21 While intrinsic potentialities are a given (even if they are not wholly understood), c<strong>on</strong>tingent<br />
c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s often fall within the scope of human choice, even if they are not actively chosen.<br />
Choices may weave together complex moral and factual judgments as well as subtle attitudes<br />
and beliefs, values and dispositi<strong>on</strong>s. The c<strong>on</strong>text in which these are expressed is a ‘discursive<br />
c<strong>on</strong>text’ of discussi<strong>on</strong>, debate and deliberati<strong>on</strong>. Such c<strong>on</strong>texts involve different groups of<br />
individuals invested with different kinds of powers. The discursive c<strong>on</strong>text provides an<br />
opportunity to examine hypothetical or imaginary states of affairs and the values associated with<br />
them. However, it is also where decisi<strong>on</strong>s are made that alter the material c<strong>on</strong>text, for example,<br />
decisi<strong>on</strong>s to initiate a line of research, allocate funding, and impose legal or other c<strong>on</strong>straints.<br />
(How the discursive c<strong>on</strong>text itself may come to be structured for particular biotechnology<br />
decisi<strong>on</strong>s is an important questi<strong>on</strong> for this Report that we will address in the next Chapter.)<br />
35<br />
Edgert<strong>on</strong> D (2008) The shock of the old (L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>: Profile), p9. Such resistance may even be essential and, whereas it is<br />
often left to n<strong>on</strong>-scientists and for this reas<strong>on</strong> risks being politically marginalised, is something that scientists themselves<br />
should undertake; see: Edgert<strong>on</strong> D (2011) In praise of Luddism Nature 471: 27-9.<br />
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