Team:Calgary/Human Practices/Ethics/SL Conference
From 2009.igem.org
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
Over the course of the summer, we have come up with many potential ethical issues that can be explored, based on our own exploration of this year's project, through the application of two frameworks. We used the E3LS framework to analyze the ethical issues surrounding our 2009 iGEM project and synthetic biology itself. E3LS is an acronym for environmental, ethical, economical, legal and social issues. This framework allows us to categorize the ethical issues surrounding synthetic biology and our project and thus making it easier for us to analyze these issues. Some questions that arose when using the E3LS were:
In addition to our exploration of E3LS, we also watched a live online conference, called “Seeking Common Ground in the Ethical Debates about Techno-Sciences like Syn-Bio” (June 24th 2009), which was conducted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Hastings Centre. This Conference provided our University of Calgary iGEM Team with another framework to work with called the Precautionary (critics of Synthetic Biology) and Proactionary (Advocates of Synthetic Biology) Framework. We used this framework to examine the different perspectives of the Critics and Advocates of Synthetic Biology. The Precautionary Framework suggests that even if there is a slight chance that some work has the potential to cause harm than either the research project should be aborted or there should be extensive research on the ethical implications and the potential harms of the research project prior to beginning it. On the other hand, the Proactionary principle suggests that synthetic biology has an inherently positive attitude and that the field has great potential to solve issues facing our society. This framework could also be discussed in the form of a conference, as supporters of either side could easily be reached to share their viewpoints in a public debate. Based on our exploration in these two frameworks, we have developed a list of topics that can be explored through a future Second Life Ethics Conference. In general, some of the issues that would be up for discussion include:
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PROOF OF CONCEPT
As a proof of concept, our team arranged a miniature conference of our own, to examine how this could be done with regards to an ethics exploration. This year, we discussed some of the issues based on an article by Michael Specter (“A Life of Its Own”, published in the New Yorker) in Second Life. After the reading, the team went into SL to talk about some of these issues, in order to provide a short trial of how conferences may be run. For future iGEM teams, we can invite guest speakers, who have either expertise in the field of synthetic biology or are somehow involved in the iGEM competition, and discuss with them some of the ethical issues mentioned above in the list. As well, other individuals can freely attend such conferences and participate.
Our first Second Life Ethics Conference involved members of our team, and can be viewed here in 4 parts. It was held in the form of an informal discussion, but we recognize that there are different formats that can be utilized, depending on number of participants and presence of guest speakers. |