Team:Calgary/Human Practices/Ethics/SL Conference

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As a suggested direction for our future University of Calgary iGEM Team, we put forward the idea of holding an ethics conference in the online virtual world of Second Life ™. The purpose of this conference would be to foster debate regarding ethical issues, amongst people, who may have some background in the field of synthetic biology. This novel approach to the ethical aspect of our future projects differs from the surveys and conferences that are usually organized when exploring ethics. As a novel method of...

Second Life is an online, virtual world, where every object, costume, creature, and patch of land is designed by the world's inhabitants. It is a three-dimensional chat engine, a videogame platform, a virtual reality, and an online classroom all combined into one. It has also gained a lot of attention for its potential as an educational platform because

1. It has educational groups that are devoted to promote some specific fields of Business, Arts, and Sciences; and
2. It has educational islands and centers that are dedicated to promoting educational fields.

Educational groups, such as those that are devoted to promote science, hold conferences and group discussions in which they invite guest speakers, who are either experts in the field or are part of some organization that is related to the topic of discussion. They also invite a general academic audience, that listens to the discussions, and depending on the type of conference being held, can also participate by either asking questions or advocating their perspectives and perceptions. Our University of Calgary iGEM team members have attended some conferences in Second Life ™ and they have found these conferences to be very interesting, knowledgeable and communication friendly.

A primary consideration for this undertaking is: "Why choose a Second Life ™ conference over a survey?" Simply put, the conference would be a novel exploration of ethics. In the past, many iGEM teams have conducted surveys or self administered questionnaires during their exploration, and the results from these initiatives were generally similar in some way or the other. As well, there was little variation in the questions that were asked and the responses that were received. Many of these surveys explored how much the public knows about synthetic biology, and underlying perceptions of the field.

We recognize that data gathered from past surveys have indicated that generally, a greater understanding of synthetic biology is necessary- especially to hold meaningful discourse on the future and concerns regarding this field. To remedy potential gaps in knowledge, we have set up multiple educational initiatives that are outlined in the Outreach and Second Life sections of this wiki. Beyond that, however, we seek to ask a further question: Regardless of perceived knowledge, how can one have meaningful discourse between individuals, whether or not they have scientific backgrounds?

Meaningful discourse, that is, the sharing of concerns and viewpoints, allow scientific fields to maintain social relevancy by directly addressing issues brought up by individuals from multiple backgrounds. Although the general public may not always have a complete understanding of a scientific undertaking, their opinions are still valid and must be addressed. In order to obtain a solid grasp on these issues, tools such as conferences and debates provide a support on which such discourse can be built.

As well, there are always limitations to these surveys and questionnaires, such as the complexity of the questions that are being asked, partly because of the large range of knowledge about synthetic biology and molecular biology. Surveys pose restricted exploration of ethical issues. While, these issues usually entail a variety of opinions and view points, surveys can restrict thinking and exploration of different perspectives on ethical issues, due to the limiting structure of the questions that are asked. Conferences overcome this situation, as they are built in the 'present', that is, the flow and direction of topics can be easily modified to suit the audience present- and the platform itself does not generally require structured responses to express personal views. These are the main reasons we have explored running conferences in Second Life.

Some people might ask "Why not hold a live conference? Why choose Second Life ™?" In response, the Second Life resource provides an excellent mode of communication in which we can affordably run such an event. The Second Life ™ conference would avoid most of the costs that are required to organize live conferences, such as the booking of venues and travel expenses. Some guest speakers might have busy schedules and they might not be able to attend a live conference. A Second Life ™ conference would also avoid this problem, as the Second Life ™ software is easily accessible over the internet and it does not take much time to become familiar with the online virtual world of Second Life ™. As well, the Second Life has many educational and science-based communities comprised of individuals of various backgrounds that can provide unique insights to discussions held in Second Life. The affordability (it's free!) and accessibility have rendered Second Life as a suitable tool for creating public 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:

1. Would our system be cost-efficient (economical issue)?
2. Could our system be used to threaten bio-security (ethical issue)?
3. Would there be environmental side effects if we use our system in the environment (environmental issue)?
4. Should we patent our system or leave it as an open source for others to use (legal issue)?
5. What would be the society’s opinion on our system and its potential applications (social issue)?

These are some of the ethical issues we had discussed with our team and it would be great if we could get the opinion of other individuals on ethical issues like these. The Second Life ™ ethics conference would be a great platform for discussing ethical issues of a similar vein, as a varied audience (of academics, the general public, ethicists, etc.) would contribute many different viewpoints to such discussions.

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:

• Why is it important to discuss the ethical aspect of synthetic biology?
• iGEM is a synthetic biology competition where undergraduate teams from all over the world come and compete for the best syn-bio project. Do you think that these undergraduate teams need to discuss the ethical aspect of their project prior to their project? What sort of ethics considerations may be most important from an undergraduate student's perspective?
• What are some of the ethical issues that the field of synthetic biology has to face? Is there some kind of balance between costs and benefits of the potential applications, and how can this be reached?
• Some people believe that publications in the field of synthetic biology should be self regulated while others believe that the publications should be regulated by the government. What is your opinion?
• E3LS is a way to categorize the ethical issues surrounding the synthetic biology. Is either of the categories more important than the rest or all of the categories are equal in significance?
• Some argue that the open-source system of synthetic biology and the Parts Registry is problematic, especially with the increasing number of patents of genetic sequences? Do patents impede scientific exploration in this field, and are their benefits/problems with either system?

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. 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.