Two concerns about synthetic biology

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Two concerns about synthetic biology
TOM DOUGLAS CHRIST CHURCH SENIOR SCHOLAR OXFORD
UEHIRO CENTRE FOR PRACTICAL ETHICS UNIVERSITY OF
OXFORD
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Venter proposal minimal bacterial chassis
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competing definitions
broad definition
narrow definition

• synthetic biology de novo synthesis of
  biological organisms/components

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benefits
medical applications (diagnostics and
therapeutics) environmental applications
(biofuels, biosensors, bioremediation) industria
l applications
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two ethical concerns
synthetic biology poses a high risk of
malevolent use synthetic biology will
undermine the moral status of living things
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my claims
on their most plausible interpretations, these
two concerns can be understood as variants of a
common concern about promoting future
wrongdoing the most common strategy for
dissolving this concern (scientific
isolationism) fails
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the first concern possible malevolent use
Tumpey et al. 2005 Reconstruction of 1918 Spanish
influenza virus
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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the second concern undermining the moral status
of living things
Cho, Magnus, Caplan McGee (1999)
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creation of beings between living things
machines
acceptance of reductionist account of life
no longer ascribe special status to life
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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MORAL STATUS
PERSONS human rights interests intrinsic value
NON-HUMAN ANIMALS ?? rights ? interests ?
intrinsic value
MACHINES no rights or interests instrumental
value only
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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a reformulation of the second concern
human/animal interests sacrificed for the sake of
synthetic beings
synthetic beings assigned great moral status
humans/animals harmed
humans/animals assigned lesser moral status (on
some theories)
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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two possibilities

• we correctly assign great moral status to
  synthetic beings
• ? humans/animals get permissibly harmed
• we incorrectly assign great moral status to
  synthetic beings
• ? humans/animals get wrongly harmed

1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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unifying the two concerns
CONCERN ONE synthetic agents used in malevolent
ways
CONCERN TWO human/animal interests get wrongly
sacrificed for the sake of synthetic beings (or
the reverse)
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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scientific isolationism a way of dissolving the
concern?
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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scientific freedom

• the claim
• scientists enjoy a right to absolute freedom of
  enquiry

but... scientists should not engage in all
research that they have a right to engage in
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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argument one the intrinsic value of knowledge

• the claim
• scientific inquiry is justified by the intrinsic
  value of the knowledge it produces

but... this assumes that the value of knowledge
trumps other moral value
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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argument two the gunmakers defence

• the claim
• a scientist is not responsible for malevolent
  uses of her research

but... wrongs for which we are not responsible
can still be relevant to the ethical assessment
of our conduct
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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argument three its futile

• the claim
• individual scientists/policymakers cant
  significantly affect the rate of scientific
  progress

but... a small delay might enable better
regulation
and... small initial changes may have large
knock-on effects
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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argument four uncertainty

• the claim
• we cant predict the future, so any principle
  which requires us to do so is unworkable

but... it may well be possible to identify
predictors of malevolent use we havent even
tried
1st concern 2nd concern unifying the
concerns scientific isolationism
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conclusions
the two concerns about malevolent use and
about undermining moral status can be
understood as variants of a moral general
concern about bringing about wrongdoing the
most popular way of dissolving this concern
scientific isolationism fails
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challenges

• for regulators
• minimise the risk of malevolent use of
  synthetic biology
• for scientists
• get better at predicting how research will be
  used
• for philosophers
• ascertain the criteria for moral status
• determine how to weigh risk of future
  wrongdoing against benefits of pursuing research
  in synthetic biology

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acknowledgements
Julian Savulescu, Dominic Wilkinson, Michael
Selgelid The Wellcome Trust, Christ Church
College