Converging Technologies Teach-in
| Ten years after Dolly the cloned sheep made her stunning debut, the J. Craig Venter Institute is applying for a patent on a new biological bombshell - the world's first-ever human-made species. ETC Group is watchdogging convergent tech and fighting the corporate control of life forms. |
SmartMeme partnered with the ETC Group to explore the story of technological “progress,” and help to frame the threats of converging nano and biotechnolgies. ETC Group ...or Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration is a Canadian global technology watchdog dedicated to the conservation and sustainable advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights.
One of the new areas of technological convergence that is of particular concern is the emerging field of “synthetic biology”. This new industry is focused on manipulating life at the atomic level in order to produce novel organisms that have never occured on the planet before. Given that these new organisms (primarily microbes) will not have co-evolved in nature they represent potentially massive dangers to human health and the environment. These new technologies also raise huge ethical issues around corporate control, patenting life and the potential disruption of entire global industries. Already synthetic biology is being sold to the public as a so-called "solution" to climate change yet there has been almost no public debate or democratic discussion of the technology.
Since the SF Bay area is a global hub of this little known but already powerful industry, smartMeme worked with the ETC Group and a coalition of environmental, social justice, sustainable agriculture and technology watchdog groups to organize a San Francisco teach-in. The day-long event in November 2008 brought together over 70 representatives from various social change organizations to share information on how this powerful, new converging technology might impact our communities, the environment, democratic control of resources and the climate change debate. We finished the day with a strategy session exploring how our organizations can educate the public and mobilize policy makers to address the sweeping implications of synthetic biology and other convergening technologies.
For more information on this industry visit the ETC group project on Synthetic Biology