Edwards Brett, Kelle Alexander
PoLIS, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Med Confl Surviv. 2012 Jan-Mar;28(1):5-18. doi: 10.1080/13623699.2012.658659.
The discussion of dual-use education is often predicated on a discrete population of practicing life scientists exhibiting certain deficiencies in awareness or expertise. This has lead to the claim that there is a greater requirement for awareness raising and education amongst this population. However, there is yet to be an inquiry into the impact of the 'convergent' nature of emerging techno-sciences upon the prospects of dual-use education. The field of synthetic biology, although often portrayed as homogeneous, is in fact composed of various sub-fields and communities. Its practitioners have diverse academic backgrounds. The research institutions that have fostered its development in the UK often have their own sets of norms and practices in engagement with ethical, legal and social issues associated with scientific knowledge and technologies. The area is also complicated by the emergence of synthetic biologists outside traditional research environments, the so called 'do-it-yourself' or 'garage biologists'. This paper untangles some of the complexities in the current state of synthetic biology and addresses the prospects for dual-use education for practitioners. It provides a short overview of the field and discusses identified dual-use issues. There follows a discussion of UK networks in synthetic biology, including their engagement with ethical, legal, social and dual-use issues and limited educational efforts in relation to these. It concludes by outlining options for developing a more systematic dual-use education strategy for synthetic biology.
对两用教育的讨论往往基于这样一群离散的在职生命科学家，他们在意识或专业知识方面存在某些不足。这导致有人声称，对这一群体进行提高意识和教育的需求更大。然而，对于新兴技术科学的“趋同”性质对两用教育前景的影响，尚未进行调查。合成生物学领域虽然常常被描绘为同质化的，但实际上由各种子领域和群体组成。其从业者具有不同的学术背景。在英国，推动其发展的研究机构在处理与科学知识和技术相关的伦理、法律和社会问题时，往往有自己的一套规范和做法。传统研究环境之外出现的合成生物学家，即所谓的“自己动手做”或“车库生物学家”，也使该领域变得复杂。本文梳理了合成生物学当前状况中的一些复杂性，并探讨了从业者两用教育的前景。它简要概述了该领域，并讨论了已确定的两用问题。接下来讨论了英国合成生物学领域的网络，包括它们在伦理、法律、社会和两用问题方面的参与情况，以及在这些方面有限的教育努力。文章最后概述了为合成生物学制定更系统的两用教育战略的选项。
