Boldt Joachim
Department of Medical Ethics and the History of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Life Sci Soc Policy. 2018 Jun 4;14(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s40504-018-0077-y.
The extent to which machine metaphors are used in synthetic biology is striking. These metaphors contain a specific perspective on organisms as well as on scientific and technological progress. Expressions such as "genetically engineered machine", "genetic circuit", and "platform organism", taken from the realms of electronic engineering, car manufacturing, and information technology, highlight specific aspects of the functioning of living beings while at the same time hiding others, such as evolutionary change and interdependencies in ecosystems. Since these latter aspects are relevant for, for example, risk evaluation of uncontained uses of synthetic organisms, it is ethically imperative to resist the thrust of machine metaphors in this respect. In addition, from the perspective of the machine metaphor viewing an entity as a moral agent or patient becomes dubious. If one were to regard living beings, including humans, as machines, it becomes difficult to justify ascriptions of moral status. Finally, the machine metaphor reinforces beliefs in the potential of synthetic biology to play a decisive role in solving societal problems, and downplays the role of alternative technological, and social and political measures.
合成生物学中使用机器隐喻的程度令人瞩目。这些隐喻包含了对生物体以及科学技术进步的特定观点。诸如“基因工程机器”“遗传电路”和“平台生物”等表述，取自电子工程、汽车制造和信息技术领域，突出了生物功能的特定方面，与此同时却掩盖了其他方面，比如进化变化和生态系统中的相互依存关系。由于后述这些方面与例如合成生物无限制使用的风险评估相关，因此在这方面抵制机器隐喻的影响在伦理上势在必行。此外，从机器隐喻的角度来看，将一个实体视为道德主体或道德受体变得可疑。如果将包括人类在内的生物视为机器，就难以证明对道德地位的归因是合理的。最后，机器隐喻强化了人们对于合成生物学在解决社会问题方面发挥决定性作用的潜力的信念，同时淡化了其他技术、社会和政治措施的作用。
