Innovation regimes based on collaborative and global tinkering: Synthetic biology and nanotechnology in the hackerspaces

摘要

Synthetic biology and nanotechnology have the ability to generate social and institutional support for their R&D effort. Scientists and other enthusiastic public are involved in such projects. Design and tinkering are necessary in understanding these approaches that embrace the social, ethical scientific and technical concerns of the research. The NanoSmanoLab in Slovenia is engaged in a similar effort in their DIYbio and similar projects. The relationship between synthetic biology and nanotechnology to science, and society can be considered as the problem of convergence and hybridity where the design becomes pivotal. By combining engineering principles, and biology the approach creates unique life forms from which other organisms can be produced. By generating new life forms, this development outwits both God and nature and generates new normative and ethical responses. It induces new outlook on the ethics and policy by supporting experiments in entirely different ways than what was being practiced so far. This paper discusses how these unique interactions between ethical norms and scientific protocols relating to design and tinkering in the settings of new citizen science labs and hackerspaces. (39 refs.)