The Ethics of Protocells

Teams of scientists around the world are racing to create protocells--microscopic, self-organizing entities that spontaneously assemble from simple organic and inorganic materials. The creation of fully autonomous protocells--a technology that can, for all intents and purposes, be considered literally alive--is only a matter of time. This book examines the pressing social and ethical issues raised by the creation of life in the laboratory. Protocells might offer great medical and social benefits and vast new economic opportunities, but they also pose potential risks and threaten cultural and moral norms against tampering with nature and "playing God." The Ethics of Protocells offers a variety of perspectives on these concerns. After a brief survey of current protocell research (including the much-publicized "top-down" strategy of J. Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith, for which they have received multimillion dollar financing from the U.S. Department of Energy), the chapters treat risk, uncertainty, and precaution; lessons from recent history and related technologies; and ethics in a future society with protocells. The discussions range from new considerations of the precautionary principle and the role of professional ethicists to explorations of what can be learned from society's experience with other biotechnologies and the open-source software movement. ContributorsMark A. Bedau, Gaymon Bennett, Giovanni Boniolo, Carl Cranor, Bill Durodie, Mickey Gjerris, Brigitte Hantsche-Tangen, Christine Hauskeller, Andrew Hessel, Brian Johnson, George Khushf, Emily C. Parke, Alain Pottage, Paul Rabinow, Per Sandin, Joachim Schummer, Mark Triant, Laurie Zoloth

ISBN 0262512696   Pages 384 ISBN13 9780262512695 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher MIT Press Ltd   Weight (grammes) 590 Imprint MIT Press   Published in Cambridge, Mass. Format Paperback   Series title Basic Bioethics Publication date 19 May 2009   Height (mm) 229 Library of Congress 2008041190   Width (mm) 178 DEWEY 174.957   Spine width (mm) 15 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

1		Introduction to the Ethics of Protocells by Mark A. Bedau and Emily C. Parke		1
I		Risk, Uncertainty, and Precaution with Protocells		17
2		New Technologies, Public Perceptions, and Ethics by Brian Johnson		19
3		Social and Ethical Implications of Creating Artificial Cells by Mark A. Bedau and Mark Triant		31
4		The Acceptability of the Risks of Protocells by Carl Cranor		49
5		The Precautionary Principle and Its Critics by Emily C. Parke and Mark A. Bedau		69
6		A New Virtue-Based Understanding of the Precautionary Principle by Per Sandin		89
7		Ethical Dialogue about Science in the Context of a Culture of Precaution by Bill Durodie		105
II		Lessons from Recent History and Related Technologies		123
8		The Creation of Life in Cultural Context: From Spontaneous Generation to Synthetic Biology by Joachim Schummer		125
9		Second Life: Some Ethical Issues in Synthetic Biology and the Recapitulation of Evolution by Laurie Zoloth		143
10		Protocell Patents: Property Between Modularity and Emergence by Alain Pottage		165
11		Protocells, Precaution, and Open-Source Biology by Andrew Hessel		183
12		The Ambivalence of Protocells: Challenges for Self-Reflexive Ethics by Brigitte Hantsche-Tangen		199
III		Ethics in a Future with Protocells		221
13		Open Evolution and Human Agency: The Pragmatics of Upstream Ethics in the Design of Artificial Life by George Khushf		223
14		Human Practices: Interfacing Three Modes of Collaboration by Paul Rabinow and Gaymon Bennett		263
15		This Is Not a Hammer: On Ethics and Technology by Mickey Gjerris		291
16		Toward a Critical Evaluation of Protocell Research by Christine Hauskeller		307
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"Bedau and Parke's The Ethics of Protocells is a seminal work on the ethical and social implications of creating synthetic life. It should be required reading for anyone entering this field." --Linda MacDonald Glenn, Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Education, Alden March Bioethics Institute. Albany Medical Center

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