À quoi rêve la biologie de synthèse ?

Abstract

Synthetic biology is an engineering of the living that is not only to understand, but to design by “redesigning” through the combination of genetics and computer science. Innumerable virtues are underlined by its promoters: personalized medicine, solutions to the ecological crisis, and improvements of the capacities of the living beings. However, these techno-scientific innovations are socially controversial because they also entail risks and potential dangers that weigh on present and future society: the spread of genetically modified organisms; ethical issues; patentability and reductionist conception of life; “bioterrorism”. In the face of these crucial problems, in what ways do the actors involved in this field legitimize these advances? Through a variety of positions, they are informed of the criticisms addressed to synthetic biology. At the same time, they are convinced that nothing can hinder "the march of progress" and indeed, these criticisms are defused, attenuated or integrated, through multiple registers of justification, rhetorical processes contributing to fuel the technicist ideology of our time.

Keywords

• risk
• promise
• synthetic biology
• biotechnology
• critical
• legitimation