Synthetic Biology and the Dilemmas of Innovation

Abstract

Innovation can produce both good and negative consequences. This then appears to generate conflicting ethical responsibilities for those that create and those that facilitate creation. Emergent communities of innovators seek to establish and enact ethical norms. A key challenge facing fields such as synthetic biology is that there are often competing visions both within and external to the community, which create challenges for early communities in terms of both developing and projecting these value systems. In this chapter, major initiatives in the field of synthetic biology are reviewed and critically assessed.