Synthetic Biology — An Inquiry
(2013) HEKM50 20131Human Ecology
- Abstract
- Synthetic biology, a branch of the life sciences, can be summarized as the deliberate attempt to design living organisms. It is an emerging technoscience and a potential platform technology portrayed as possibly the next industrial revolution. This thesis is an inquiry into synthetic biology; an exploration based on observations in text. An explorative tool is the question: What is synthetic biology? I explore accomplishments, applications and approaches within synthetic biology such as BioBricks and the standardization of biological parts; the ‘birth’ of Synthia (Mycoplasma laboratorium); de-extinction; synthetic biology as a potential assistant in nature conservation; and the quest to replace agricultural production and fossil sources... (More)
- Synthetic biology, a branch of the life sciences, can be summarized as the deliberate attempt to design living organisms. It is an emerging technoscience and a potential platform technology portrayed as possibly the next industrial revolution. This thesis is an inquiry into synthetic biology; an exploration based on observations in text. An explorative tool is the question: What is synthetic biology? I explore accomplishments, applications and approaches within synthetic biology such as BioBricks and the standardization of biological parts; the ‘birth’ of Synthia (Mycoplasma laboratorium); de-extinction; synthetic biology as a potential assistant in nature conservation; and the quest to replace agricultural production and fossil sources for oils and chemicals through the engineering of microbes. I conclude that synthetic biology is guided by an engineering vision and a reductionist paradigm in that: biology is seen as a science that can be made predictable; biological organisms are approached with an anti-complexity view; parts of an organism are seen as sufficient for properties of the whole; and species are seen as detached from their ecological context. I also conclude that synthetic biology is challenging culturally fixed boundaries and understandings and that it explains life as software, or as information process and code. I also conclude that it is a mystification of production, a fetish that conceals rather than reveals and a project of ecological modernization. Finally, I conclude that synthetic biology is producing an idea that any living being potentially can be any other which I suggest needs more inquiring. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3768599
- author
- Dubec, Linda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- HEKM50 20131
- year
- 2013
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Synthetic biology
- language
- English
- id
- 3768599
- date added to LUP
- 2013-09-26 10:18:28
- date last changed
- 2013-09-26 10:18:28
@misc{3768599,
abstract = {{Synthetic biology, a branch of the life sciences, can be summarized as the deliberate attempt to design living organisms. It is an emerging technoscience and a potential platform technology portrayed as possibly the next industrial revolution. This thesis is an inquiry into synthetic biology; an exploration based on observations in text. An explorative tool is the question: What is synthetic biology? I explore accomplishments, applications and approaches within synthetic biology such as BioBricks and the standardization of biological parts; the ‘birth’ of Synthia (Mycoplasma laboratorium); de-extinction; synthetic biology as a potential assistant in nature conservation; and the quest to replace agricultural production and fossil sources for oils and chemicals through the engineering of microbes. I conclude that synthetic biology is guided by an engineering vision and a reductionist paradigm in that: biology is seen as a science that can be made predictable; biological organisms are approached with an anti-complexity view; parts of an organism are seen as sufficient for properties of the whole; and species are seen as detached from their ecological context. I also conclude that synthetic biology is challenging culturally fixed boundaries and understandings and that it explains life as software, or as information process and code. I also conclude that it is a mystification of production, a fetish that conceals rather than reveals and a project of ecological modernization. Finally, I conclude that synthetic biology is producing an idea that any living being potentially can be any other which I suggest needs more inquiring.}},
author = {{Dubec, Linda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Synthetic Biology — An Inquiry}},
year = {{2013}},
}