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Synthetic Biology: Boon or Bane for Humanity?
Synthetic biology is the creation of biological components by altering DNA, creating living formations that do not naturally exist naturally. DNA sequences can be reengineered and re-assembled to alter and create new types of living organisms. Synthetic biology is an extremely powerful technique with a lot of positive potential but one which also has huge dangers: organisms can be changed in ways that may ultimately be detrimental or fatal to the lives of humans.
Siraj Khaliq, partner at Atomico, said that “I think in 10 years we will probably look back and will recognize that this is the most important technological revolution of our time.”
Cain McClary, venture capitalist at KdT Ventures, said that “LPs [Limited Partners] are starting to understand that biology now is like technology was in the 70s.”
Elizabeth Strychalski, group leader of NIST’s Cellular Engineering Group, said that “we want to understand the fundamental design rules of life. [If our early experiments with synthetic cells] can help us to discover and understand those rules, then we’re off to the races.”
But there should be caution, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thomas H. Murray, bioethicist, said in 2010 that “synthetic biology offers mind-boggling possible benefits to humanity, but they must be weighed against bioterrorism and others risks that remain largely unknown and difficult to define. If I didn’t think the potential benefits… were massive, there would be no point in having this conversation. We should just not do it. The first [risk] you worry about is biosecurity, the possibility that synthetic biology will be used to build new kinds of pathogens that could be used in biowarfare or bioterrorism. And while manufacturing pathogens in the laboratory is becoming easier—already scientists have reconstructed the polio and 1918 pandemic influenza viruses—turning those bugs into weapons remains a huge technological challenge.”
