How a 'drive to make' shapes synthetic biology

Designing with living systems in the synthetic yeast project

Synthetic biology is challenged by the complexity and the unpredictability of living systems. While one response to this complexity involves simplifying cells to create more fully specified systems, another approach utilizes directed evolution, releasing some control and using unpredictable change to achieve design goals. Here we discuss SCRaMbLE, employed in the synthetic yeast project, as an example of synthetic biology design through working with living systems. SCRaMbLE is a designed tool without being a design tool, harnessing the activities of the yeast rather than relying entirely on scientists’ deliberate choices. We suggest that directed evolution at the level of the whole organism allows scientists and microorganisms to “collaborate” to achieve design goals, suggesting new directions for synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology often views the organism as a chassis into which a circuit can be inserted. Here the authors explore the idea of the organism as a core aspect of design, aiding researchers in navigating the genetic space opened up by SCRaMbLE.

Machine metaphors and ethics in synthetic biology

The extent to which machine metaphors are used in synthetic biology is striking. These metaphors contain a specific perspective on organisms as well as on scientific and technological progress. Expressions such as "genetically engineered machine", "genetic circuit", and "platform organism", taken from the realms of electronic engineering, car manufacturing, and information technology, highlight specific aspects of the functioning of living beings while at the same time hiding others, such as evolutionary change and interdependencies in ecosystems. Since these latter aspects are relevant for, for example, risk evaluation of uncontained uses of synthetic organisms, it is ethically imperative to resist the thrust of machine metaphors in this respect. In addition, from the perspective of the machine metaphor viewing an entity as a moral agent or patient becomes dubious. If one were to regard living beings, including humans, as machines, it becomes difficult to justify ascriptions of moral status. Finally, the machine metaphor reinforces beliefs in the potential of synthetic biology to play a decisive role in solving societal problems, and downplays the role of alternative technological, and social and political measures.

Organism and artifact: Proper functions in Paley organisms

In this paper I assess the explanatory powers of theories of function in the context of products that may result from synthetic biology. The aim is not to develop a new theory of functions, but to assess existing theories of function in relation to a new kind of biological and artifactual entity that might be produced in the not-too-distant future by means of synthetic biology. The paper thus investigates how to conceive of the functional nature of living systems that are not the result of evolution by natural selection, or instantly generated by cosmic coincidence, but which are products of intelligent design. The paper argues that the aetiological theory of proper functions in organisms and artifacts is inadequate as an account of proper functions in such 'Paley organisms' and defends an alternative organisational approach. The paper ends by considering the implications of the discussion of biological function for questions about the interests and moral status of non-sentient organisms.