Commercializing synthetic biology: Socio-ethical concerns and challenges under intellectual property regime

1969 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trichi Saukshmya ◽  
Archana Chugh
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Synthetic Organisms ◽  
Property Regime

Synthetic biology also termed as ‘genomic alchemy’ represents a powerful area of science that is based on the convergence of biological sciences with systems engineering. It focuses on building, modelling, designing and fabricating novel biological systems using customized gene components that result in artificially created genetic circuitry. As discussed in the present study, synthetic biology is an elegant consequence of amalgamation of various branches of science. It is speculated that the resulting synthetic organisms can successfully provide solutions for the problems where natural biological systems have failed. These artificially synthesized organisms can be tutored to meet diverse applications such as production of various biodrugs and creation of tailor-made metabolic pathways. Evidently, this revolutionary technology has the potential to transform human life directly and indirectly. The article provides an insight into the tremendous commercialization ability of synthetic biology in various sectors (bioenergy, medicine, and so on) as demonstrated by various initiatives, collaborative projects with huge investments. It is noteworthy that synthetic biology tools and organisms can be used for saving, creating ‘or’ destroying life; hence the study further deals with the socio-ethical implications of this rapidly advancing field of biology and also assesses the challenging role of intellectual property regime in commercialization of synthetic biology.

scholarly journals Appropriation under Low Intellectual Property Regimes: The Role of Communities in the Online Alternative Adult Entertainment Industry1

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-80
Author(s):  
Kim-Marlène LE ◽  
Julien PÉNIN
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Sunk Costs ◽  
Entertainment Industry ◽  
Online Pornography ◽  
User Communities ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Property Regimes ◽  
Property Regime

The online adult entertainment industry, as Darling (2014) showed, is a new case of low intellectual property regime, i.e. largely inefficient in preventing the massive copying of content. In this paper, we focus on alternative pornography and explore the mechanisms which contribute to the creation of pornographic content. We argue that user communities help content providers to absorb sunk costs associated with content production and distribution. Our main conclusion is that, although user communities cannot solve alone the incentive failure in online pornography, they complement and reinforce strategies which enable content producers to earn revenues from vulnerable copyrighted works.

scholarly journals Motivations for Pursuing Radical Life Extension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lucinda April Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Radical Life Extension ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Human Life Span

<p>In bio-ethics, the potential practical and ethical implications of radical life extension are being seriously debated. However, the role of motivation in relation to dramatically increasing the human life span has been largely overlooked. I propose that motivation is a crucial aspect to consider within the radical life extension discourse by conjecturing about why it might appeal and the possible ways it could impact outcomes where it is successfully developed and implemented. I do not thereby present an argument that supports or opposes radical life extension technology. This is ultimately a speculative piece. In exploring the relationship between motivation and radical life extension, I present a conceptual framework called the Thanatophobic and Romantic Motivational Spectrum (TRM Spectrum) designed to assist deeper examination on the subject. It captures what I suggest are two key motivators related to life and death, that is, the fear of death (Thanatophobia) and the “love” of life (Romanticism). The motivational spectrum is then applied to the death penalty versus life imprisonment, and euthanasia and suicide debates to demonstrate how it can be used for analysis of ethical issues in relation to the potential introduction of radical life extension technology.</p>

Platformizing family production: The contradictions of rural digital labor in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-359
Author(s):  
Lin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Urban Youth ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Manual Labor ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Digital Labor ◽  
Property Regime

How is the rise of platform capitalism reinventing the traditional regime of familial production, while at the same time being energized by it? How do the historically informed, lived experiences of rural e-commerce entrepreneurs or workers in China help reconceptualize digital labor and platform studies? Deploying the analytic of platformized family production, this article addresses these questions through a deep description of the experiences of variously positioned platform-based and mediated laborers in an e-commerce village in East China. I argue that the ongoing process of platformizing family production is profoundly contradictory. As an alternative to a model of development based on unevenness and the rural-urban divide, village e-commerce has created opportunities for peasants and marginalized urban youth to achieve social mobility. However, it also shapes a new regime of value that privileges the individualized e-commerce entrepreneur as an ideal subject, and fetishizes and instrumentalizes innovation and creativity in conformity with the global intellectual property regime. These tendencies not only contradict the reality of collective labor organization both on e-commerce platforms and in villages, but also conflict with the indispensable role of manual labor in the production process—reinforcing rather than overcoming existing inequalities and stratification in rural China. JEL Codes: J16, J61, L86, Q55, R12

Designing biological systems: Systems Engineering meets Synthetic Biology

2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Rollié ◽  
Michael Mangold ◽  
Kai Sundmacher
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Biological Systems

scholarly journals Motivations for Pursuing Radical Life Extension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lucinda April Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Radical Life Extension ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Human Life Span

<p>In bio-ethics, the potential practical and ethical implications of radical life extension are being seriously debated. However, the role of motivation in relation to dramatically increasing the human life span has been largely overlooked. I propose that motivation is a crucial aspect to consider within the radical life extension discourse by conjecturing about why it might appeal and the possible ways it could impact outcomes where it is successfully developed and implemented. I do not thereby present an argument that supports or opposes radical life extension technology. This is ultimately a speculative piece. In exploring the relationship between motivation and radical life extension, I present a conceptual framework called the Thanatophobic and Romantic Motivational Spectrum (TRM Spectrum) designed to assist deeper examination on the subject. It captures what I suggest are two key motivators related to life and death, that is, the fear of death (Thanatophobia) and the “love” of life (Romanticism). The motivational spectrum is then applied to the death penalty versus life imprisonment, and euthanasia and suicide debates to demonstrate how it can be used for analysis of ethical issues in relation to the potential introduction of radical life extension technology.</p>

scholarly journals Working Backward

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (07) ◽  
pp. 30-34
Author(s):  
Jean Thilmany
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Reverse Engineering ◽  
Biological System ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Electrical Engineer ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Early Introduction ◽  
Biological Circuits

This paper discusses role of reverse engineering in biomedical and other bioscience applications. Reverse engineering is one of the most relevant examples of methods that have moved from engineering to find a role in biomedical and other bioscience applications. For an early introduction to the method's use in both biomedical and engineering fields, reverse engineering is commonly taught to biomedical undergraduates. Scientists in the biomedical hybrid fields of systems and synthetic biology call upon reverse engineering in ways that may look foreign to the practicing mechanical or electrical engineer—or even to the practicing biomedical engineer. The paper also highlights that synthetic biology, a new area of research, focuses solely on designing and building new biological systems. Synthetic biology often focuses on ways of taking parts of natural biological systems, characterizing and simplifying them, and using them as components of an engineered, biological system. According to critics, biological circuits can be integrated into organisms to change their interactions or products or, ultimately, to synthesize fundamentally new and possibly hazardous organisms. The new field of study—like all other fields encompassed by biomedical engineering—has seen fit to use reverse engineering as an everyday tool.

A Brief on Biological Thermodynamics for Human Physiology

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijit Dutta ◽  
Himadri Chattopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Human Physiology ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Cardiovascular Systems ◽  
Bio Engineering

Abstract Thermodynamics, the science of energy interactions, governs the direction of processes found in nature. While the subject finds wide applications in science and technology, its connection to biological sciences and in particular to bio-engineering is becoming increasingly important. In this work, after a brief introduction to the fundamental concepts in thermodynamics, we focus on its application in human physiology. A review of application of thermodynamics to the interaction between human body and environment is presented. Research works on biological systems such as the nervous system and the cardiovascular systems are summarized. The thermodynamics of metabolism is reviewed, and finally, the role of the subject in understanding and combating diseases is highlighted.

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