Biology Is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life

Technology is a process and a body of knowledge as much as a collection of artifacts. Biology is no different—and we are just beginning to comprehend the challenges inherent in the next stage of biology as a human technology. It is this critical moment, with its wide-ranging implications, that Robert Carlson considers in Biology Is Technology. He offers a uniquely informed perspective on the endeavors that contribute to current progress in this area—the science of biological systems and the technology used to manipulate them.

In a number of case studies, Carlson demonstrates that the development of new mathematical, computational, and laboratory tools will facilitate the engineering of biological artifacts—up to and including organisms and ecosystems. Exploring how this will happen, with reference to past technological advances, he explains how objects are constructed virtually, tested using sophisticated mathematical models, and finally constructed in the real world.

Such rapid increases in the power, availability, and application of biotechnology raise obvious questions about who gets to use it, and to what end. Carlson’s thoughtful analysis offers rare insight into our choices about how to develop biological technologies and how these choices will determine the pace and effectiveness of innovation as a public good.

There is a great debate raging today about biological engineering, from the safety of genetically engineered vegetables to biofuel to human cloning. Carlson, a biotechnician, guides the reader through the pros and cons of the argument, using examples of important advances in medicine as well as poorly thought out failures. He states that these technologies have been developed in response to human needs and are still in the early stages. While his intent is to explain the field for non-specialists, he also extends a plea for an open sharing of information among scientists world wide without opposition from governments or financial institutions. He states that this is not as radical an idea as many think. Even though the recipe for aspirin is on the internet, he notes, most people still prefer to buy it. Since the science is expanding more rapidly than one can keep up with in print, he also provides updates in a website. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Robert H. Carlson is a Principal at Biodesic LLC.

• Acknowledgments

1. What Is Biology?
2. Building with Biological Parts
3. Learning to Fly (or Yeast, Geese, and 747s)
4. The Second Coming of Synthetic Biology
5. A Future History of Biological Engineering
6. The Pace of Change in Biological Technologies
7. The International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition (iGEM)
8. Reprogramming Cells and Building Genomes
9. The Promise and Peril of Biological Technologies
10. The Sources of Innovation and the Effects of Existing and Proposed Regulations
11. Laying the Foundations for a Bio-Economy
12. Of Straightjackets and Springboards for Innovation
13. Open Source Biology, or Open Biology?
14. What Makes a Revolution?

• Notes
• Index