science vs. technology

I'm writing from Costa Rica today. I came over to the internet cafe this morning to work on the annual report, check the news, and share some thoughts. I'm highly distracted.

I read Steven Shapin's article in Seed Magazine about The State of the Scientist in 2008. We invited Dr. Shapin to SynBERC's semi-annual retreat and site visit last March, and at least provisionally he is a member of our scientific advisory board. He notes how scientists these days are increasingly comfortable working at the overlapping boundaries of industry and academia. He also notes that many researchers don't care whether their work is considered "science" or "technology": What they are interested in is creating something that produces "cures, power, and, of course, profit." Shapin goes on to observe that the ramifications of new research fields like synthetic biology are impelling modern technoscientific ventures "into new collaborations with humanists and social scientists about the very nature of the work and the institutional environments in which [they are] taking place." He specifically uses SynBERC to illustrate many of the above trends.

There's something to be said for the dissolution of the science-technology boundary. In synthetic biology, we need to further our fundamental understanding of biological processes to achieve some of those goals. And we need practitioners in industry and academia to build robust new tools, techniques, and systems from that fundamental knowledge base. But both science and technology ought to be slaves to higher humanistic goals in health and the environment. I think that's one of the guiding principles and defining characteristics of synthetic biology.

Science in the new White House? Really??

Despite the mostly sordid, scandalous, and otherwise depressing trudge of life that is Gooogle News, I can't help but be giddy when I see that Steven Chu is among the top searches. Coming back from the SynBERC PI meeting in Chicago last night, who would you know was on the plane but Dr. Chu himself. He must have been returning from the announcement of his appointment to Secretary of Energy earlier in the day with Obama. I caught up with him before the baggage claim and, a bit star-struck myself, offered a quick congratulations and thanks for giving those of us who support science a measure of optimism that things could get done. He seemed almost startled that a random traveler would know or care, smiled, and mumbled a modest acknowledgment. Earlier in the day he was standing beside our transformational president-elect, prepared to change the flow of energy in the world. I can't imagine how strange this all must seem to Dr. Chu: I have to pinch myself, and I'm just a social technocrat looking in.