Welcome to the babyshower

This report is about how citizens view future synthetic cells. What stories or narratives do they use? What do they find important?

Synthetic cells could potentially contribute to solutions for societal problems. Think of genetically modified algae that make biofuels, or cells that produce medicines. But dangerous micro-organisms can also be developed. The synthetic cell therefore raises ethical questions.

In order to develop technology that is valuable to society, it is important to include the wishes, demands, needs and conditions of citizens at an early stage. However, synthetic biology is a relatively unknown field for the general public. This makes it difficult to initiate a societal conversation. That is why the Rathenau Instituut, in collaboration with designer Mies Loogman, has designed an artistic installation that serves as a conversation starter.

The installation was exhibited at Dutch Design Week in 2021. Over nine days, researchers from the Rathenau Instituut and others spoke to a thousand visitors. We recorded and analysed about a hundred conversations. This report shows how the interviewed visitors think about the social implications of synthetic cell technology and how they think this development can be guided.

Narratives about technology

In order to gain insight into how citizens’ opinions about new technologies such as the synthetic cell arise, and which cultural and moral values ​​underlie this, we used so-called narratives. The starting point is that citizens use narratives to give meaning to new technologies. Every culture has its own archetypical narratives in the form of, for example, myths or religious visions.

In this report we focus on narratives about technology in European culture. We distinguish between narratives about the social implications of technology and about the societal steering of technology (technology governance). Narratives about the implications of technology are for example, ‘Believe in progress’ and ‘Be careful what you wish for’. Examples of narratives about the governance of technology are ‘Stimulating innovation for economic growth’ and ‘Stimulating innovation for societal goals’.

We first tested the theory that citizens use narratives to give meaning to new technological developments by means of literature study. After finding support for this theory we used the narrative method to analyze about a hundred conversations about the synthetic cell.

In conversation about the synthetic cell

Our conversations during Dutch Design Week offer a first glimpse into citizens’ views on synthetic cell technology. Visitors hope in particular that the synthetic cell will contribute to medical and climate solutions. But they have several concerns. One concern is that a strong focus on risks will undermine social progress. In addition, there are concerns about the ethical implications of making life, the uncontrollability of a technology that is literally alive, and the question of who ultimately has power over the technology and its development.

Most of the visitors interviewed believe that scientists in particular bear responsibility for the responsible development of technology. According to the visitors, scientists should involve other disciplines, interact with citizens, and adopt a critical, careful and open attitude during their work. The interviewed visitors also see a role for the government. The government is seen as a funder and facilitator of responsible research, whose role stimulates interdisciplinary collaboration and makes laws that anticipate unintended consequences.

Important values regarding the synthetic cell

The analysis of the conversations at Dutch Design Week shows that the issues that citizens raise are rooted in six archetypal narratives about technology in European culture. This provides a basis for how the social and political debate about synthetic cell technology can be conducted more broadly.

We identify eight values ​​within the expectations of the visitors to Dutch Design Week:

1. Sustainability: how do we ensure that the development of synthetic cell technology contributes to a more sustainable society?
2. Health: how do we ensure that the development of synthetic cell technology contributes to a healthier society?
3. Innovation: how do we weigh opportunities versus risks? How do we prevent our focus on the risks of synthetic cell technology from hindering innovation?
4. Ethical limits: what are people allowed to do in relation to (adapting) nature? Shouldn't humanity leave nature as it is? How do we prevent the pursuit of perfection from becoming the goal of innovation?
5. Control (of the technology): How does society maintain control over a living technology like the synthetic cell? Do we want to release something artificial or synthetic like the synthetic cell into nature? How do we prevent the synthetic cell from becoming rampant?
6. Control (of the technological development process): how does society monitor the development and application of synthetic cell technology? How do we prevent the technology from falling into the wrong hands?
7. Transparency and inclusiveness: who has access to the development of synthetic cell technology? Who can participate in decisions about this?
8. Equality: who bears the costs and benefits of synthetic cell technology? Who can and may ultimately use the applications of the synthetic cell?

Governance of synthetic cell technology

Our study shows that interviewed visitors to Dutch Design Week have a range of expectations and are concerned to varying degrees about the social implications of synthetic cell technology. Nevertheless, visitors are highly consistent about how the governance of this technology should be organised. Advice from visitors about the societal steering of technology fits well with three of the four governance narratives: innovation for societal goals, democratisation of innovation, and regulation and institutionalisation of innovation. The fourth governance narrative, ‘Stimulating innovation for economic growth’, is not mentioned by the visitors. This is striking because this is precisely the dominant approach of Dutch innovation policy.
 

With regard to innovation for societal goals, the interviewed visitors would like to see innovation contribute to resolving societal challenges and achieving public goals. For the synthetic cell, visitors to Dutch Design Week see value in solutions for good healthcare and sustainability. But this raises the question of how scientific research – and in particular research into the synthetic cell – can be structured in such a way that the results do indeed contribute to societal goals. The principles of socially responsible innovation can serve as a guideline here.

Regarding democratisation, visitors to Dutch Design Week want citizens to have an influence on the development of the synthetic cell. First of all, citizens believe that scientists and other technology developers have the responsibility to sufficiently consider the safety and social aspects of the technology. They believe that technology developers must involve a diverse group of experts, stakeholders and/or citizens in a timely manner and make knowledge about the technology public and accessible. Furthermore, visitors believe the government should anticipate new developments by organising social dialogues. For example, the government can explore ethical boundaries in consultation with various experts and stakeholders and then actually set boundaries. In addition, the government can, in consultation with researchers, experts and citizens, determine what the right direction is for the development of technology. The government must also, after consultation, indicate where the boundary lies in what is permitted to be researched and developed.

The narrative regulation and institutionalisation of innovation indicates that new laws and regulations can be developed if more knowledge is available about the safety risks and ethical questions surrounding the synthetic cell. The visitors to Dutch Design Week therefore see a role for the government as a supervisor of social innovation that anticipates new developments with laws and regulations. The government must ensure that safety is assured, ethical boundaries are not exceeded, prevent technology from falling into the wrong hands and ensure that access to technology is distributed equally across society.

Synthetic-cell technology for society

The insights in this report show how citizens’ expectations for a new technology are intertwined with their experiences and vision of the development of other technologies. It shows that citizens (in this case visitors to Dutch Design Week) are perfectly capable of giving meaning to a technology that is unknown to them.

The interviewed visitors are neither for nor against synthetic cell technology, but see both opportunities and risks. They believe that both the purpose for which and the way in which a technology is developed determines the impact a technology will have on society.

Our study shows that visitors to Dutch Design Week particularly want the government to stimulate innovation for social goals and to pay attention to the social embedding of innovation. And they do not want innovation policy to be primarily aimed at stimulating the economy, as previous and current policy mainly does.