The Civic Science Imperative by Elizabeth Good Christopherson, Dietram A
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Feature The Civic Science Imperative By Elizabeth Good Christopherson, Dietram A. Scheufele & Brooke Smith Stanford Social Innovation Review Spring 2018 Copyright 2018 by Leland Stanford Jr. University All Rights Reserved Stanford Social Innovation Review www.ssir.org Email: [email protected] 46 Stanford Social Innovation Review / Spring 2018 At a time of rapid scientifi c advances, philanthropy has a vital role to play in building a culture of , “civic science”: one in which scientists take active roles as citizens, and citizens from all walks of life engage with scientifi c research and its social and ethical implications. The Cıvıc Scıence BY ELIZABETH GOOD CHRISTOPHERSON, DIETRAM A. SCHEUFELE Imperative & BROOKE SMITH Illustration by Michael Waraksa do it? Only wealthy people? People in some countries and not oth- ers? Who would decide? Those who have been following the rapid development of the new gene editing technique called crispr/Cas9 (or simply “crispr”) know that steps have been taken toward all of the possible futures described above, although some seem within reach, while others are, at this point, purely speculative. A nonprofi t research consortium called Target Malaria is using crispr—a kind of molecular fi nd-and-replace function—to develop Anopheles mosquitos that can only produce non-biting male off spring cience, backed in part by philanthropic funding, and that can spread this trait throughout a mosquito population, even- hasS made great gains in the global fi ght against malaria. The World tually causing the population to collapse. Earlier this year, researchers Health Organization estimates that since 2001, these eff orts have pre- at the Salk Institute in San Diego used crispr to grow a functioning vented 6.8 million malaria deaths. What if they all could be avoided? rat pancreas, heart, and eyes in a mouse embryo. They also generated Some 429,000 people still died from malaria in 2015, most of them human cells and tissues in an embryonic pig, which is the right size children. What if we could engineer the extinction of a few species of to host human organs. We are still far from knowing how to modify mosquitos to prevent more deaths? What if doing so required a tech- genes to produce complex traits such as intelligence. But research- nology that could, in the wrong hands, be reversed to make mosquitos ers, using mice, were able to edit the mutant Htt gene that causes into new kinds of biological weapons, carrying new kinds of diseases? Huntington’s disease, nearly eliminating the toxic protein that causes What if in the future no one needed to wait for an organ transplant? the breakdown of cells during the course of the disease. And in August, As of last summer, more than 116,000 people in the United States were scientists at Oregon Health and Science University reported success- waiting for an organ. Twenty die every day while waiting. What if the fully editing a gene responsible for heart failure in a human embryo. organs needed to end this continual shortage could be grown in pigs? These advances are remarkable examples of the miraculous dis- Would animals that were edited to be “human” enough to serve as coveries of contemporary science. The immensity of the radical new sources of organs also have enough human cells in their brains—as kind of power that crispr represents has led it to be compared—even some ethicists have argued—to have partially human consciousness? by the scientists who invented it—to atomic energy. Like any pow- What if a person with the mutated gene that causes Huntington’s erful technology, it can be used for purposes that most of us would disease—inevitably, devastatingly, fatally—could have the gene applaud or for purposes that most of us would condemn. And there edited and avoid the disease? What if people could make the edit in is a lot of gray territory in between. Only a few years old,crispr has the genes passed to their children and so eliminate the disease? What put humankind on a path that is unmapped and uncharted—not just if people could also eliminate less damaging traits or add desirable scientifi cally, but also ethically, socially, and legally. ones? For instance, what if they could make themselves and their Instances of discrimination, eugenics, and persecution based on children more intelligent? Should they be allowed to? Who would genetic traits are part of a troubling strand of medical history. Will 48 Stanford Social Innovation Review / Spring 2018 our new ability to edit the human genome create new pressure for ELIZABETH GOOD CHRISTOPHERSON is Morgridge Institute for Research. His research some populations to be genetically edited, perhaps against their president and CEO of the Rita Allen Founda- deals with the interface of media, policy, and tion, a venture philanthropy organization public opinion. He vice-chaired the National will? Will it increase discrimination against those who choose not that enables early-career biomedical scholars Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and to? What other challenges will emerge? to do pioneering research, seeds innovative Medicine committee that recently issued the approaches to fostering informed civic engage- report “Communicating Science Effectively: A Many of the questions crispr raises are not scientific or techni- ment, and develops knowledge and networks Research Agenda.” cal, nor do they have “correct” answers that scientists can provide. to build the effectiveness of the philanthropic sector. Civic science is a growing area of re- BROOKE SMITH is the director of public crispr represents a type of emerging science that within the lab search, investment, and coalition-building for engagement at The Kavli Foundation, which is the foundation. dedicated to advancing science for the benefit has manageable technical risks but outside it generates ethical, of humanity, promoting public understanding political, and other societal dilemmas that only become clear once DIETRAM A. SCHEUFELE is the John E. Ross of scientific research, and supporting scientists we begin to consider concrete applications. As with human genome Professor in science communication and Vilas and their work. From 2005 to 2016, she was Distinguished Achievement Professor at the the executive director of COMPASS, a leading editing, issues raised by stem cell research, synthetic biology, nano- University of Wisconsin-Madison and in the science communication nonprofit. technology, and artificial intelligence fall squarely in the category of “wicked problems” 1—those that require a careful weighting of different known and unknown consequences and the connections actors, and the general public “on how those technologies could, and among them. Ideally, we will determine how to handle these issues should, be used.” 5 Recent survey data suggest that many citizens agree. through what the editors of The Lancet recently called “exhaustive People want to be involved in discussions about crispr, regardless and effective” public engagement about their scientific potential of their views of it. These views vary in part based on respondents’ alongside the moral, political, and societal trade-offs involved.2 religious background, their understanding of the technology’s tech- The fact that we are in uncharted territory in so many areas of nical risks and benefits, and the degree to which they or their family science opens up tremendous opportunities to re-envision how we members are affected by diseases thatcrispr may be able to cure. 6 as a society debate and guide the development of new knowledge The public seems ready for such discussions about crispr and technology. Philanthropy has a vital role to play in fostering the and other emerging technologies, and so do scientists. However, discourse necessary to navigate these opportunities successfully. the urgent need for inclusive and constructive debates comes at a less-than-ideal time in our political history. Decreasing levels of A GROWING MANDATE FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT political involvement by individual citizens have gone hand-in-hand Some in the scientific community have long embraced the idea of with a decline in what some term “social capital,” as fewer commu- engaging the public in broad discussions about emerging technologies nity organizations and other institutions integrate citizens into the and their implications. Writing in 1948 in the Bulletin of the Atomic social and political fabric of their communities.7 Recently, this social Scientists, a publication founded by Manhattan Project scientists fabric has been strained even further by an increasing polarization who “could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work,” J. of the electorate8 and changing, sometimes distorted, media systems Robert Oppenheimer urged greater dialogue between scientists and that rely more and more on online channels. nonscientists. The “father of the bomb” described a growing con- Personalized news environments have enabled a new type of sciousness among physicists about the implications of their work, hyperselectivity among audiences. Social scientists have long observed a result of “the experiences of this century, which have shown in that people lean toward consuming information and news that fit so poignant a way how much the applications of science determine their preexisting beliefs.9 News aggregators such as Google News, our welfare and that of our fellows, and which have cast in doubt Flipboard, and Feedly now allow people to permanently firewall their that traditional optimism, that confidence in progress, which have news diets against certain sources, topics, or viewpoints. With close characterized Western Culture since the Renaissance.” 3 to 7 in 10 Americans today reporting getting at least some of their At the beginning of the 21st century, Alan Leshner, now CEO news from social media,10 this problem is becoming even more acute. emeritus of the American Association for the Advancement of Science These effects are compounded when we deal with complex and (AAAS), called for an “honest bidirectional dialogue” about the risks emerging scientific topics that bridge traditional disciplines.