EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Science and Technology Options Assessment S T O A MAKING PERFECT LIFE BIO-ENGINEERING (IN) THE 21st CENTURY INTERIM STUDY Monitoring Report (IP/A/STOA/FWC-2008-96/LOT6/SC1) PE 446.046 DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT E: LEGISLATIVE COORDINATIONS AND CONCILIATIONS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS ASSESSMENT MAKING PERFECT LIFE BIO-ENGINEERING (IN) THE 21st CENTURY INTERIM STUDY Monitoring Report - Phase II Abstract The report describes four fields of bio-engineering: engineering of living artefacts (chapter 2), engineering of the body (chapter 3), engineering of the brain (chapter 4), and engineering of intelligent artefacts (chapter 5). Each chapter describes the state of the art of these bio-engineering fields, and whether the concepts “biology becoming technology” and “technology becoming biology” are helpful in describing and understanding, from an engineering perspective, what is going on in each R&D terrain. Next, every chapter analyses to what extent the various research strands within each field of bio-engineering are stimulated by the European Commission, i.e., are part and parcel of the European Framework program. Finally, each chapter provides an overview of the social, ethical and legal questions that are raised by the various scientific and technological activities involved. The report’s final chapter discusses to what extent the trends “biology becoming technology” and vice versa capture many of the developments that are going on in the four bio-engineering fields we have mapped. The report also reflects on the social, ethical and legal issues that are raised by the two bio-engineering megatrends that constitute a new technology wave. IP/A/STOA/FWC/2008-096/LOT6/SC1 OCTOBER 2010 PE 446.046 EN STOA - Science and Technology Options Assessment ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe, as members of ETAG. Project Leader: Rinie van Est, Rathenau Institute, The Hague. AUTHORS Mr Rinie van Est (Rathenau Institute, The Hague) Mr Dirk Stemerding (Rathenau institute, The Hague) Ms Ira van Keulen (Rathenau Institute, The Hague) Ms Ingrid Geesink (Rathenau Institute, The Hague) Ms Mirjam Schuijff (Rathenau Institute, The Hague) RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATORS Mr Theodoros Karapiperis (Administrator) Mr Vittorio De Crescenzo (Seconded National Expert) Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Directorate E: Legislative Coordination and Conciliations DG Internal Policies European Parliament Rue Wiertz 60 - ATR 00K070 B-1047 Brussels E-mail: [email protected] LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN ABOUT THE EDITOR To contact STOA or to subscribe to its newsletter please write to: [email protected] Manuscript completed in October 2010. Brussels, © European Parliament, 2010. This document is available on the Internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/stoa/default_en.htm DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. Making Perfect Life ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Contents 1. Introduction 6 1.1. NBIC convergence: The new technology wave 6 1.2. Two bio-engineering megatrends 7 1.2.1. Biology is becoming technology 8 1.2.2. Technology is becoming biology 8 1.3. A societal debate perspective 8 1.3.1. Biology is becoming technology 8 1.3.2. Technology is becoming biology 9 1.4. Content 9 References 9 2. Engineering of Living Artefacts: Synthetic Biology 11 2.1. Introduction 11 2.2. Scientific-tecnological state-of-the-art 12 2.2.1. Framing the Field 13 2.2.2. Ambitions and activities in the field of SB 14 2.2.3. The engineering approach in SB: its role and limits 16 2.2.4. The Promise to deliver 18 2.2.5. The novelty of SB 19 2.3. Relevance to European research 21 2.3.1. Research programmes 21 2.3.2. Criteria for assessing projects 23 2.4. Ethical, legal and social issues 24 2.4.1. Disruptive technoscience – or business as usual? 24 2.4.2. Playing God, altering nature - An ontological argument? 25 2.4.3. Playing God as a metaphor of disruptiveness 26 2.4.4. The mundane world of risks and benefits 29 2.4.5. Safety and security: accidents and intentional misuse 29 2.4.6. How to govern benefits: intellectual property protection 33 2.4.7. The relation to the public 34 2.5. Governance issues 35 2.6. Conclusion: living machines and artificial life 38 References 39 References for Table 1 43 Annex 1: Projects funded by EU funded institutions 46 STOA - Science and Technology Options Assessment ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Engineering of The body 51 3.1. Introduction to the field 51 3.2. Scientific and technological state of the art 56 3.2.1. Elucidating information on how the body functions: Molecular Medicine57 3.2.2. Studying and engineering materials of the human body: Advanced therapies and regenerative medicine 59 3.3. Research in the 7th framework programme 67 3.3.1. Gaining information about key life processes – Research needs and challenges for research policy 67 3.3.2. Material derived from humans for technology: Research needs and challenges for research policy 69 3.3.3. Conclusion 70 3.4. Ethical, legal, social, R&D policy impacts 72 3.4.1. General considerations 72 3.4.2. Ethical, legal, social, R&D policy issues related to elucidating and using genetic and medical information 73 3.4.3. Ethical, legal, social, R&D policy impacts of using material derived from humans for medical technology - Efficacy, safety and quality 76 3.5. Conclusions 78 References 79 4. Engineering of the Brain 85 4.1. Introduction 85 4.1.1. The engineering approach 86 4.1.2. How to read this chapter 89 4.2. Reverse engineering of the brain 90 4.2.1. Narrow reverse engineering: rebuilding the brain Blue Brain project 90 4.2.2. Neuromorphic engineering: building supercomputers 92 4.2.3. In vitro engineering: cultured neuronal networks 94 4.3. Forward engineering of the brain 96 4.3.1. Neuromodulation 96 4.3.2. Brain computer interfaces 100 4.4. Engineering the brain in European research programmes 104 4.4.1. Trends in FP6 en FP7 104 4.4.2. Trends in ESF projects 109 4.5. Ethical, legal and other impacts of neural engineering 109 4.5.1. The ethics of neural engineering 111 4.5.2. Reverse engineering 113 4.5.3. Forward engineering 114 4.6. Conclusion 121 References 123 Making Perfect Life ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Engineering of intelligent artefacts 128 5.1. Introduction 128 5.2. State of the Art 129 5.2.1. The Chequered History of Artificial Intelligence 129 5.2.2. Robots 133 5.2.3. Agents and Avatars 140 5.3. Relevance to European Research 149 5.4. Ethical, Legal and Societal Aspects 153 5.4.1. Ethical and Legal Aspects 154 5.4.2. Broader Societal and Policy Aspects 158 5.5. Conclusions 162 References 164 6. Conclusions 168 6.1. Bio-engineering in the 21st century 168 6.1.1. Biology becoming technology - and vice versa 168 6.1.2. Bio-engineering and science 172 6.1.3. Bio-engineering and the bio-debate 175 6.2. Bio-engineering the 21st century 178 6.2.1. Hypes, hubris, hopes and fears 178 6.2.2. Towards an ELSA agenda of bio-engineering 180 6.3. Safeguarding human dignity in the 21st century 189 6.3.1. Bio-engineering in the 21st century 189 6.3.2. The European Commission’s governance challenge 190 References 191 Making Perfect Life ___________________________________________________________________________________________ General information This monitoring report Making Perfect Life: Bio-engineering (in) the 21st Century is the result of the second phase of the STOA-project “Making Perfect Life”. This phase ran from December 2009 to November 2010. This document provided input for a conference which involved both Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) as well as other experts, which was held on 10 November 2010 in Brussels, in the European Parliament. This phase elaborates on the horizon scan and preliminary research that was done during the first phase, which ran from September to November 2009. That preparatory phase led to an interim study (Van Est et al., 2010), which was instrumental in defining the research focus of the current second phase of the STOA-project “Making Perfect Life” and setting up a team of researchers from the Dutch Rathenau Institute in the Hague, the Austrian Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) in Vienna, the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI), and the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The latter two German institutes are both located in Karlsruhe. This study presents the state of the art of four domains of bio-engineering: engineering of living artefacts, engineering of the body, engineering of the brain, and engineering of intelligent artefacts. Moreover, this study depicts the relevance of each of these four engineering fields within the European Framework program, and it provides an overview of the various social and ethical issues that relate to the further development of these fields. The third and final phase of