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BREAKING THE CARBON BARRIER: RELIGION & RISK REGIMES

BREAKING THE CARBON BARRIER: RELIGION & RISK REGIMES. EC-US Task Force on Biotechnology Research Nanobiotechnology Workshop Ispra, Italy June 3, 2008. David M. Berube Co-ord, PCOST – Public Communication of Science and Technology North Carolina State University USA. PRINCIPLES.

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BREAKING THE CARBON BARRIER: RELIGION & RISK REGIMES

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  1. BREAKING THE CARBON BARRIER: RELIGION & RISK REGIMES EC-US Task Force on Biotechnology Research Nanobiotechnology Workshop Ispra, Italy June 3, 2008 David M. Berube Co-ord, PCOST – Public Communication of Science and Technology North Carolina State University USA

  2. PRINCIPLES • Risk is a social construct. • Experts/publics differ on ranking risks. • Risks are attenuated/amplified by third parties, including NGOs and the media. • Trust is always a factor in communicating risk.

  3. NANOBIO • To the public, biotechnology remains an unknown. Nanotechnology is equally obtuse. Nanobiotechnology seems simply a made-up word. • Examples. • Medicine and health care • Environmental remediation. • Agricultural productivity. • Human enhancement.

  4. FALLACIES & AXIOLOGIES • Fallacies • Ecological fallacy (naturalness). • Future generation fallacy. • Axiologies • Webs of value constructs. • Anecdotes, stories & epiphanies. • Beliefs.

  5. RELIGION, BELIEF & NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY • Nanomedicine and nanobiology. • Fear of death • Coat-tails phenomenon. • Fundamental principles. • Humanity and godliness. • Nature/unnaturalness & dominion. • Dehumanization.

  6. EXAMPLES from USA • Examples (non-rational systems). • Abortion. • Embryonic stem cell research. • Gay marriage. • Implications • Lopsided debate; no middle ground. • Beliefs and dogma as warrants. • Accommodation and compromise are sinful.

  7. PUBLIC RISK PERCEPTION • Deep and emotional; confronting dispositional or eliminativism. • Belief and the heresiarch, science in the role of Arius and King Henry VIII. • Scientists as endoheretics (Asimov). • a non-crackpot or charlatan. • Religion becomes grounds for warrants as well as an amplifier.

  8. STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS • Denial = heresy. • Scientific mission and can/should conundrum. • Recasting the role of science. • Proselytizing/conversion as a rhetorical tactic.

  9. NEW RISK REGIME • Consensuality and stakeholding; opening the debate for religious arguments. • Threshold free and slippery slopes; most belief driven arguments are totalistic. • Politics of belief; learn from the right wing conservatives.

  10. EC-US COOPERATION • Draft a statement on the ethics of nanobiotechnology. • Track discoveries – proof of concepts and product lines. • Share data sets associated with nanobiotechnology. • Design an appropriate risk regime.

  11. This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, NSF 06-538 Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE): Nanoscience and Technology Studies Cognate, and NSF 06-595, Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT): Intuitive Toxicology and Public Engagement. THANKSdmberube@ncsu.edu

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