STS.011
Engineering Life: Biotechnology and Society
Provides instruction in the history of humanity's efforts to control and shape life through biotechnology, from agriculture to gene editing. Examines the technologies, individuals and socio-economic systems that are associated with such efforts, as well as the impact that these efforts have on society and science as a whole. Explores these issues with particular attention to the development of the modern biotechnology industry in the Greater Boston area. Includes a field trip.
Fall 2007 · American Science: Ethical Conflicts and Political Choices
We will explore the changing political choices and ethical dilemmas of American scientists from the atomic scientists of World War II to biologists in the present wrestling with the questions raised by cloning and other biotechnologies. As well as asking how we would behave if confronted with the same choices, we will try to understand the choices scientists have made by seeing them in their historical and political contexts. Some of the topics covered include: the original development of nuclear weapons and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the effects of the Cold War on American science; the space shuttle disasters; debates on the use of nuclear power, wind power, and biofuels; abuse of human subjects in psychological and other experiments; deliberations on genetically modified food, the human genome project, human cloning, embryonic stem cell research; and the ethics of archaeological science in light of controversies over museum collections.
Readings
- Walker, J. S. “The Decision to Use the Bomb.” Diplomatic History 14 (1990): 97-114.
- Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005, pp. 1-6, 179-214, and 298-300. ISBN: 9780674016934.
- Rotblat, Joseph. “Leaving the Bomb Project.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 41 (August 1985): 16-19.
- Oppenheimer, Robert. “Speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists, November 2, 1945.” In Oppenheimer, Robert: Letters and Reflections . Edited by Alice Kimball Smith and Charles Weiner. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980, pp. 315-325. ISBN: 9780674776050.
- Sherwin, Martin. “The Two Policemen.” In A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance . New York, NY: Vintage, 1973), pp. 90-114. ISBN: 9780394497945.
- Bird, Kai, and Martin Sherwin. Preface, “The Impact of the Gadget on Civilization,” and “Now We’re All Sons-of-bitches.” In American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer . New York, NY: Knopf Books, 2005. ISBN: 9780375726262.
- Weiner, Norbert. “A Scientist Rebels.” Atlantic Monthly (January 1947): 46.
- O’Neill, Dan. “Alaska and the Firecracker Boys: The Story of Project Chariot.” In The Atomic West . Edited by Bruce Hevly and John Findlay. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780295977164.
- Siever, Ray. “Doing Earth Science Research During the Cold War.” In The Cold War and the University . Edited by Noam Chomsky, et al. New York, NY: New Press, 1998, pp. 147-170. ISBN: 9781565843974.
- Nelkin, Dorothy. The University and Military Research: Moral Politics at MIT . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972, pp. 1-13 and 54-65. ISBN: 9780801407116.
- Bush, Vannevar. “Science, Democracy, and War,” and “Cold War.” Modern Arms and Free Men . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1949.
- Perrow, Charles. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 3-12, 15-31, and 304-339. ISBN: 9780691004129.
- Whitbeck, Caroline. “Two Models of Professional Behavior: Roger Boisjoly and the Challenger , William Lemessurier’s Fifty-Nine Story Crisis.” In Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 133-156. ISBN: 9780521479448.
- Langewiesche, William. “Columbia’s Last Flight.” The Atlantic Monthly (November 2003).
- Carson, Rachel. “A Fable for Tomorrow,” “The Obligation to Endure,” and “The Rumblings of an Avalanche.” Chapters 1, 2, and 16 in Silent Spring . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. ISBN: 9780141184944.
- Bach, Fritz, et al. “Uncertainty in Xenotransplantation: Individual Benefit Versus Collective Risk.” Nature Medicine 4 (1998): 141-144.
- Stehr-Green, Paul, et al. “Autism and Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 25 (2003): 101-106.
- Hughes, Virginia. “Mercury Rising.” Nature Medicine 13 (2007): 896 - 897.
- Documentary segment: Harvest of Fear. PBS Frontline/NOVA, 2001.
- Gusterson, Hugh. “Decoding the Debate on Frankenfood.” In Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties . Edited by Betsy Hartmann, Banu Subramaniam, and Charles Zerner. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. ISBN: 9780742549074.
- Gaskell, George, Martin W. Bauer, John Durant, and Nicholas C. Allum. “Worlds Apart? The Reception of Genetically Modified Foods in Europe and the U.S.” Science 285 (July 16, 1999): 384-387.
- Falk, Michael C., Bruce M. Chassy, Susan K. Harlander, Thomas J. Hoban, IV, Martina N. McGloughlin, and Amin R. Akhlaghi. “Food Biotechnology: Benefits and Concerns.” Journal of Nutrition (2002): 1384-1390.
- Singh, Om V., Shivani Ghai, Debarati Paul, and Rakesh K. Jain. “Genetically Modified Crops: Success, Safety Assessment, and Public Concern.” Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 71 (2006): 598-607.
- Balter, Michael. “Seeking Agriculture’s Ancient Roots.” Science 316 (June 29, 2007): 1830-1835.
- Fischbach, Gerald D., and Ruth L. Fischbach. “Stem Cells: Science, Policy, and Ethics.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation 114 (November 2004): 1364-1370.
- Gilbert, David M. “The Future of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Addressing Ethical Conflict with Responsible Scientific Research.” Med Sci Monit 10 (2004): RA99-103.
- Taylor, Patrick L. “The Gap between Law and Ethics in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Overcoming the effect of U.S. Federal Policy on Research Advances and Public Benefit.” Science and Engineering Ethics 11 (2005): 589-616.
- Dresser, Rebecca. “Stem Cell Research: The Bigger Picture.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 48 (2005): 181-94.
- Smith, Shane William Neaves, and Steven Teitelbaum. “Adult Stem Cell Treatments for Diseases?” Science 313 (July 28, 2006): 439.
- Green, Ronald M. “Benefiting From ‘Evil’: An Incipient Moral Problem in Human Stem Cell Research.” Bioethics 16 (2002): 544-556.
- Lewontin, Richard. “The Confusion Over Cloning” New York Review of Books (23 October 1997): 18-24.
- Kass, Leon. “The Wisdom of Repugnance: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning.” In The Human Cloning Debate . 3rd Edition. Edited by Glenn McGee. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Hills Books, 2002, pp. 58-67. ISBN: 9781893163416.
- Brennan, T., et al. “Health Industry Practices that Create Conflicts of Interest.” Journal of the American Medical Association 295 (2006): 429.
- Marshall, Eliot. “Need a Reagent? Just Sign Here…” Science (October 10, 1997): 212-213.
- Zalewski, Daniel. “Ties That Bind.” Lingua Franca 7, no. 5 (June/July 1997): 51-59.
- Finkel, Michael. “This Little Kidney Went to Market.” New York Times Magazine , no. 27 (May 2001).
- Hudson, Kathy L., et al. “Genetic Discrimination and Health Insurance: An Urgent Need for Reform.” Science 270 (October 20, 1995): 391-393.
- Kass, Leon R. “The Moral Meaning of Genetic Technology.” Commentary (September 1999): 32-38.
- Jeffords, James M., and Tom Daschle. “Viewpoint - Policy Issues: Political Issues in the Genome Era.” Science 291 (February 16, 2001): 1249 - 1251.
- Wolf, Susan M., and Jeffrey P. Kahn. “Genetic Testing and the Future of Disability Insurance: Ethics, Law & Policy.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2007): 6-32.
- Dodge, John H., and David J. Christianson. “Genetic Testing and Disability Insurance: An Alternative Opinion.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2007): 33-35.
- Silvers, Anita. “Predictive Genetic Testing: Congruence of Disability Insurers’ Interests with the Public Interest.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2007): 52-58.
- Oreskes, Naomi. “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change.” Science 306 (December 3, 2004): 1686.
- Cape Wind. “Comparison of Cape Wind Scientific Data Tower Wind Speed Data with ISO New England List of Top Ten Electric Demand Days.” (July 2, 2007).
- Slater, Lauren. “Obscura: Stanley Milgram and Obedience to Authority.” In Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century . New York, NY: Norton, 2005. ISBN: 9780393326550.
- Angell, Marcia. “The Ethics of Clinical Research in the Third World.” New England Journal of Medicine 337 (1997): 847-849.
- Brandt, A. M. “Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.” Hastings Center Report 8 (December 1978): pp. 21-29.
- Lurie, P., and S. M. Wolfe. “Unethical Trials of Interventions to Reduce Perinatal Transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Developing Countries.” New England Journal of Medicine 337 (1997): 853-856.
- Correspondence. New England Journal of Medicine 338 (1998): 836-844.
- Ballard, R. D., et al. “The Discovery of Ancient History in the Deep Sea Using Advanced Deep Submergence Technology.” Deep-Sea Research I 47 (2000): 1591-1620. [1997 deep water project that raised political and ethical issues.]
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Fall) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2007
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.