Difference between revisions of "Team:SCUT/EconomicsandEthics"

In order to evaluate our projects from multiple perspectives and to listen to more diverse views, we have successfully invited Pro.Guo Shouqian, an economics professor at South China University of Technology, to agree to our interview.以下是我们的采访稿

Here are our interview notes.

Q: What do you think about this project?

A: Using biological method to solve the problem of cadmium ion pollution－In terms of the technical effect, this technology is advanced in comparison to the previous physical or chemical methods, which is in line with the requirements of social development. When it comes to the impact on the economy, especially from the point of view of the enterprise，the feasibility of the technique depends on the cost of the implementation and the subsequent maintenance. If a technique is more superior both technologically and economically than the original, then it is of real value, which can really promote social production and economic development.

Q: Can you predict what the business will take on this technology？

A: Um…Industrial effluent must meet the requirements of the national emission standard , which by law, cannot be avoided. So once the technology is applied to practical use, will companies remain with the traditional system or implement the new? To answer this question, multiple aspects need to be considered. Firstly, does the new technique have a higher efficiency and result of removing cadmium ion than the traditional methods? Also, if the new technique has a lower detection limit so that it can be closer to meeting the requirements of the government, of course the enterprises will take a positive attitude towards it. Secondly, compared with traditional physical and chemical method, the biological method can reduce the use of chemical materials and energy, responding to the call of the low carbon life and circular economy，which can create a better social image for the companies.

Q: What impact will the application of this technology have on society?

A: This project is based on the principles and methods of synthetic biology, which is still unfamiliar to the public. Once put into practice, it will change the structure of labor demands to a certain extent. For example, the demand for high-tech personnel will increase. People need to know more about biological knowledge, and meanwhile, the biological safety standards will be improved too. In addition, with the help of engineered organisms to carry out real-time monitoring, automatic processing will rise, while the demand for workers will fall.

Q: Please talk about your feelings to the synthetic biology in the future.

A: Shi Yigong, a academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, have always said that 21 Century is the century of biological sciences. In the microscopic aspect, biology has advanced from the cellular level to molecular level when exploring the nature of life. In the macroscopic aspect, the development of ecology plays an important role in solving the global resources and environmental problems. So I agree that there are good signs of development in this field. But nowadays, the public's understanding of synthetic biology is not enough. People may have been using products which are produced in a synthetic biological way, but they do not realize. So strengthening and popularizing synthetic biology knowledge to make this subject more close to life should be the first task.

At the same time, governors and scientists need to consider the potential impact of this technique. Scientists are making DNA sequences which have never existed in the world. So the new DNAs don’t have any contrasts, and there is no system and no policy to evaluate the security and restrict the project. How to use this technique effectively and also conform the standard of human ethics, is a problem which need to be addressed by scientists in the future.

According to this interview, we learn that a valuable technique should achieve the goal of higher efficiency and lower cost. At the same time, a new technique responding to the call of the low carbon life and circular economy is able to create a better social image for the companies.

Acknowledgement

Guo Shouqian, doctor, Professor, director of the Department of economics, South China University of Technology, economics and trade, resources and environmental economics.

Office：303 B South B10， SCUT  Telephone：020-39380761

E-MAIL：sqguo@scut.edu.cn

Field of Research：

Resources and Environmental Economics，Recycling economy

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