Team:Toulouse/test

iGEM Toulouse 2015

Gallery

As we were saying before, ethics was a dimension that was present from the very first stages of development of our project. During the summer, we had the great chance to meet and talk with a few ethicians: M. Vincent Gégoire-Delory, M. Simon Desbois and Mrs Anne Cambon-Thomsen. They helped us develop our reflexion and shared their knowledge with us while still having the skill to let us think by ourselves.

We realized that the iGEM competition is a great time to develop our ethical thinking. Indeed, ethics are a requirement, which is a great opportunity and an advantage compared to being immediately included in an already existing project and never learning to think critically. The ability to carry out this type of deliberation, to question one’s own work, is what singles out a good scientist, in our opinion.

Finally, we would like to share with you this quote by Arthur M. Schlesinger that underlines something that we have learned this summer:

Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response.

Any ethical reflection, to be pertinent, has to root itself in a society’s history, tradition and beliefs. This is the way in which one will be able to identify the barriers and the fears of the public, and understanding them is the first step to conquering them.