Genomics and a Scientifically Responsible Ethics

Abstract

Genomics is a field where almost every sentence begins with the words ‘we will be able to … ’This article is based upon remarks offered at the opening of the BIOS Centre at the LSE, June 2003. When dealing with the ethics of the field, one must distinguish very carefully between impotence and chastity; it is important to distinguish between‘can’t’ and ‘won‘t‘.

The history leading up to our current situation on the basic scientific level is well known, but is worth recalling for context. In 1953, Watson and Crick published a paper in which they showed the familiar icon of our times, the double helical structure of DNA. For the first time, one could see a solution to major problems of biology and especially to major problems of genetics. More particularly, we could begin to study the chemistry of information. Chemistry, of course, could also be called very low energy physics; and so for the first time we were on the verge of a physical analysis of information in biology. As is well known, biological systems are unique complex systems in the universe in that they carry an internal description of themselves in the form of their genes. No other complex system has this property. The weather is a complex system, but you can’t clone the weather because there is no physical internal description.