Episode 20
Risk, Expertise, and the Power of Community Perspectives in Science and Technology ft. Jason Delborne
October 05, 2021
In this episode, Shobita and Jack compare how the US and UK governments are managing risk and uncertainty in both pandemic policymaking and in their evolving artificial intelligence strategies. And they chat with Jason Delborne, a professor at North Carolina State University who has done both research and public and policy engagement related to gene drives, a new form of biotechnology that could transform our ecosystems.
Study Questions:
Why do we turn to surveys as measures of public opinion, and what might consensus conferences or other deliberative methods allow us to do?
Why do we need social scientists involved in discussions about science and technology policies
What’s the deficit model of public engagement, and what’s wrong with it?
Why might the science and engineering communities be skeptical of engaging communities in decisionmaking about science and technology, and how might these concerns be overcome?
Related links:
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2019). Forest Health and Biotechnology: Possibilities and Considerations. National Academies Press.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2016). Gene Drives on the Horizon: Advancing Science, Navigating Uncertainty, and Aligning Research with Public Values. National Academies Press.
America in One Room (2020). Executive Summary.
Delborne, J. A. (2019, January 18). Can genetic engineering save disappearing forests? The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/can-genetic-engineering-save-disappearing-forests-109793
Delborne, J. A., Binder, A. R., Rivers, L., Barnes, J. C., Barnhill-Dilling, K., George, D., Kokotovich, A., & Sudweeks, J. (2018). Biotechnology, the American Chestnut Tree, and Public Engagement (Workshop Report). Genetic Engineering and Society Center. http://go.ncsu.edu/ges-chestnut-report.
Long, K. C., Alphey, L., Annas, G. J., Bloss, C. S., Campbell, K. J., Champer, J., Chen, C.-H., Choudhary, A., Church, G. M., Collins, J. P., Cooper, K. L., Delborne, J. A., Edwards, O. R., Emerson, C. I., Esvelt, K., Evans, S. W., Friedman, R. M., Gantz, V. M., Gould, F., … Akbari, O. S. (2020). Core commitments for field trials of gene drive organisms. Science, 370(6523), 1417–1419. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd1908