Biotech: Cowboys and Indians
Federico De Giuli
In its fourth issue, Cluster addresses a strongly felt and topical theme: biotechnology. GMO, artificial insemination and cloning all kindle expectations of a cure for the incurable and the hope of conquering world famine, as well as the fear of going beyond the point of no return, crossing unknown borders and giving life to monsters. They divide public opinion. They become ethical issues.
Many of our articles give voice to the scientists, who express the reasons for their trust in biotechnology and claim that public opinion about science is manipulated by politics. The scientists’ irritation with those who obstruct biotech research is certainly justified if it circumvents obscurantist trends and defends the right to knowledge.
Our task has been to present the material from another perspective, far from the screaming headlines, examining man’s hopes and fears for the problems of his species without neglecting a more political level of debate
On the other hand, the confidence of the researchers clashes with the ineptitude of ethical and deontological codes unable to guarantee the acceptable use of biotechnology. We should not forget the behaviour of medical researchers in German or Japanese concentration camps during the Second World War or the involvement of doctors, reported by the influential journal The Lancet, in Iraq and in the Abu Ghraib prison.
Our task has been to present the material from another perspective, far from the screaming headlines, examining man’s hopes and fears for the problems of his species without neglecting a more political level of debate, as in the case of the new Assisted Procreation law which succeeds in being obscurantist and, at the same time, morally unjust.
Various contributions from the worlds of art and design confirm the concern triggered by the topic, where the view of the future is a provocative one and tends to place the viewer before an extreme and alienating world that forces him to reconsider his relationship with life, death and emotions. Our finest chefs even express their opinion on the use of GM foodstuffs in the kitchen.
Our regular columns, unrelated to the special theme but still focused on innovation, consolidate and multiply in this issue. The new entries are Urban Scenery, which opens with the potential architectures of Enrique Walker; Material World dedicated to new materials and treasures of the material-libraries; Netviews, on the evolution of web visions; a column on the Incubators and their role in the birth of new enterprises; and Borderlines and World Political Forum are dedicated to two different aspects of social innovation, the latter penned by president of the WPF, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
Starting with this issue, Cluster is now able to guarantee worldwide distribution, thanks to a new partnership with Johnson International News Italia which will bring distribution in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, the USA, Taiwan and Hong Kong: a partnership that fulfills the international vocation of our magazine, bilingual from the first issue.
