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Summary biomedical sciences and society
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Summary Biomedical sciences and societyLecture 1, Introduction
We have plenty of S & T available to solve society’s most important problems. So why don’t
we just do it?
S & T and Society do not develop in isolation from each other, but through complex
interaction.
We need to understand the complex interaction between S & T and Society to engage with
today’s problems.
Themes
➤Relationships between societal change and biomedical science and technology (S&T)
➤The role of public opinion, diverse actors’ perspectives, norms and values in the
development of biomedical sciences & technology
➤Communicating about science and technology with publics
➤Biomedical science and technology and sustainability
A. Using robotics in the OR
➢ Applications: monitoring, diagnostics, more precise therapies.
➢ Important points of attention: Target audience, patients’ freedom, (shared)
responsibilities, privacy, cost-benefit analysis, insurance, etc.
B. Labs-on-chips @home
➢ Applications: Conducting difficult and/or lengthy procedures; enhanced precision;
automization; remote health care
➢ Important points of attention: Legislation, patients’ experience, responsibility,
changing practices, high costs, insurance, etc.
C. Care robots
➢ Applications: support and service; monitoring; paying attention, keeping company
and activating people
➢ Practical care or emotional care?
➢ Important points of attention: people’s experience; changing practices of care;
changing culture; privacy; autonomy; costs; development; programming
D. M-Health
➢ Applications: collecting and analysing data; monitoring; medication; blood values;
supporting treatment
➢ Important points of attention: Privacy, responsibility, ability to use device, rules
and legislation, cost reduction, patient experience
Vaccine (văk-sēn′,văk′sēn′)
1. A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen, such as a bacterium or virus, or of a
portion of the pathogen's structure, that is administered to prevent or treat infection by the
pathogen and that functions by stimulating the production of an immune response.
,WHAT MAKES VACCINES A SUCCESS?
➢ People: Doctors, managers, nurses, developers, administrators etc.
➢ Infrastructure & logistics: Cooling, transport, roads, ships, hospitals etc.
➢ Goods and products: Needles, liquids, fridges, paper etc.
➢ Systems and structures: administration, finance, government etc.
➢ Knowledge and experience: science, practical experience etc.
What can we learn about vaccine hesitancy from the COVID-19 experience?
- People remain unvaccinated for a variety of reasons:
➢ Some cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons
➢ Others struggle to navigate diverse sources of information
➢ Many hesitate, for example because of specific medical conditions
➢ And some are “anti-vax"
- Increasing the vaccination rate therefore requires careful collaboration between all
relevant “actors”: people, infrastructure, goods, systems and structures,
and knowledge and experience
- A complex debate:
Sovereignty over your own body versus protecting public health?
What does “inclusivity” really mean, in this context?
-is inclusivity the right to not join the vaccination campaign because the person also
has a place in society or in inclusivity making sure that the vaccination grade is high
enough that even people that are compromised with immunity can visit their
friends?
S&T IN CONTEXT
➢ Science –Technology - Society
➢ Intertwined: they emerge through mutual shaping
➢ ‘Fork-shaped’, messy processes of development (not linear): scientific and technological
developments are often unexpected, an off-shoot from a completely different trajectory
Examples:
▪ Internet
▪ Mobile phones
▪ All sorts of medicines and other biomedical technologies, such as
- Viagra
- The HeLa cell line
Why is this relevant?
- S&T as part of the solution to all sorts of challenges
▪ Climate, sustainability, security, poverty, inequality, health and well-being
- BUT: S&T is often part of the problem as well
▪ Pollution and emissions
▪ Growing inequalities
▪ More, not less disease
▪ Unexpected and unwanted effects
- AND: there are numerous mismatches S&T - society
▪ Vulnerable groups, minorities
, ▪ What is the problem? For whom?
▪ Example: cochlear implant
S&T as part of the solution
▪ To which and whose problem is the gene-edited baby possibly a solution, and which and
whose problem does this solution address?
- The problem that people are vulnerable to diseases. It is a solution because the
genes of unborn children can be edited in such a way that certain pathways can be
blocked etc. and thus will not be able to be affected by that particular disease. So, it
will be a solution for the global well being.
The problem that people
are vulnerable to
diseases. It is a solution
because the genes of
unborn children can be
edited in such a way
, that certain pathways
can be blocked etc. and
thus will not be able
to be affected by that
particular disease. So, it
will be a solution for
the global well-being.
S&T as part of the problem
▪ Which and whose problem(s) does the gene-edited baby possibly create?
- Because with this technique the inequality between rich and poor will increase. Elite
babies will be able to pass on diseases without getting ill themselves.
Mismatches S&T - society
▪ What mismatches between S&T and society do you observe in the article?
- The scientists find it a breakthrough to be able to ‘cure’ people in such a way. But
society questions whether it is ethical to decide for a generation if they should be
‘cured’ like that before they have been born.
Four views on science/ technology on the one hand and society on the other hand
• Instrumental view
- Society develops and uses technology to reach its own goals. (gun ownership is legal
is the US, it is people who kill with guns, the technology “gun” is not the problem) (It
is not about what kind of society we want to live in, not the goals)
• Deterministic view
- Technological development follows its own trajectory, and technological
development has an impact on society. (It is a natural process; if I did not do this
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