SCANZ2013:the biotechnologies of the 3rd Nature

Make, Do, Mend and Hack (MDMH) the biotechnologies of the 3rd Nature

Author: Brian Degger

Abstract

A Paper on The Biotechnologies you already Live with, and the Ones you Should. We propose that next ecology sees it’s citizens embracing biotechnology from the point of view of having ‘the good life’.

There is already a group of pragmatic individuals(call them biohackers, or DIYBio geeks) that are imagining this future, where science and model organisms aren’t confined to the laboratory, but are free to live and enrich our lives. We play, grow and eat science. We use organisms on a small scale to support, to inform, to gain information from our environment. We use the old biotechnologies of fermentation and pickling, but are not afraid to consider mixing it with genetic testing and engineering.

The next ecology we deserve is the hybridization of heavy lifting industries (metal work/genetically manipulated organism production, cancer treatments, trauma medicine) with light self-replicating technologies(yogurt making, general fermentation activities, genetic testing). Reintroducing the affordable domestic biotechnologies to the public releases them from buying what is essentially free. Through this process we can decommodify food and medicine and learn skills that can feed us and keep us healthy.

This paper explores examples of where this is being used already, and where it could go in the future.