This week, 18 nanoscientists from the lab attended a one and a half hour workshop for the collaborative project we’re undertaking on the ethical, social and cultural implications of NanoBioSensing technologies. I gave a short lecture on ethics, and social and cultural implications of technologies to broadly set the scene, then posed some questions to the scientists to shift some of this thinking toward their technologies.
After looking at the theory and some material applicable to other technologies (biotechnology more generally being the space where the most ethical thinking has been done) the questions we brainstormed were:
- How might NanoBioSensing technologies shift the relationship of patients to their own bodies and medical data, or to the bodies and medical data of those close to them?
- How might our concept of disease change in relation to NanoBioSensing technologies?Consider the volume of data possible, and customised medicine.
The scientists were very open to entering an uncomfortable space — considering potential negative implications of the kinds of technologies they are working on — and this led to some great insights. Consequently though, this material is confidential, however, it will inform my editorial comments for Will on the first draft of the voiceover script. It is also informing the aesthetic development of the rest of the film and the symbolic relationships between images in the film.
(Sifting through the audio and textual material generated during the workshop)