© DR

UNESCO and VivAgora are organizing a one-day conference on the impacts of converging technology on life. In tandem with the ongoing work of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), the conference will consider evolving life technology and its social and ethical implications.

Converging and life technologies in the 21st century have changed our life beyond our imagination and they are still doing so.

Life 2.0, which is on our technological horizon, does not simply mean the transformation of the way we use microbes, plants and animals. It involves the deliberate creation of life forms – some familiar, some perhaps profoundly new – by the deployment of technology.

Development of technologies has brought abundance of energy, food, medicine and other materials. At the same time, it also raises social and ethical questions on how they impact on our life.

The Life Conference will discuss these questions in several sessions on:

1) what is synthetic biology?
2) biomimicry and cooperation: relevance and performances
3) living with living things
4) is it wise to try to control and possess the living?
5) cooperation and evolution of living organisms
6) what kind of bioeconomy can free us from dependence on oil?

The conference will provide an opportunity to think about the sustainability of Life 2.0 and explore possible alternatives.