From Nathaniel Hellerstein
Jessica Griggs revealed an inconvenient truth about conservationists in her look at the role synthetic biology could play in that field (7 December, p 46): they were “wary of synthetic biology being used as a convenient quick fix” in place of the harder task of changing people’s behaviour.
A convenient quick fix? As opposed, perhaps, to a slow, inconvenient non-fix that requires we “change” people – that is, control them?
While I sympathise with scepticism about the actual speed or convenience of any given programme, this kind of talk of opposing speed and ease themselves is perverse.
San Francisco, California, US
