Prometheus Reimagined: Technology, Environment, and Law in the Twenty-first Century

by Albert C. Lin

Overview

Technologies such as synthetic biology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and geoengineering promise to address many of our most serious problems, yet they also bring environmental and health-related risks and uncertainties. Moreover, they can come to dominate global production systems and markets with very little public input or awareness. Existing governance institutions and processes do not adequately address the risks of new technologies, nor do they give much consideration to the concerns of persons affected by them.

Instead of treating technology, health, and the environment as discrete issues, Albert C. Lin argues that laws must acknowledge their fundamental relationship, anticipating both future technological developments and their potential adverse effects. Laws should encourage international cooperation and the development of common global standards, while allowing for flexibility and reassessment.
 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780472118830
Publisher:	University of Michigan Press
Publication date:	10/30/2013
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Albert C. Lin is Professor of Law specializing in environmental law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations ix

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 Existing Law and New Technologies 15

2 Biotechnology

Emerging Technology Past and Present 48

3 Nanotechnology

Emerging Technology Present 79

4 Geoengineering

A Technological Solution to Climate Change? 115

5 Synthetic Biology

The New Biotechnology 145

6 Human Enhancement and General Reflections on Managing Emerging Technologies 160

Conclusion 181

Notes 187

Selected Bibliography 251

Index 293

Editorial Reviews

“What this book contributes is a detailed look at potential governance mechanisms in a historical perspective, and a close legal analysis of existing and potential regulatory structures for a particular group of emerging technologies. The biggest strength is the legal analysis of how U.S. regulation applies and does not apply to emerging technologies, and some good policy ideas for generating new governance.”
—David Winickoff, University of California, Berkeley, College of Natural Resources
 

From the Publisher