(SYN) biology without borders: understanding the complexities and power of life?

One of the many pressing issues the global community will confront in the next decade is whether the arsenal of biotechnologies should be deployed for conservation and environmental protection, or whether they are anathema to nature itself. How did we get to a point where we are contemplating whether to alter the DNA of species to save them from the impacts of humans? Do we really understand the complexities and power of life well enough to control it? Why are we so quick to alter and engineer nature, but so slow and unwilling to alter ourselves to protect it? Emerging biotechnologies, societies and environments are complex. Understanding these complexities requires a convergence of disciplinary study and thinking. Integrating knowledge from a variety of fields, cultures, and ethics. This talk will examine these complexities and how scientists, funders, businesses, regulators, and society at-large are contemplating if, how, and when these emergent biotechnologies should be used.