ESDiT Publications

@article{Bovenkerk2023,

title = {Of Mammoths and Megalomaniacs},

author = {Bernice Bovenkerk and Keje Boersma},

doi = {10.5840/enviroethics202382964},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-09-05},

urldate = {2023-09-05},

journal = {Environmental Ethics},

volume = {45},

number = {4},

pages = {381-402},

abstract = {In this article, two ways of thinking about the potential disruptiveness of de-extinction and

gene drives for conservation are presented. The first way of thinking zooms in on particular

technologies and assesses the disruptiveness of their potential implications. This approach is

exemplified by a framework proposed by Hopster (2021) that is used to conduct our assessment.

The second way of thinking turns the logic of the first around. Here, the question is

how gene drives and de-extinction fit into a wider and partly pre-existing context of disruption

of human-nature relations. By only zooming in on a particular technology and its potential

implications, the context out of which the technology is born is unavoidably disregarded.

Gene drives and de-extinction are catalysts of a wider disruption already underway. And it

is precisely because this disruption is already underway that the terrain is opened for the

development and application of these technologies. In other words, the disruptiveness of

these technologies strengthens the disruptiveness that was already underway and vice versa.

It is argued that the two ways of thinking about emerging technologies in conservation need

to go together, meaning in technology assessment both perspectives need to be included.},

keywords = {Conceptual disruption, Conservation, De-extinction, Gene Drives},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}