Viewing Asilomar from the Global South.

Abstract

To many in the scientific community, the 1975 Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA stands as a singular achievement. This experiment in governance seemed to demonstrate that citizens could trust scientists to anticipate their fields' risks and propose sensible ways to regulate themselves. Over the past half-century, similar efforts have been made to govern controversial areas of research, from geoengineering to artificial intelligence. However, when viewed from a global perspective, Asilomar did not address concerns in the way that many assume. The conference's output may have made it more difficult for scientists to take seriously global public concerns about emerging technologies, which has impeded governance and eroded trust in science.