December 15th 2009
http://politicsofhealth.org/wol/2009-12-15.htm
My first column in 2006 started with the sentence “To choose a topic for ones first installment of ones column on innovation is a daunting task. Scientific news of today becomes yesterday's news, fast replaced by even more astonishing news. One field of science is chased by another in ever increasing speed.”
In the 2007 year end column I wrote that “the biggest challenge I face in writing my columns is to decide what topic to write about. So much is happening so rapidly that such decisions are difficult. And when I say happening, that entails not only advances in science and technology, but also events that alter the societal and cultural landscape, and the way in which these two factors influence each other.”
This sentiment has not changed. We see science and technologies advancing in a rapid pace with new ones showing up all the time.
This year I cut my columns from biweekly to monthly. The column is not published anymore at innovationwatch.com. Thanks to David Forrest for giving me the platform from 2006-2009!!!
The column is now solely published by the Politics of Health project of the HealthWright.org group . Thanks to Jay Edson and David Werner!!!
This year I updated various columns from former years as a lot happened in many areas. But I also introduced new topics such as Metagenomics, lab on a chip, Biobanks and nano for oil and gas.
For the end of this year my last column is published on the 2020 science blog of Andrew Maynard.
To quote from his blog: "Currently serving as the Chief Science Adviser at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies , I am heavily involved in the development of responsible nanotechnologies. An author of over one hundred scientific publications, I spend much of my time these days placing science and technology in a social context for a broader audience. This includes briefing politicians, industry, environmentalists, journalists (and anyone else who will listen) on smart ways of addressing the challenges of emerging technologies.”
Andrew invited me to be part of a series of 10 views on science to be published in the next 2 weeks. Thanks Andrew
My column with the title: “Innovation for whom? Innovation for what? The Impact of Ableism” can be found here
The Choice is Yours:
I enjoyed writing every column, and I am sure I will continue to enjoy writing columns. I hope the columns are of use to you, the reader, and that they encourage you to learn more and to speak up on these topics. All the topics I cover impact everyone globally and everyone globally should involve themselves in the topics. The consequences of poor decisions are too severe to leave dialog to just a few.
All of the "The Choice is Yours" articles till June 2009 can be found here, after June 2009 here.
Gregor Wolbring is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary. He is Affiliated Scholar, Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University, USA; Part Time Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa Canada; Adjunct Faculty Critical Disability Studies, York University, Canada. He is a science and technology governance scholar, a disability/vari-ability/ability studies scholar, and a health policy and science and technology studies researcher. He is the Chair of the Bioethics Taskforce of Disabled People's International. He publishes the Bioethics, Culture and Disability website, authors a weblog on NBICS and its social implications and on Ableism and Ability Ethics and Governance and contributes to the What Sorts of People blog.
© Gregor Wolbring, All Rights Reserved, 2009. Please contact the author for permission to reprint.