Biotechnology in the broadest sense can trace its roots back to prehistory. This book is not intended to be a comprehensive history of the technology from some arbitrary point in time or even a chronological tracing of the evolution of that technology but rather my impression of the various events throughout history that have intersected or built on one another to lead to the forward progression of a technology. Obviously, with such a broad canvas much selectivity is involved in the choices made to advance the narrative and, while the subjects chosen are not
capricious, they are influenced by the author’s perspective. In addition I have made some attempt, where validated resources exist, to present my perspective on how individual personalities and their particular contextual experience influenced the direction in which they carried the science or the science carried them. The book is divided into an introduction and five chapters, which this author views as one of the many possible delineations that could be employed to trace the progress of the technology. The introduction gives a broad overview of the technology, the components covered, progression of the science, present applications and future prospects. Chapter one covers the prehistory which, of its essence, involves some conjecture in addition to supported data. There are many potential
starting points, but I choose our agricultural roots since as noted anthropologist Solomon Katz asserts the domestication of plant and animals presaged civilization.
Katz also asserts that the initial motivation for planting cereals may have been motivated by another ubiquitous application of biotechnology namely brewing thus making that particular use of grains, both wild and planted, a more ancient catalyst in the transformation of the human condition. As Homo sapiens moved from huntergatherer to settled agrarian societies, robust methods for tracking crops, accounting for supplies and designating ownership had to be in place. Thus written language and mathematics were developed to trace and quantify. These are the consensus keystones for most popular conceptions of the genesis of civilization. The first half of chapter two chronicles some of the discoveries and developments of the early science and the tools to investigate same. While the second half focuses on a selective subset of the many key events that led to the birth of biotechnology as a modern discipline. Chapter three covers the formative years from the accepted nascent point of the technology, namely Paul Bergs’ seminal splicing of the first recombinant molecule in 1973, to the age of the genome which I arbitrarily set at 1990 although events in the eighties without doubt portended this event. The era covered by Chapter four (1990-2000) is largely overshadowed by the leviathan genomics projects being conducted within and between nations, but, of course, endeavors on numerous fronts translated into many interesting biotechnology developments unrelated, or marginally related, to these activities. Dolly and the genesis of the age of cloning and stem cells come to mind.
Since there is no effective way to conclude a tome in a field that is advancing as rapidly as biotechnology, I titled the final chapter (V) "To Infinity and Beyond 2000- ?", as much is still speculative on where this technology, or more correctly the confluence of this technology with the other high profile technologies of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, will lead us.
As I am not trained in sociology or ethics I do not attempt to provide an in-depth analysis of this technology in a societal context. However, since it is impossible to discuss such a charged field within an aseptic clinical framework, I attempt to provide some context for the science, and the practitioners and protagonists who shape its trajectory.