Technology & Distrust: a Study on Biomed Research & Development Models and Legal Framework( I )

Science and technology have never been built within a “vacuum.”According to the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) study, every steps of the development of science and technology are intensively involved with the society it belongs to. Trust is a fundamental element when it comes to social involvement; by contrast, distrust can be disastrous for such involvement. Nevertheless, scientific and technological knowledge have become a barrier for lay people. Unfortunately, such knowledge has been abused and misunderstood, thus distrust has become a bad consequence from the development of such knowledge. The development of biomedical science and technology is no exception. In fact, the problem of distrust is more troublesome than usual for three reasons. First, the need for health is for everyone, thus the impact involves everyone. Second, with the adoption of big data methodology, biomedical science and technology require a participation of large population since its research phase, directly or indirectly. Third, biomedical issues are often ethical, moral, legally sensitive and thus complex. Those features exacerbate the problem of distrust because it is a structural problem that will reoccur as long as the development of biomedical science and technology is still needed. This research aim to analyze the impact of distrust in biomedical science and technology research and development, and the legal and policy proposal to address the distrust issue. Case study will give us contextual information of distrust, and test the validity of the theories applied in this research. This research will also explore the ideas of democratizing science and rule of law when applied in resolving the distrust problem. This research would like to propose three models to deal with the distrust problem in biomedical science and technology research and development: models of confrontation, benefit sharing, and consociation. Further institutional and policy analysis will be performed to make a legal framework proposal.