5 QUESTIONS — A UTOPIAN SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY FUTURE

Year 2018 — The Anthroposophists are at the scientific forefront in Synthetic Biology.
This short narrative explores glimpses of a possible future for Synthetic Biology, enabled through an uncanny paradigm shift. The fictional interview, in the classic "5 Questions" style narrates a conversation between Swiss journalist Sophie Lieberman and the Head of the Anthroposophist Society in Redwood, California,  Richard Steinbecker. A shifted value system of the Anthroposophic society—formerly anti-technology and naturalistic–minded— now fully embraces Synthetic Biology.

Its new members, now eager to synthetically design the world, aim to increase its membership numbers through tailoring nature towards the holistic mindset of the Anthroposophical Society. Mr Steinbecker explains and demonstrates examples of how Synthetic Biology has been integrated into the Anthroposophist's children teaching curriculum.

The aim with this film is to demonstrate a collision between two seemingly disparate ideologies and to explore what motives or influences could bend the Antroposophists' beliefs into technocracy. The seemingly holistic worldview of Anthroposophists is — despite its good intents — still guided and dominated by anthropocentric thought. From this perspective there are similarities between the Anthroposophism and under what guiding principle Synthetic Biology is currently being further developed. The film raises questions how far people would go, and how morally flexible people become, about justifying their anthropocentric belief system.

CREDITS
Scientific advisers from the Synthetic Biology Department, Imperial College of London
Voice over by Charlotte Jarvis and J. Paul Neeley