Biotechnology and the Social Reconstruction of Molecular Biology

In recent debates over the social implications of biotechnology, little attention has been given to the future possibilities for molecular biology as a scientific field. Biotechnology has altered the position of molecular biology by giving it new financial resources, establishing pressure for regulation, changing the reward structure of science, & altering the choice of problems. The basic question is whether the rapid growth of biotechnology will stimulate growth in theoretical molecular biology, draw resources away from it, or alter it in subtler ways that cannot now be foreseen. W. H. Stoddard