ABSTRACT
Biotechnology is seen as a scientific and practical activity resulting from the use of recombinant techniques. The meaning assigned to the term affects the kind of social, economic and political support biotechnology encounters. The specific concept affects judgments about the present state of research in biotechnology, compared to what has been accomplished and what may be attained in the future. Knowledge politics in its military version also extends to fields other than biotechnology and information warfare; it could include, for example, the field of meteorology. The emphasis of the production of knowledge, which is of course an important issue, forms the almost singular interest of science studies as we know them. The break that Fukuyama, at least, sees between forms of society is fundamental; as is the threat to basic human aspirations—to such core rights as equality and justice, which form the foundation of what we now define as civil society.
