Welcome

The five themes framing our discussions share commonalities with concerns raised at the 1975 meeting but speak to new matters arising today. There is no predetermined or guaranteed outcome. What results from the summit could be new and important but that will be up to those participating. Potential outcomes for each theme must be discussed and championed.

Those gathering are a diverse group of experts and voices in the academic sciences and humanities, government, journalism, industry, civil society, and the arts, arriving from around the world. Sixty next-generation leaders are also joining as full participants. Collectively, participants represent an improbable assembly with powerful and disparate views, brought together via both invitation and open nomination, gathering together for the first time.

Asilomar matters as a physical place. Through its many lives, Asilomar has long served as a retreat set away from the commotion of the world. There is value in convening among sand dunes and cypress forests to converse and reflect. There is also value in gathering far from formal centers of governance, to speak plainly, to help center new mixes of voices, to create new communities who see each other and speak truths, and who ask “have we framed this correctly? Is this right?” Being together in person instead of competing via headlines or soundbites is important.

We are fully aware that the 1975 meeting has long been invoked in divergent ways. Was it an exercise in responsible self-governance? Or closed-door scheming by elites seeking to subvert regulation and public oversight? Many, including some laureates from 1975, have sought to “bury Asilomar” and some might even wish to do the same today. However, contestations over the meaning of Asilomar may ultimately be what Asilomar is most about. 

Why is this contested dynamic itself so important?  Scientists who first become aware of potential hazards arguably have an obligation to raise concerns – “No one outside of biology could have blown that whistle,” David Baltimore noted in 1974. Those who, for a moment in time, see themselves as public advocates must engage with others with differing interests or views who also see themselves as such. The resulting dynamic – the “spirit of Asilomar” – can drive a useful journey from “gee whiz!” and “oh no!” to ultimately, “what now?”

An early report on the 1975 meeting was strikingly understated: “Future historians of science may well record that a highly significant event took place in a California state park between February 24 and 27, 1975.” What will another generation fifty years from now, in 2075, say about February 2025? 

Thank you for being here! 

Luis Campos Michelle DiMeo

Drew Endy David Cole