Back into Future: The Systems Biology to Come

Systems biology is a multidimensional endeavor shaped by cultural and societal factors, as well as by the requirements of scientific practice. By taking up the initial questions of our study, this chapter reveals basic assumptions and constitutive conditions of systems biology, and embeds our findings in a broader scientific and sociocultural context. It first carves out some presuppositions of contemporary science in general, and of systems biology in particular, and reflects them with regard to different paradigms in biology as well as to its past and future developments imagined by systems biologists. Next we discuss the epistemic implications of systems biology’s practice, especially its dependence on ICT. Against this background we address the question of whether systems biology should be regarded as an approach or a discipline and offer a new and refreshing answer to this lasting controversy. How science policy pertinent to systems biology is perceived by different actors in the field, and how it shapes systems biology, completes the picture of contextualized scientific development. By referring to public perceptions of systems biology in Germany and Austria and its metaphorical framings in the media, the final section provides a short and speculative outlook on the possible futures of systems biology.