RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIETY, CHEMISTRY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY. SCIENTIFIC, ECONOMIC AND ETHICO-MORAL ASPECTS

As society develops, its relationship with science and influence on it becomes more and more significant. The ability to navigate the current trends in the development of society and science in particular is the most important factor in choosing new topics for scientific work and understanding the prospects for the development of scientific research. Therefore, training young professionals in this understanding (primarily in the field of natural sciences) is no less important aspect of higher education than the process of teaching fundamental and practical knowledge. This article discusses the development of relationships between society, chemistry and biotechnology (primarily applied enzymology) at different stages of human evolution. The article was written based on the materials of the introductory lecture of the section on biotechnology and applied enzymology as part of the general course “Chemical Foundations of Biological Processes”, read at the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, The features and aspects of the interaction of society, chemistry and biotechnology at different stages of the development of our world, when biotechnology has gone through the stages of development from “cave-memorable” (unconsciously natural) to “smart”, are considered. A great and important contribution to the writing of this article was made by the discussion of this problem at seminars with students of 3-6 courses of the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University. The impact of changes in our society as a result of the SARS Cov-2 pandemic is also discussed separately.