Many of us scrutinise science and technology much less than we do the law. The field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) directly interrogates this incongruence. An interdisciplinary field, STS sees science and technology not as existing in a vacuum, but as producing types of authorities that can be studied just as much as law. Although science and technology are often treated as higher authorities that the law must follow as it inevitably lags behind, Professor Sheila Jasanoff (founder and director of the Harvard STS Program) rejects this characterisation.

In November 2025, Professor Jasanoff delivered the Oxford Clarendon Law Lecture Series this year, together entitled ‘Science, Technology and the Constitution of Modernity’. The conversation in this episode is separate but complementary to these lectures. The first portion of the episode elucidates the key conceptual ideas pertinent to STS thinking and its relation to law. The latter portion questions the more specific positions Professor Jasanoff has voiced in her works regarding intellectual property, especially in relation to the most recent legal developments, such as the environment, AI, and the concept of personhood.

Each of the Clarendon Law Lectures can be accessed below:

Part 1: https://youtu.be/1pp07pHzGTY?si=Op27oAPfJp7XdDrd

Part 2: https://youtu.be/QWxI-ybskEE?si=GItwlb0sROgK895C

Part 3: https://youtu.be/8UaHoB8oZic?si=pOwpdY5-bMpE0fMv