Stefano Mazzilli Daechsel

• Daechsel, Stefano (2026). The ethical reflections of DNA computing researchers and Bernard Stiegler’s philosophy of technology. BioSocieties. ISSN 1745-8552. doi: 10.1057/s41292-026-00396-3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  DNA computing is an interdisciplinary field working at the intersection of computer science, molecular biology and material sciences to develop novel nanobiotechnologies. In this article, I draw on interview data to critically examine the ethical reflections of sixteen researchers in the field of DNA computing, paying particular attention to their assumptions about the relationship between humans and technology. I argue that most of their ethical reflections imply an instrumentalist understanding of technology that views technologies as neutral means for human-directed ends. Consequently, most research participants see ethical questions as distant to their work and frame their concerns around the misuse of DNA computing applications by bad actors. Expanding on notable exceptions to this instrumentalist tendency in my interview data, I propose an alternative perspective derived from the philosophy of Bernard Stiegler that treats technology as historically and dynamically intertwined with human biology and the social. I suggest that his concepts of general organology and pharmacology provide a non-instrumentalist foundation that could inform more nuanced ethical reflections on DNA computing and other biotechnologies.

• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2025). Labs. In Kaufmann, Mareile & Lomell, Heidi Mork (Ed.), De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Criminology. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783111061931. p. 315–321. doi: 10.1515/9783111062037-037. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The laboratory is an important but largely understudied phenomenon in criminology. This chapter delves into four criminologically relevant aspects of laboratories: (i) labs and the production of criminological knowledge, (ii) forensic labs and criminal investigations, (iii) labs as sites of crime and harm, and (iv) labs as sites of resistance. If labs are particularly pertinent to digital criminology, it is because they are increasingly digitalized and networked spaces, affecting their functionalities and relations to wider society.

• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2025). Computation. In Kaufmann, Mareile & Lomell, Heidi Mork (Ed.), De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Criminology. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783111061931. p. 141–147. doi: 10.1515/9783111062037-017. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter provides an introduction to the computational logics and technologies that are increasingly (re)structuring our societies and the field of criminology. I start by providing a general overview of computation, computational theory, and the technological innovations that underpin contemporary general-purpose computers. I then critically examine ongoing efforts to integrate computational methods into criminological research under the banner of computational criminology.

• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2022). Le potentiel écologique du mouvement « maker » et l’ouverture de l’objet technique. In Duhem, Ludovic & Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues (Ed.), Écologie et technologie: Redéfinir le progrès après Simondon. Éditions Matériologiques. ISSN 9782373613193. p. 211–222. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefan Mazzilli (2021). Simondon's technical culture and a politics of problems. Sensorium Journal. doi: 10.3384/sens.2002-3030.2021.3.5-17. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  There is a timeliness to Gilbert Simondon’s call in On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects (1958) for a technical culture that fosters a ”genuine awareness of technical realities.” Writing in the context of mid-20th century France, Simondon worried about a lack of technological understanding and envisaged a technical culture in which technological education would be considered as essential as literacy to meaningful participation in society. Sixty years on, the need for widespread technological awareness is greater than ever. The aim of this article is to clarify and support this claim by examining it through the lens of a politics of problems that can be found in Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition (1968).

• Daechsel, Stefan Mazzilli (2019). Simondon and the maker movement. Culture, Theory and Critique. ISSN 1473-5784. doi: 10.1080/14735784.2019.1667254. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefan Mazzilli (2017). Latour's troublemakers: a contribution to an object-oriented criminology. Kriminologisches Journal. ISSN 0341-1966. Full text in Research Archive

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• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli & Kaufmann, Mareile (2026). Spectral Figures: Polygenic Risk Scores and Criminology. doi: https:/www.4sonline.org/final_program_toronto.php. Full text in Research Archive
• Kaufmann, Mareile; Vestad, Maja; Bakken, Silje Anderdal; Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli; Winge, Vilde Bergmann & Neuhaus, Elisabeth (2025). Conference: Biodata, Surveillance and Society. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The conference 'Biodata, Surveillance and Society' will gather international scholars from the social sciences, law, humanities and the natural sciences who have an interest in exploring the landscape of biodata, surveillance and computation in a wide range of domains.

• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2024). The Many Interfaces of Molecular Computing. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2024). Critical Criminology in the Societies of Genetic Control. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2024). DNA computers and other technologies of genetic control. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2023). Theoretical Innovations for Digital Criminology: Bernard Stiegler's Philosophy of Technology. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2023). Digital Criminology and the Crimes of the Powerful. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2023). Summoning Spirits in the Age of Generative AI. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2023). Technological Apocalypticism, Dangers and Revelations. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2023). The Practical Ontology of DNA Computing. Full text in Research Archive
• Daechsel, Stefano Mazzilli (2023). Theorizing Technologically Generated Harm with Bernard Stiegler. Full text in Research Archive

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