Systems biology and synthetic biology have emerged at the dawn of the twenty-first century as two new research fields that hold much promise for both understanding living systems and novel practical applications. The two disciplines have much in common, not least that the scientists working within their respective frameworks share the conviction that organisms are made of partially independent ...

The pursuit of science is based on empiricism enabled by advancing technologies. Theories then emerge that unify our understanding of natural order. The trinity of experimentation, theory, and technology that underlies the scientific method cannot be placed into a hierarchy of importance. Theoretical fields quickly lose substance in the absence of robust experimentation, and theoretical conundr...