Law as a Driver of Technological Leadership

The paper analyzes the role of law as a system-forming factor in Russia’s technological leadership. The author criticizes a narrowly instrumental approach that reduces law to a «service» function supporting innovation and argues for a shift to a new paradigm where law acts not as a reactive regulator but as a constitutive foundation of scientific and technological development. The key idea is that law should shape technological ethics grounded in traditional spiritual and moral values and ensure a balance between the biosphere and the technosphere — a «regenerative» model rather than a linear industrial one. Particular attention is paid to the anthropological risks of techno capitalism and transhumanism: the replacement of the individual by an «operator» or consumer, and the loss of free will, dignity, and equality. Law is called upon to keep scientific inquiry within moral and ethical boundaries, fulfilling the tasks of the «anthropological frontier». The author distinguishes between statism — the subordination of science to political expediency — and the national orientation of science as service to the common good. Fundamental science is treated as a strategic reserve of the nation, ensuring autonomous goal- setting and civilizational identity. In the author’s view, technological leadership is not reducible to the imperative to «catch up and overtake». On the contrary, it presupposes the development of Russia’s own standards, taking into account its sociocultural code. Law must move toward anticipatory, projective-adaptive regulation, including the modeling of «regulatory forks» and the creation of legal «safeguards». The paper criticizes a superficial understanding of framework regulation: the law should establish a firm value-based framework, not merely delegate authority. Separately, the author proposes strengthening the legal significance of the State Duma’s nonbinding recommendations as an instrument of indicative planning in lawmaking.

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