CGS : Arts & Culture

About Arts, Culture & Human Biotechnology

Mention genetic technologies or human enhancement to the average person, and more likely than not their first response will reference the 1997 film Gattaca or Aldous Huxley's 1932 classic, Brave New World. Art and popular culture profoundly influence how we think about ourselves and each other, and portrayals of human biotechnologies are likely to affect how we think about future social arrangements. Ultimately this can shape the policy decisions we make today.

The social meanings of human biotechnologies have been pondered in film, television shows, painting, and other visual arts; in speculative fiction, novels, and children's books, and other literature; in performance and experiential art; and even in a project that produced a living rabbit engineered to glow in the dark.

A Note of Caution: Freezing Eggs Is Not a Silver Bullet for Age-Related Infertilityby Miriam Zoll, RH Reality CheckMay 15th, 2013A $4 billion industry is driving public discourse about often unproven discoveries through a lens that focuses attention on the minority of successes rather than the whole messy, complicated story.

Talking Biopolitics is Back!by Jessica Cussins, Biopolitical TimesMay 13th, 2013A series of live web-based conversations with cutting-edge thinkers on the social meaning of human biotechnologies will be kicking off next week. RSVP now to join the conversations!

Dad Aims to Change Views of Down Syndrome in New Bookby Jessica Ryen Doyle, Fox NewsMay 11th, 2013George Estreich's new book, The Shape of the Eye, aims to change the negative connotations associated with Down syndrome.

On Vampires and Chromosomesby George Estreich, Biopolitical Times guest contributor, Biopolitical TimesMay 9th, 2013The vampires of the Twilight books have superpowers due to two extra chromosomes. In our fang-free human life, however, having extra chromosomes is not usually seen as a plus.

Never Mind Humanityby Ari Schulman, The American ConservativeApril 25th, 2013Ray Kurzweil's new book might be dismissed on the bluster of its title alone, were it not the latest work from the famed futurist, inventor, and artificial-intelligence pioneer who has been hired as a director of engineering at Google.

Sofia Vergara Freezing Her [Perfect, Perfect, Perfect] Eggsby Diane Tober, Biopolitical TimesApril 4th, 2013Several celebrities have announced they’re doing it. But social egg freezing is nothing to be taken lightly.

Book Review: Transhumanist Dreams and Dystopian Nightmaresby John Galloway, BioNewsMarch 11th, 2013Some say we should use genetic science not simply to ameliorate the human predicament but to transcend it. Of course this raises the issue of what 'best' means and, in any event, who decides.

The Gattaca App for Your Smartphoneby Abby Lippman, Biopolitical Times guest contributor, Biopolitical TimesMarch 6th, 2013Will Malaysia lead the way in cell phone apps that access your genetic data, and if so what comes next?

Selling the Story: Down Syndrome, Fetal Gene Testing, and The Today Showby George Estreich, Biopolitical Times guest contributor, Biopolitical TimesFebruary 28th, 2013On The Today Show, a couple learns the results of a noninvasive prenatal test. Left unanswered are questions about the effects of new technologies, and how those technologies are sold.

To Claim Someone has 'Viking Ancestors' is no Better than Astrologyby Mark Thomas, The Guardian February 25th, 2013The truth about direct-to-consumer ancestry tests is that there is little scientific substance to most of them and they are better thought of as genetic astrology.

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