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Molecular biology is the queen of modern
science, a leading force in the new knowledge economy, and
a serious competitor to the explanatory power of the arts
and humanities. But are genes really the definitive cause
of the development and functioning of organisms, of health
and illness, life and death, success and failure? Can the
genomes of living things be 'engineered' like machines,
reprogrammed to behave according to human design? Is modern
biotechnology a politically neutral force, capable of liberating
the poor as much as empowering the rich? And can all the
risks and costs of the genetic revolution be weighed against
the undeniable benefits to humankind, or is this reckoning
already a victory for the machines we imagine ourselves
to be over the sentient and conscious beings that we are?
Science, Seeds and Cyborgs is a detailed
examination and critique of the DNA-centric paradigm in
molecular biology, and of the biotech industry it has spawned.
It argues that the genetic manipulation of organisms is
proceeding along a perilous path, where even the successes
of the new genetic technologies produce corrosive cultural
effects, making it progressively easier to think of organisms
-- including the human one -- as disposable artefacts. Exploring
the wide reach of modern biotechnology, from the genetic
modification of plants and animals to medical genetics,
assisted reproduction and human cloning, it suggests that
we are losing sight of the human being in favour of adapting
that being to an inhuman world.
Finn Bowring is a lecturer in the School
of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. He is the author
of Andre Gorz and the Sartrean Legacy.
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