Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Dystopia, Science Fiction, Posthumanism, and Liquid Modernity
- 3 The Anthropocene, the Posthuman, and the Animal
- 4 Science, Family, and the Monstrous Progeny
- 5 Individuality, Choice, and Genetic Manipulation
- 6 The Utopian, the Dystopian, and the Heroic Deeds of One
- 7 9/11 and the Wasted Lives of Posthuman Zombies
- 8 Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
5 - Individuality, Choice, and Genetic Manipulation
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Dystopia, Science Fiction, Posthumanism, and Liquid Modernity
- 3 The Anthropocene, the Posthuman, and the Animal
- 4 Science, Family, and the Monstrous Progeny
- 5 Individuality, Choice, and Genetic Manipulation
- 6 The Utopian, the Dystopian, and the Heroic Deeds of One
- 7 9/11 and the Wasted Lives of Posthuman Zombies
- 8 Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Freedom of choice above everything, for everything, even for genes! Genetic choice will bring a new era of freedom! (Beck-Gernsheim 143)
Attributing this epigraph to German sociologist Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim is a bit misleading, as she marks these words not as her own opinion, but rather as a poignant and slightly ironic commentary on The Economist, which in its cover article in April 1992 claimed that ‘Changing Your Genes’ should by right be within the grasp of the individual:
Should people be able to retrofit themselves with extra neurotransmitters, to enhance various mental powers? Or to change the colour of their skin? Or to help them run faster, or lift heavier weights? Yes, they should. Within some limits, people have a right to make what they want of their lives. The limits should disallow alterations clearly likely to cause harm to others […] Minimal constraint is as good a principle in genetic law as in any other. (11–12)
The article passionately argues for a libertarian stance in regard to genetic engineering and the right of the individual to decide his or her own fate – genetically as well as socio-politically. The text concludes with a snide remark on Sigmund Freud's claim that ‘Biology is destiny’: ‘The proper goal is to allow people as much choice as possible about what they do. To this end, making genes instruments of such freedom, rather than limits upon it, is a great step forward. With apologies to Freud, biology will be best when it is a matter of choice’ (‘Changing Your Genes’ 12).
Beck-Gernsheim uses the article and its veneration of individual genetic engineering as an example of how the concept of health has, under posthuman technoscience, become expanded to mean not simply the maintenance of functioning human biology but the shaping of one's genetic raw material to one's desire: ‘Biology, understood as the basic genetic endowment, is no longer destiny but starting point. Expectations of indefinite change and improvement are now the order of the day’ (Beck-Gernsheim 143). Health is no longer a necessity for survival in a social group that depends on it, but rather a lifestyle choice, the body becoming a work of art or a demonstration of scientific possibilities.
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- Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2016