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medpundit |
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007The question is: Why do science fiction films simultaneously acknowledge the possibility of genomic improvement but consider it morally problematic? In their groundbreaking work on genetics in popular culture, Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee found that geneticists often endow DNA with a nearly spiritual importance. Even geneticists' own language -- describing the human genome as the "Book of Man," the "essence of life" or the "Holy Grail" -- plays directly into popular belief in the sanctity of the human genome. This spiritual language about the human genome helps fuel the anti-technology aspects of human gene manipulation in science fiction cinema: How can scientists consider our genome humanity's "soul," and then commit sacrilege by manipulating a "holy object?" It's not just science fiction that considers the subject morally problematic. posted by Sydney on 2/14/2007 07:36:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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