The promise and perils of advances in technology, science, and medicine have long been fertile fodder for creative works in literature and cinema. Consequently, a variety of resources exist exploring the realm of medical humanities as well as those providing in-depth analysis of a given cultural medium or particular artifact. This column seeks to offer a more expansive listing of contemporary expressions of bioethical issues in the popular media (fiction, film, and television)— with minimal commentary—to encompass a wider spectrum of popular culture. It will be of value to educators and others for conversations in the classroom, over a cup of coffee, at a book club, or around the dinner table. Readers are cautioned that these resources represent a wide spectrum of genres and content, and may not be appropriate for all audiences. For more comprehensive databases of the various cultural media, please visit our website at http://cbhd.org/resources/reviews. If you have a suggestion for us to include in the future, send us a note at msleasman@cbhd.org.
(Square Fish, 2009).
Biotechnology, Cognitive Uploading, Nanotechnology, Neuroethics, Personhood, Vitalism.
From all appearances Jenna Fox is your typical teenage girl, except that she cannot remember anything about her past prior to the coma from which she has recently awoken. Something is off. Her legs and hands just do not seem right. When she accidentally cuts herself in the kitchen with a knife, it is clear she is not the same Jenna Fox as before the terrible car accident that caused her to be in the coma. In this first volume of the Jenna Fox Chronicles, Mary Pearson masterfully explores the personal and societal implications when parental desires to protect their children collide with vitalism and biotechnology.
(Paragon, 2012).
Bioterrorism, Genetic Engineering, Human Enhancement, Neuroethics, Posthuman, Radical Life Extension, Research Ethics.
Former special forces officer David Desh is recruited for a black ops mission turned conspiracy theory. His target, Kira Miller, is a brilliant genetic engineer suspected by the U.S. government to be involved in a bioterror plot with global implications as she seeks to explore breakthroughs at any cost in cognitive enhancement and longevity research.
(Bantam Spectra, 1995).
Nanotechnology, Neuroethics.
Labelled a postcyberpunk novel, the author of Snow Crash revisits a technologically advanced future now revolutionized by nanotechnology. As the narrator poignantly notes early in the narrative, “Now nanotechnology had made nearly everything possible, and so the cultural role in deciding what should be done with it had become far more important than imagining what could be done with it.” The plot follows a coming-of-age narrative of two young girls who receive stolen copies of a digital interactive book (Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer) that lead them from modest beginnings to navigate the sociopolitical realities of the global tribalism of their day. Prescient in its anticipation of e-books, telepresence, and 3D printing, the novel explores the social impact of emerging technologies and their potential to be transformative influences on individuals.
(2014, PG-13 for thematic elements, some sexuality and brief strong language).
End of Life.
(2014, PG-13 for a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/ violence). Based on the book of the same title by Lois Lowry.
Designer Babies, Eugenics, Euthanasia, Genetic Engineering, Neuroethics, Personhood, Reproductive Technology, Surrogacy.
(2014, PG-13 for thematic elements and intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, including some disturbing images). Based on the book by the same title by James Dashner.
Emerging Technology, Neuroethics, Research Ethics.
(2014, PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, some bloody images, brief strong language and sensuality).
Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technology, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuroethics, Transhumanism/Posthumanism.
(Tor, 2014).
Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Genomics, Human Enhancement, Personhood.
Carbide Tipped Pens is an anthology of seventeen short stories in the sub-genre of ‘hard science fiction,’ described by the editors as a “literature of change . . . that examines the implications—both beneficial and dangerous—of new science and technologies” (11-12). Together with tales of outer space, aliens, and the survival of human beings, advancements in biotechnology likewise are creatively explored in the narratives. “Old Timer’s Game” imagines sports medicine’s transformation into performance enhancement that alters not only the players, but the popular world of professional sports. Meanwhile, “Skin Deep” envisions biomedical advancements through a custom-designed medical tattoo that shifts medicine from healing into more nefarious purposes. Without shying away from the technical aspects, these short stories intelligently explore the impact of advancing technology upon individuals and culture while making the ‘science’ in ‘sci-fi’ very practical and accessible to the reader. Neal Shusterman, Unwind (Simon and Schuster, 2007). Neuroscience, Organ Procurement and Transplantation, Reproductive Technologies. Unwind follows four teens fighting for their lives in a future America in which 13- to 19-year-olds can be “unwound”—a process of harvesting organs and body tissue for the use of others. The country has suffered through a Second Civil War pitting pro-life and pro-choice groups in combat over abortion. The passage of the “Bill of Life” along with a dramatic advance in organ transplantation capabilities by means of the development of “neurografting” (a procedure that makes use of 99.4% of the human body) have restored social order and begun to remedy cultural divisions that plagued the country by promoting human health. The Bill of Life offered a compromise by prohibiting abortion, but parents may retroactively abort their teen-aged children by “unwinding” them—harvesting all of their useful organs and tissues such that the children were said to not die, but physically live on. The teens in the story recognize their vulnerability and dispensability to their parents and society as a whole that results from this policy. The Bill of Life feigns preserving human life and dignity, but commodifies a demographic desired only for their tissues and organs. Unwind (and its sequels in the Unwind Dystology series UnWholly, UnSouled, and UnDivided) follows the teens and their resistance against forces promoting a casual view of human life and an expanding role for government and commercial power over the nation. How far should organ transplantation go? How does a nation slide into indifference toward its youth for personal, national, and commercial gains? Unwind is a tense read intended for a young adult audience, graphically exposing the possibilities of biomedical technology and the importance of a moral framework as necessary to keep safeguards on the advance of technology and medicine.
