Cloning, Cyborgs and Robots

Abstract

This statement was made by Dr Gregory Stock, a biophysicist and Chief Executive Officer of Signum Biosciences, a private biotechnology research organization based in New Jersey, which specializes in ‘small-molecule therapeutics’, treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neuro-degenerative diseases (http://www.signumbiosciences.com/about.signum.html, accessed 24.08.2011.) Signum works on life-saving science. But Stock’s statement appears in the ‘Extra Features’ of the science fiction film Gattaca. And this chapter focuses on the intersection of science and fiction which suggests that the final frontier is indeed humankind. This is a widely-shared view and the twenty-first century is packed with fantasies and fears about the genetic manipulation and technological improvement of humanity.

For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

(Alexander Pope Essay on Criticism)

I think the next century is going to challenge our vision of ourselves as no previous century has. The real issue is whether we can continue to face the possibilities of the future or whether we’re going to pull back in fear and turn this over to other braver peoples, because actually the next frontier is not space, it’s ourselves. (Gregory Stock, 1997)