340 RüdigerKunow
is still in a preliminary, I am tempted to call it embryonic, state, the
combined effects of religion, neoconservativsm, and new
biotechnologiesarealreadyto befeltin manyareasacrossU.S.culture.
In order to trace these effects, I will here present a step-by-step
argument,addressingfirstthenewtechnologiesandaccompanyingnew
epistemologies of the human which they solicit, and then show how in
the final reckoning these epistemologies are always already economies
oflife.
From the earliest moments of recorded history, human beings were
dissatisfiedwiththeirbiologicalendowmentandsoughttomodifyit,by
means fair or foul, magic or manipulation. Until well into the previous
century, however, the only modifications available were those
concerningtheoutsideappearanceofthebody,andsodaubing,painting,
or the incision of skin marks have a long and varied tradition in almost
all cultures across the globe.^24 Such modifications and their possible
effects,intendedordreaded,markedthefarendofavailableknowledge
in a given socio-cultural formation, a realm of enchantment. And for
such projects human have often also sought the help of experts in the
supernatural, like shamans, priests or other healers. It was an article of
faith that such mavens could reveal and possibly even control the basic
mechanisms of corporeal existence. Only relatively recently has it
become possible to go "beneath the surface," and correct idiosyncrasies
of the bodily interior for curative as well as cosmetic purposes (Blum
15-23,220-61;Gimlin711-13;Pitts34-48).Inourownseculartime,the
supernatural often comes in the guise of state-of-the-art science whose
arcana are administered and apportioned by a coterie of highly
specialized researchers working in, again, highly specialized
institutionalsettingsandwithcomplicatedapparatuses—anotherformof
"re-enchanting fundamental science," another instance of the
technologicalsublime(Fuller115;H.Rose67).
Thenew"technologicalformsoflife"(Clarkeetal.,"Theoreticaland
Substantive Introduction" 6) that are becoming available go far beyond
previously known practices of body modifications such as organ
transplantsandreplacementparts—hips,hearts,kidneys,IVF;theyhave
(^24) I am leaving aside here modifications of the inner state, by trance,
hallucigenicsubstances,andthelike.