CorporealSemiotics:TheBodyoftheText/theTextoftheBody 343
equally new semantics of the Human (with a capital H), a different
register of possible meanings which has already captivated the
imagination of people and will even more so influence them in the
future.
And indeed, body-related technologies have made deep inroads into
the public imaginary of human life, individually or collectively, and
perhaps more so in the United States than in other countries. This
process is going on independent of, sometimes even in excess of, the
actualscientificfindings;andquestionsofaccessibilityplayagreatrole
here. As the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
recentlyreported,costsofgenomesequencinghavedroppedfrom$95,3
millionin2001to$1245in2015(Wetterstrandn.pag.).Thespectacular
career of businesses such as23andMefurther illustrates the point that
genomicsiscominginto thereachofU.S.-Americanswithmiddleclass
incomes.^28 It is important to note this even though, aside from
pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine^29 which are already
widelyavailablerightnow,manyinterventionsintothegeneticmake-up
oflivinghumanbeingsarestillathingofthefuture,whiletheirethical,
social, political, and cultural implications of the brave new biotech
world are already momentous right now.^30 In this context, it is a little
observed fact that the public debate about biotechnical interventions in
thehumangenomeisoftentimesresourcedbyargumentsthataresimilar
to those used in discussions about the practicality and desirability of
environmentalengineering(Fortun313-23).So,ifimprovingonMother
Nature by creating genetically modified plants and foods is considered
(^28) I am not suggesting here that such shifts in the semantics of human life are
entirely unprecedented. As Priscilla Wald has shown, "[i]n the wake of World
War II, rapid technological advances in such areas as cybernetics, robotics,
neuropsychology,andgeneticsallchallengedconventionalbiologicaldefinitions
of'thehuman'"(Wald,"AmericanStudies"189).
(^29) "Personalized medicine" is the term most commonly used for individualized
therapiesthatfitapatient'sgeneticprofileasexactlyaspossible.
(^30) Grant-giving institutions in the U.S. are fully aware of this and require
applicants to include a section on the "ethical, legal, and social implications" of
their proposed research. See for example the ELSI Research Program of the
National Human Genome Research Institute. Unfortunately, the ELSI
requirementdoesnotpayattention,asitshould,totheculturalimplications.