CorporealSemiotics:TheBodyoftheText/theTextoftheBody 361
modifications of the DNA of humans and other organisms. Knoepfler,
himselfastemcellscientist,isdeeplyworriedaboutthistechnologyand
itspotentialforproducinga"Frankenstein2.0"situation.
Transformativesciencemaygooutofcontrol,andhasdonesointhe
past,asnuclearfusionresearchhasdemonstrated.Fromtheviewpointof
cultural critique, the fact that Knoepfler's insider analysis of the
unfolding genetic imaginary made use of what might be called
"fictional" constructs merits special attention: he invented fictional
characters (Jenna, Marian, and their parents) and developed a narrative
around them. Since Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley'sFrankenstein(1818)
at the latest, the social and cultural potential of transformative science
have been intensely reflected in the mode of fiction, and in a way, that
has, to this day, remained paradigmatic. I am of course talking here of
Aldous Huxley'sBraveNewWorld, first published in 1932. The novel,
utopianordystopiandependingonthereader'spointofview,focuseson
processeswewouldtodaycall"assistedreproduction"and"cloning"and
theirsocio-politicalaswellasculturalramifications(Gurnham204,208;
Woiak 107-10). It opens on the Central London Hatchery and
Conditioning Centre in the year 632 AF (after Ford). By that time, a
form of world governance has established itself, dedicated to the self-
declared principles of "Community, Identity, Stability" (Huxley 15;
emphasis deleted). For these purposes, individual parenthood has been
abolished and reproduction socialized. Compulsory contraception,
artificial insemination and chemical conditioning are the engineering
components by which a society that boasts "the stablest equilibrium in
history"(178)isgenerated.
Regardless of technical implausibilities, seen from today's vantage
point,Brave New Worldremains "a widely shared reference point (or
shorthand) for bioethics discussions" (Frankel 32; Woiak 112) because
herealready,25yearsbeforethedecodingofthehumanDNA,genomic
differentiation is intrinsically linked to social and cultural
differentiation. In a place suggestively called "the Social Predestination
Room" (20), a chemical conditioning process produces five classes of
future human beings, ranging from Alphas (destined for leadership) to
Epsilons(unskilledworkers).Theireducationisgearedtoward"making
people like their inescapable social destiny" (24), sometimes with the
help of a drug intriguingly named "soma" which is basically a