Biopunk dystopias : genetic engineering, society, and science fiction / [electronic resource]
Schmeink, Lars,author.
'Biopunk  Dystopias' contends that we find ourselves at a historical nexus, defined by  the rise of biology as the driving force of scientific progress, a strongly  grown mainstream attention given to genetic engineering in the wake of the  Human Genome Project (1990-2003), the changing sociological view of a liquid  modern society, and shifting discourses on the posthuman, including a critical  posthumanism that decenters the privileged subject of humanism. The book argues  that this historical nexus produces a specific cultural formation in the form  of "biopunk", a subgenre evolved from the cyberpunk of the 1980s. The  analysis deals with dystopian science fiction artifacts of different media from  the year 2000 onwards that project a posthuman intervention into contemporary  socio-political discourse based in liquid modernity in the cultural formation  of biopunk. Biopunk makes use of current posthumanist conceptions in order to  criticize contemporary reality as already dystopian, warning that a future will  only get worse, and that society needs to reverse its path, or else destroy all  life on this planet. As Rosi Braidotti argues, "there is a posthuman  agreement that contemporary science and biotechnologies affect the very fibre  and structure of the living and have altered dramatically our understanding of  what counts as the basic frame of reference for the human today". The  proposed book analyzes this alteration as directors, creators, authors, and  artists from the field of science fiction extrapolate it from current trends.
Specialized.
Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Dystopia, science fiction, posthumanism, and liquid modernity -- 3. The anthropocene, the posthuman, and the animal --4. Science, family and the monstrous progeny -- 5. Individuality, choice, and genetic manipulation -- 6.The utopian, the dystopian, and the heroic deeds of one -- 7. 9/11 and the Wasted Lives of Posthuman Zombies -- 8. Conclusion -- Works cited -- Index.
Electronic reproduction.
Mode of access:  internet via World Wide Web.
System requirements: Web browser.
Specialized.
Includes bibliographical references (pages247-265) and index.
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Jun 2017).
'Biopunk  Dystopias' contends that we find ourselves at a historical nexus, defined by  the rise of biology as the driving force of scientific progress, a strongly  grown mainstream attention given to genetic engineering in the wake of the  Human Genome Project (1990-2003), the changing sociological view of a liquid  modern society, and shifting discourses on the posthuman, including a critical  posthumanism that decenters the privileged subject of humanism. The book argues  that this historical nexus produces a specific cultural formation in the form  of "biopunk", a subgenre evolved from the cyberpunk of the 1980s. The  analysis deals with dystopian science fiction artifacts of different media from  the year 2000 onwards that project a posthuman intervention into contemporary  socio-political discourse based in liquid modernity in the cultural formation  of biopunk. Biopunk makes use of current posthumanist conceptions in order to  criticize contemporary reality as already dystopian, warning that a future will  only get worse, and that society needs to reverse its path, or else destroy all  life on this planet. As Rosi Braidotti argues, "there is a posthuman  agreement that contemporary science and biotechnologies affect the very fibre  and structure of the living and have altered dramatically our understanding of  what counts as the basic frame of reference for the human today". The  proposed book analyzes this alteration as directors, creators, authors, and  artists from the field of science fiction extrapolate it from current trends.
Science fiction
Biotechnology in literature.
Available in print form.

Open Access