Synthetic biology and life's imagined futures
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Synthetic biology, a postgenomic discipline that aims to make biology easy to engineer, is marked by bold claims about democratizing biotechnology and a distinctive attitude towards the natural world expressed in the figure of the biohacker. Analyzing the narrative and aesthetic frameworks that surround efforts to engineer life in both synthetic biology and science fiction, this dissertation argues that late- twentieth century science fiction introduces a new way of thinking about the relationship between life and technology -- and a new affective and aesthetic framing of biotechnology -- that is taken up in synthetic biology and related efforts to expand the tools of the field to nonprofessional biologists known as biohacking. It demonstrates the two-way influence between science fiction and developments in science and technology, drawing on the literary analysis of selected works of science fiction; textual analysis of scientific papers and popular science writing relating to synthetic biology; and participant-observation in a biohackerspace, attendance at synthetic biology conferences, and interviews with synthetic biologists.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Wilbanks, Rebecca Rachel |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Program in Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Primary advisor | Heise, Ursula K |
| Primary advisor | Saldívar, Ramón, 1949- |
| Thesis advisor | Heise, Ursula K |
| Thesis advisor | Saldívar, Ramón, 1949- |
| Thesis advisor | McGurl, Mark, 1966- |
| Thesis advisor | Riskin, Jessica |
| Advisor | McGurl, Mark, 1966- |
| Advisor | Riskin, Jessica |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Rebecca Rachel Wilbanks. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Program in Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Rebecca Rachel Wilbanks
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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