FIXED The Science Fiction of Human Enhancement

[jesse_the_k]

Just found out about a really cool movie in production, called FIXED. Made by a disabled filmmaker, the movie explores the meaning of assistive technology in our society. Must disabled people accept AT to become "normal"? What happens when the AT makes us superior? Do normate values inform the funding priorities for AT? Why should we research brain implants when people don't have access to health care?

As the filmmaker, Regan Brashear, puts it:

begin quote  What's the film about? What does “disabled” mean when a man with no legs can run faster than many Olympic sprinters? With prenatal screening able to predict hundreds of probable conditions, who should determine what kind of people get to be born? If you could augment your body’s abilities in any way imaginable, what would you do and why? From pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to neural implants and bionic limbs, researchers around the world are hard at work developing a myriad of technologies to fix or enhance the human body, but what does it mean to design “better humans” and do we want to? FIXED follows three remarkable people: Gregor Wolbring, John Hockenberry, and Patty Berne – a scientist, a journalist and a community organizer – each of whom has a personal story of disability and a passionate engagement in the debates around emerging human enhancement technologies.  quote ends

She's got lots more details and testimonials on her Kickstarter page
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/394281483/fixed-the-science-fiction-of-human-enhancement-doc

I could tell she's One of Us by the donor categories, which include THE BORG SPECIAL; THE BIONIC WOMAN; and THE PROFESSOR XAVIER NEURAL ENHANCEMENT.

Comments

[meloukhia]

This looks fascinating, and like a really thorough exploration of some issues I've been chewing over. Supercool, and thank you for linking.

[rainbow]

oh, wow, so cool!

[dancingsinging]

This sounds important and interesting. I hope you'll post about it when it comes out?

It's also personally relevant to me right now. We're trying to decide whether to cough up the money for IVF, and then the question of doing PGD is going to be big. There's lots of ethical stickiness, but for me it kind of feels like if I'm going to pay 20k for a baby and I can pay an extra 10% or so to make sure she or he is genetically healthy, it seems like a smart thing to do. But, still, it's not so simple.

[jesse_the_k]

I'll definitely keep my readers informed — I chipped in some money via Kickstarter and I'll eventually get a DVD to review!

"Sticky" is the right word. Even a perfect PGD can't guarantee a perfect baby — sadly scores of childhood illnesses remain with significant impacts, as well as slips and falls and cars and bikes.

One book on the topic that doesn't turn away from the difficult issue of a disabled mom wanting a non-disabled baby is Anne Finger's Past Due: A Story of Disability, Pregnancy and Birth, Seal Press, 1990. Although it's out of print, I'm sure the libraries in your part of the world will have a copy.