This semester, I'm helping out in a special topics class for our Honors Program which we call Science and Literature. We're investigating the interface between those two divergent aspects of human endeavor, and why the relationship so often appears antagonistic. We started with a reading of C.P. Snow's 1959 lecture The Two Cultures, and followed that up with an investigation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In that light, I thought the guys might be interested in this offering by Phillip Ball from New Scientist...
The Frankenstein syndrome: Why fear making humans? - life - 14 February 2011 - New Scientist
It discusses the reluctance of many to welcome new reproductive technology, relating it to mythological and literary depictions of human-making. As we've discussed in class, these inevitably end badly. Why is that? Does it reflect some deep wisdom, Kass' "wisdom of repugance"? Or does it just make for a better story?
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