Tag Archives: Westercon

Redesigning humanity

(this is an unfinished post retrieved from nearly 2 years ago!) As I said on the panel at Westercon in July, unless we make some explicit attempts to build an alternative infrastructure, our first efforts at engineering ourselves are liable to be driven by the same mechanisms and subject to the same regulation as present day drug developments. The first efforts at bioengineering are occurring now, and they are attempts to repair genetic diseases where the disease is caused by a defect in a single gene that causes loss of function (it produces too little, or a non-functioning enzyme or other protein). The challenges are evident; some of gene therapies most successful trials have been stopped because young patients treated for SCID have developed leukemia because the vector carrying the defective gene into their DNA has inserted itself close to an oncogene (gene associated with cancer). So there are considerable technical challenges to be worked out. But as long as the intent remains therapeutic, biological therapies could fit more or less comfortably into the present framework that regulates and delivers health care, and will probably be carried along as that framework evolves. And as long as the intent remains therapeutic, the majority of us will remain comfortable with the idea. And as, perhaps, knowledge expands to multigene disorders, many of us will become beneficiaries.

Beyond the tidy bounds of therapy, things start to get fraught. For one, the most prevalent multigene disorder of all is that thing that most of us (outside Hollywood, at least) acknowledged (willingly or otherwise) as natural: aging. I don’t expect to see effective and accessible life-prolonging therapy in my lifetime, though I’d dearly like to be around in a 100 years to rescind this statement; even if it is achieved, I expect the cost will be prohibitive, and the treatment initially accessible to only the privileged. Which may spare the Earth another explosion of human population, if it is slow to disseminate, but will not spare humanity the resulting social disruption.

Anti-aging therapy straddles therapy and enhancement; it is, I expect, within most people’s acceptance-zone that we extend life, or if we cannot extend life, then extend healthy life. But then there’s outright enhancement. We’re already struggling with the distinctions, as, for instance, whether children who are exceptionally small but otherwise normal should be considered candidates for treatment because of the perceived and demonstrated social penalties of small stature.

Westercon, first day

Arrived late Thursday night. So far the score is No. panels given, 1, No. panels attended, 0. I am abashed, because there were several panels I would have gone to but that I had a couple of items left over from the week at work to take care of that I thought could be done within an hour. Slight misjudgement there. I am determined I have left work behind me now.

The one panel I sat on was a relaxed 9 pm panel on “SF Mind Control” with a good-sized, active audience. The other panelists were Donna McMahon and Danita Masian (whose first novel, Rogue Harvest, had its launch today). We had as much real world reflection as SF: cults, Bountiful, propaganda, Nazis, cold war, office life, conformity, the “7-up” series of documentaries, religion, gender socialization, criminality, biological basis of behavior; what was socialization, what was indoctrination, and what was mind control; whether the Internet was something that gave us immunity from the kind of media control that fascist and Bolshevik regimes exercised. Books and films mentioned: The Manchurian Candidate, 1984, Brave New World, We, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Puppet Masters, Stepford Wives, Dances with Knives.

I also caught up with people – having lived in Calgary from 1995-2000, and attended at least 5 Con-Versions over 8 years, there are a great many familiar faces – and having 4 days instead of the usual 2 is making that a much less scrambled affair. I’ve made it into the Dealer’s Room, which at the last con I went to (V-con) I never even did, and I might make it into the art show. This year they’re offering guided tours with a docent, which I think is an excellent idea.

Calgary is extraordinarily green and puddled, and you ask locals about it and they just shake their heads and groan. I’ve heard sad stories about flooded basements and destroyed books, including stocks of the writers’ own. Mosquitos are plentiful with all the standing water, so there were opening night jokes about mosquitos bearing off some of the guests. A zealous parent outside the Y nailed not only her wriggling child but my passing self with citronella. Prince Edward Island Park was flooded, so the Shakespeare in the Park has moved to Mount Royal – but it alas does not start until after I leave. Stampede is impending, with even the swank downtown hotels mounting plywood saloon faces and all the guests appearing at opening in white 10-gallon hats.