The Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, And Culture (A Leonardo Book) - Softcover
How global biotechnology is redefining "life itself."
In the age of global biotechnology, DNA can exist as biological material in a test tube, as a sequence in a computer database, and as economically valuable information in a patent. In The Global Genome, Eugene Thacker asks us to consider the relationship of these three entities and argues that―by their existence and their interrelationships―they are fundamentally redefining the notion of biological life itself.
Biological science and the biotech industry are increasingly organized at a global level, in large part because of the use of the Internet in exchanging biological data. International genome sequencing efforts, genomic databases, the development of World Intellectual Property policies, and the "borderless" business of biotech are all evidence of the global intersections of biology and informatics―of genetic codes and computer codes. Thacker points out the internal tension in the very concept of biotechnology: the products are more "tech" than "bio," but the technology itself is fully biological, composed of the biomaterial labor of genes, proteins, cells, and tissues. Is biotechnology a technology at all, he asks, or is it a notion of "life itself" that is inseparable from its use in the biotech industry?
The three sections of the book cover the three primary activities of biotechnology today: the encoding of biological materials into digital form―as in bioinformatics and genomics; its recoding in various ways―including the "biocolonialism" of mapping genetically isolated ethnic populations and the newly pervasive concern over "biological security"; and its decoding back into biological materiality―as in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Thacker moves easily from science to philosophy to political economics, enlivening his account with ideas from such thinkers as Georges Bataille, Georges Canguilhem, Michel Foucault, Antonio Negri, and Paul Virilio. The "global genome," says Thacker, makes it impossible to consider biotechnology without the context of globalism.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Eugene Thacker is Assistant Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Review:
--Tiziana Terranova, Department of Sociology, University at Essex
--Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
" The book ambitiously tries to follow the ever-expanding ripples the genetic code is propaganding in the pond of civilization.... Thacker's is an interesting mind that wanders in and explores many directions. "The Global Genome" is a book likely to trigger very different thoughts, associations, and reactions from each reader." -- "Science"
" An analytical and theoretical tour de force. The Global Genome is that rare thing: a book that combines a confident knowledge of biotechnology with a sharp eye for theory, with pyrotechnic results. Thacker maps a biopolitical economy of recombinant capital, biomaterial labor, technologies, biowar, and colonialism, a construct that wreaks havoc on our understanding of what a body is, what it can do, and what it can be made to do in the age of biotechnology. An eye-opener for the non-expert, and an essential contribution for researchers and students." --Tiziana Terranova, Department of Sociology, University at Essex
" Eugene Thacker has written an indispensable overview of current trends and developments in the technosphere of the life sciences, changes that are having a tremendous, though often latent, impact on everyday life on a global scale. What separates Thacker's work from other similar attempts is his brilliant critical framing of the issues, as well as his unrelenting grounding of life science and its attendant technologies within the larger field of political economy. This volume is a powerful interdisciplinary work, in the most authentic sense of the term." --Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
& quot; An analytical and theoretical tour de force. The Global Genome is that rare thing: a book that combines a confident knowledge of biotechnology with a sharp eye for theory, with pyrotechnic results. Thacker maps a biopolitical economy of recombinant capital, biomaterial labor, technologies, biowar, and colonialism, a construct that wreaks havoc on our understanding of what a body is, what it can do, and what it can be made to do in the age of biotechnology. An eye-opener for the non-expert, and an essential contribution for researchers and students.& quot; -- Tiziana Terranova, Department of Sociology, University at Essex
& quot; The book ambitiously tries to follow the ever-expanding ripples the genetic code is propaganding in the pond of civilization.... Thacker's is an interesting mind that wanders in and explores many directions. The Global Genome is a book likely to trigger very different thoughts, associations, and reactions from each reader.& quot; -- Science
& quot; Eugene Thacker has written an indispensable overview of current trends and developments in the technosphere of the life sciences, changes that are having a tremendous, though often latent, impact on everyday life on a global scale. What separates Thacker's work from other similar attempts is his brilliant critical framing of the issues, as well as his unrelenting grounding of life science and its attendant technologies within the larger field of political economy. This volume is a powerful interdisciplinary work, in the most authentic sense of the term.& quot; -- Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
"Eugene Thacker has written an indispensable overview of current trends and developments in the technosphere of the life sciences, changes that are having a tremendous, though often latent, impact on everyday life on a global scale. What separates Thacker's work from other similar attempts is his brilliant critical framing of the issues, as well as his unrelenting grounding of life science and its attendant technologies within the larger field of political economy. This volume is a powerful interdisciplinary work, in the most authentic sense of the term."--Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
"The book ambitiously tries to follow the ever-expanding ripples the genetic code is propaganding in the pond of civilization.... Thacker's is an interesting mind that wanders in and explores many directions. "The Global Genome" is a book likely to trigger very different thoughts, associations, and reactions from each reader."-- ""Science""
--Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
" The book ambitiously tries to follow the ever-expanding ripples the genetic code is propaganding in the pond of civilization.... Thacker's is an interesting mind that wanders in and explores many directions. "The Global Genome" is a book likely to trigger very different thoughts, associations, and reactions from each reader." -- "Science"
" An analytical and theoretical tour de force. The Global Genome is that rare thing: a book that combines a confident knowledge of biotechnology with a sharp eye for theory, with pyrotechnic results. Thacker maps a biopolitical economy of recombinant capital, biomaterial labor, technologies, biowar, and colonialism, a construct that wreaks havoc on our understanding of what a body is, what it can do, and what it can be made to do in the age of biotechnology. An eye-opener for the non-expert, and an essential contribution for researchers and students." --Tiziana Terranova, Department of Sociology, University at Essex
" Eugene Thacker has written an indispensable overview of current trends and developments in the technosphere of the life sciences, changes that are having a tremendous, though often latent, impact on everyday life on a global scale. What separates Thacker's work from other similar attempts is his brilliant critical framing of the issues, as well as his unrelenting grounding of life science and its attendant technologies within the larger field of political economy. This volume is a powerful interdisciplinary work, in the most authentic sense of the term." --Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
& quot; An analytical and theoretical tour de force. The Global Genome is that rare thing: a book that combines a confident knowledge of biotechnology with a sharp eye for theory, with pyrotechnic results. Thacker maps a biopolitical economy of recombinant capital, biomaterial labor, technologies, biowar, and colonialism, a construct that wreaks havoc on our understanding of what a body is, what it can do, and what it can be made to do in the age of biotechnology. An eye-opener for the non-expert, and an essential contribution for researchers and students.& quot; -- Tiziana Terranova, Department of Sociology, University at Essex
& quot; The book ambitiously tries to follow the ever-expanding ripples the genetic code is propaganding in the pond of civilization.... Thacker's is an interesting mind that wanders in and explores many directions. The Global Genome is a book likely to trigger very different thoughts, associations, and reactions from each reader.& quot; -- Science
& quot; Eugene Thacker has written an indispensable overview of current trends and developments in the technosphere of the life sciences, changes that are having a tremendous, though often latent, impact on everyday life on a global scale. What separates Thacker's work from other similar attempts is his brilliant critical framing of the issues, as well as his unrelenting grounding of life science and its attendant technologies within the larger field of political economy. This volume is a powerful interdisciplinary work, in the most authentic sense of the term.& quot; -- Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
"Eugene Thacker has written an indispensable overview of current trends and developments in the technosphere of the life sciences, changes that are having a tremendous, though often latent, impact on everyday life on a global scale. What separates Thacker's work from other similar attempts is his brilliant critical framing of the issues, as well as his unrelenting grounding of life science and its attendant technologies within the larger field of political economy. This volume is a powerful interdisciplinary work, in the most authentic sense of the term."--Steven Kurtz, State University of New York at Buffalo, Member, Critical Art Ensemble
"The book ambitiously tries to follow the ever-expanding ripples the genetic code is propaganding in the pond of civilization.... Thacker's is an interesting mind that wanders in and explores many directions. "The Global Genome" is a book likely to trigger very different thoughts, associations, and reactions from each reader."-- ""Science""
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherMit Pr
- Publication date2006
- ISBN 10 0262701162
- ISBN 13 9780262701167
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages416
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