The language used near the end of Fortun’s PromisesXPromises chapter/chiasmus, intrigued me this week. He used beautiful language to express the essence of chiasmus and what it entails for us, the reader. We see a culmination of many unknowns in the genomic landscape become a command to the reader. Fortun asks us to become “fruitful and multiply in searching for new patterns and connections, forcing new articulations and crosses” (p. 112) in the conversation of genomic promises and potential. He comes to a place of accepting the many unknowns of the genomic field, even going so far as suggesting that we should “rejoice and be glad” in the things which are out of our understanding or control.
I think it makes sense that a person steeped in the social sciences would suggest such a broad ranged hands-in-the-air posturing for when promises become nothing more than speculations for the future. For the biologist, or “hard scientist,” I imagine the beauty of the unknown is less appealing and less poetic than Fortun’s outlook.
I noticed that Fortune is really asking us, the people, to be more careful, thoughtful, just and admirable while negotiating the new territory. I see this as a call to people everywhere to take responsibility both politically and socially. Many of these new technologies seek to change the world we live in, including some of the moral stances many hold, as Green so clearly pointed out in his research. Is this something we are ready for? If we explore the promises more closely and carefully, as Fortun ( and this class) ask us to, we may realize that we either are, or are not, ready for the race to conclude in the form of genetically altered children, medicine, and technology.
The moral issue is at the heart of much that is promised: children without genetically inherited disease, stem cell research, finding cures for disease. Fortun asks us to be engaged in the process after all, we the readers are a part of the actor-network that makes science so messy. And we, just like the Icelandic people have a right to ask questions and intelligently and carefully debate the race that is happening right below our noses!
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You say "the moral issue" is central to the promise. And Fortun's explicit call for us to be careful, thoughtful, just and admirable is indicative of his position (which is surely moral). As you think back over Fortun's earlier chapters, do other "moral sounding" instances come to mind, perhaps instances that are not as explicit as his call (here) for us to be responsible? In what ways might Fortun's argument be seen as a moral tale?
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