Team:British Columbia/HP nanowrimo
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- | <b>The Problem With Being Dead by Patience Ray </b><a href="">Read more here!</a><br/> | + | <b>The Problem With Being Dead by Patience Ray </b><a href="http://looking-both-ways.blogspot.com/ ">Read more here!</a><br/> |
Shae Kincaid had the perfect life; until she died three weeks ago. While she's been reunited with her family thanks to the now-routine 'procedure', her boyfriend refuses to be seen with a 'dead girl,' her best friend's parents won't let them hang out, and her bio-engineered New-skin keeps melting away in the sun. In addition to the therapy sessions that are supposed to help her adjust to her new situation and the regular maintenance checkups at the hospital, she's been forced to transfer to night school with all the other deceased minors. Even worse, she's expected to testify against the old granny who ran her over. Yes, Shae is discovering that there are definitely worse things than being dead. | Shae Kincaid had the perfect life; until she died three weeks ago. While she's been reunited with her family thanks to the now-routine 'procedure', her boyfriend refuses to be seen with a 'dead girl,' her best friend's parents won't let them hang out, and her bio-engineered New-skin keeps melting away in the sun. In addition to the therapy sessions that are supposed to help her adjust to her new situation and the regular maintenance checkups at the hospital, she's been forced to transfer to night school with all the other deceased minors. Even worse, she's expected to testify against the old granny who ran her over. Yes, Shae is discovering that there are definitely worse things than being dead. | ||
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This year, NaNoWriMo and iGEM are collaborating for the first time to showcase stories featuring synthetic biology. | This year, NaNoWriMo and iGEM are collaborating for the first time to showcase stories featuring synthetic biology. | ||
- | <a href="http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/1249978316/synthetic-biology-and-your-novel">See our NaNoWriMo-iGEM article at the Office of Letters and Light!</a> | + | <a href="http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/1249978316/synthetic-biology-and-your-novel">See our NaNoWriMo-iGEM article at the Office of Letters and Light!</a> We hope that through this exchange, iGEM participants will be able to see the range of sci-fi synthetic biology novels written by the public, and NaNoWriMo participants will be able to find out much more about what synthetic biology can achieve by browsing through iGEM projects. Many of the stories on this page tell a futuristic tale about ethical complications when humans decide to synthetically generate and/or alter humans. Although the settings of these stories may be chronologically far away, they pose many questions about the means of synthetic biology research and its applications. And although the idea of humans abusing synthetic biology research to such extremes may seem quite far-fetched at the moment, synthetic biologists should also consider political and corporate parties (such as those in these novels) who may choose to invest in synthetic biological warfare or ethically questionable products. |
- | + | <br></br><br></br> | |
+ | Some interesting questions to ponder... <br></br><br></br>Are there any ethical boundaries to the design of synthetic organisms?<br></br><br></br>What are the ethics when it comes to synthetically generating or altering humans?<br></br><br></br>What about the use of synthetic biology in warfare, peacekeeping and law enforcement? | ||
+ | <br></br><br></br>Are there any barriers set in place to avoid terroristic applications of synthetic biology?<br></br><br></br>And before those products even come into existence, are there any ethics regarding research methods and subjects? | ||
+ | <br></br><br></br>What about accessibility of synthetic biology products? Will poor and sick people receive the same benefits? Will synthetic biology just be another way to reap lots of money off the poor in an unsustainable way? | ||
+ | <br></br><br></br>Is synthetic biology going to become a political bargaining chip like other morally grey topics? | ||
+ | <br></br><br></br>As the field of synthetic biology grows, these questions become increasingly real and require increasingly practical answers. | ||
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Latest revision as of 00:28, 26 October 2010
Stories Featuring Synthetic Biology
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/5/57/Agubc.jpg)
Augmented Genesis by Tony Southcotte Read more here!
The continued advancement of technology has brought about a synthetic evolution in the human species. Biology and technology mesh to create an augmented world, for which users perceive through altered vision, enhanced bodies, and built in gadgetry. Metabolism, immune functionality, and other natural processes are controlled through implants.
Dependence on this new technology would be an understatement, so when an electromagnetic storm destroys the hardware, chaos ensues. Mutations, implant induced disease, and panic grip the world. Only the lowest class, those whose bodies rejected the implants, remain capable of making things right.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/6/6a/Bridges_Cover_Art.jpg)
Bridges by Edrei Zahari Read more here!
In the aftermath of World War III, a platoon of UN peacekeepers patrol a remote region of Russia in an effort to control bandit raids and counteract any insurgence that might threaten the newly signed truce between the United States and USSR. Patroling the irradiated countryside may be a problem for most people, but not for these soldiers. Genetically enhanced to deal with the fallout from the nuclear war, they are the perfect warriors to handle any trouble. Or are they?
As they stumble upon an abandoned town, it becomes clear that some problems can't be solved with superior technology. Now the peacekeepers are forced to band together with a known enemy to fight ann even greater threat born from the desperation and darkness of the war. This time, the stakes aren't for the world peace or personal survival, but for one's sanity.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/3/3f/Catharsisubc.jpg)
Catharsis: Dead Moon Rising by David Litherland Read more here!
In the near future, genetic engineering has grown by leaps and bounds. Getting your genes modified is as easy as (and less painful than) getting a tattoo.
However, not all is at ease. A malicious scientist wishes to bend all humanity to his will, and is willing to do everything in his power to accomplish this. He has developed an airborne mutagen which turns rational, intelligent humans into mindless, violent drones.
A group of scientists, who barely escaped the scientist's machinations, must develop a cure before they succumb to the mutagen. On the other side of the world, a group of people, thrown together by circumstance, must protect themselves and a child savant from the hordes.
The Catharsis is coming; will they be ready?
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/f/f6/Fledwing.jpg)
Fledgling Wings by Angelica A. Read more here!
A young boy named Jonas is a normal teenager. Except for the fact that he is a chimera, a hybrid of human and animal DNA that exceeds 10%. He has enough trouble coping with that, but then his friend David disappears. Now he must discover where his friend is and the secrets behind his disappearance and of all chimeras.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/a/a3/NanoKg.jpg)
Kalopsiac Green by Karen Llamas Read more here!
Thomas and Felix are your average lower than middle class teenagers in the near future, whose mothers sold their bodies to science. Amidst a world with many marvels from altered foods to altered people, they know all too well this isn't exactly the destiny that sci-fi novelists spoke of.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/4/4a/Lyghts.jpg)
Lyghts by Lyvie Hallman Taylor Read more here!
The human body contains billions of miles of DNA. The human heart beats measure three billion in a lifetime. What really controls us; is it science or love that drives us? A sympathetic scientist wished to combine the two, to unite frigid logic and warm embrace. She finds hope in LYGHT: specific DNA codes that enhance everything from physical attraction to touches. She creates the beginnings of a couple truly meant to be. But her two prized experiments grow disobedient. They try some “experiments” themselves. Mutilating their appearances to the point where physical attraction is out of the question, the two are branded failures and left to rot in a city as lonely and grungy as they are. While disgusted by each other when they first meet, they can’t help but feel a connection. DNA sequences go on. Hearts continue to beat. Lights turn on.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/3/38/Machmen.jpg)
Machmen by Kay Proctor
Read more here!
"Robots turn the tables and program humans to obey the Three Laws of Robotics - for better or for worse."
Late in the 23rd century, there exists an era of peace and honesty. The concept of war is nearly eliminated, the night streets are safe, and there is no fear of a politician lying for money or power. But how?
In an underground facility just a century before, the first self-sufficient robot was born. Mentored by Dr. Dorothea Calvin Parker, the robots grew in their understanding of the human race and came to one conclusion: Humans needed to be fixed.
All it took was a small chip in the brain, not unlike what was inside robots, that made humans subject to the three Laws that they gave it. Chaos followed, but after one hundred years, life has gone on. Has it improved?
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/f/f6/Mechar.jpg)
Mechalarum by Emma Larkins Read more here!
The realm has been at war for as long as the oldest of the elders can remember, and at last it looks like the tides are turning - for the worse. The old Patrus and his advisors are running out of ideas, and also running out of men to fly the suits that fit closer than skin known as the Mechalarum. Each suit is genetically engineered to bond with its host to ensure the most advanced fighting capabilities; when the hosts die, the suits live on, of little use to anyone. As combat rages outside the palace walls, the only daughter of the Patrus makes the terrible choice to bond with an abandoned suit. The mis-matched genetic material degrades her body even as she desires to fly skyrockets and her father forbids his only heir to risk her life fighting a losing battle.
![](http://i51.tinypic.com/24ovezd.jpg%5B/IMG)
Nightfall by Maximillian d'Erembourg Read more here!
Three millennia after man spread to the stars like seeds from the tree of life, the great Terran Empire collapsed from a devastating war that almost cost humans our homeworld. Threatened by an alien menace, many alternate homeworlds were seeded. Half a millennium later, the Terran Empire re-emerged to expand and re-conquer all lost territory, enslaving all independent worlds.
This is the story of the heroes of one planet; Prince Morgan Valori, who can subconsciously manipulate space-time; former space-pirate Ciro Andronicus, with budding telepathic abilities; and Kyrie Saturi, a biologically synthesized human.
From such stress does the next evolution of Humanity spring; as they find themselves the last hope of freedom for their people, the three heroes find that the definition of what it means to be human is changing with them.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/c/c6/Maggie_Burns.jpg)
Perfect Monster by Maggie Burns Read more here!
This is the story of a medical researcher who commits crimes against humanity to stop a war, then from exile tries to save the world from the terrible fallout of his acts.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/4/4c/Progress_unbound.jpg)
Progress Unbound by David Scheidl
In the not too distant future, humanity has expanded into twelve other star systems. With this expansion has come a shedding of morality. Science has raced ahead, heedless of any consequences. Now, as each planet pursues its own goal of attaining genetic perfection, we have come full circle.
Earth, after throwing away religious morality, had managed to create numerous examples of augmented humans who then went out to colonize distant planets. These colonies continued the experiments as a means of being able to better survive in their new environments with the same heedlessness which had characterized Old Earth's scientific community in the late 21st century. Earth meanwhile has experienced a moral revival and is now determined to limit the scientific excesses of her daughter colonies.
Promethean by Bradford James Read more here!
The events on the Island have rocked his and his friends' lives, but so far the world around them is oblivious to the fact that figures from the Greek, Norse and Egyptian pantheons are real. After discovering he was the grandson of a Norse god, and seeing his friend McCray lie in a coma for 8 months, Thurston tries to figure out whether to stay with his comatose friend or go back to the mainland and find out what has happened to his missing mother. When McCray wakes up and escapes the island with a plan that may set half the world afire, it's up to Thurston and company to rein him in. But with Dr. Gabriel, leader of the PHAROS project with a (very, very, very) long history of wielding mythical power, making his own plans, the road won't be easy. And Thurston may learn that the source of this power may not be as heavenly as he has been led to believe.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/8/87/Qubit.jpg)
QUBIT - Degrees of Freedom by Sally Kirkpatrick Read more here!
How could an innocent show and tell between two friends threaten the Earth and perhaps the very fabric of life itself? Jeremy Garrett thought it was an ordinary day, but before the events set in motion that day were over he would have to face the horror of the hidden depths of his own humanity and fight for the freedom of mankind. The only one who believes he will make the right choice is his best friend, Rachel, but will she still believe in him if she knows his secret?
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/e/e4/Human-brain-stress.jpg)
Rite of Synapse by Angela Whalen Read more here!
In 2041, lab tests showed that a dead rat can, in fact, twitch his whiskers again. In 2042, lab tests showed that a dead human being can, in fact, walk again. But if there was anything the results proved, it was that the dead cannot truly live again. Death, however, could be beaten at its own game.
Or so Dr. Margot Bachman thought when she developed the vaccine that should have helped humanity overcome its number one destructive disease: death. What she didn’t realize was that the vaccine, coupled with her brother’s greed and impatience, would give way to a disease far worse than death. Now those who have been infected walk amongst the dead, and those who still walk with the living must put their faith in a scientist, half-mad and half-wicked, to find an unlikely cure-or be served up as lunch in the ruins of America’s leading retailer.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/e/e6/Phoetur.jpg)
The Phoenix and the Turtle by B. Rainier Hilyer Read more here!
The planet's scientific community is rocked by the appearance of several supernovae explosions of nearby stars in rapid succession. Famed physicist and nobel laureate Dr. Walter Phoenix reveals to a former colleague that he is somehow behind the astronomical events. Phoenix believes he has discovered the secret of the universe, and man's place within it: The universe itself is a living organism, and he means to "breed" new universes with the fiery corpses of stellar matter. What unfolds is a mind-numbing unravelling of the cosmic order, as one man's genius forces humanity to the brink of a new struggle for existence—one far grander than anyone could have imagined.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/b/b8/Probdead.jpg)
The Problem With Being Dead by Patience Ray Read more here!
Shae Kincaid had the perfect life; until she died three weeks ago. While she's been reunited with her family thanks to the now-routine 'procedure', her boyfriend refuses to be seen with a 'dead girl,' her best friend's parents won't let them hang out, and her bio-engineered New-skin keeps melting away in the sun. In addition to the therapy sessions that are supposed to help her adjust to her new situation and the regular maintenance checkups at the hospital, she's been forced to transfer to night school with all the other deceased minors. Even worse, she's expected to testify against the old granny who ran her over. Yes, Shae is discovering that there are definitely worse things than being dead.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/a/a1/Uncanny_valley.jpg)
The Uncanny Valley by Meredeth Beckett Read more here!
A single generation into the future, a group of brilliant
young scientists put the finishing touches on their masterpiece: an
android who can pass for human. As they set about preparing it for its
future life as the object of study the world over, they must battle
their funders, who look to commercialize the venture for their own
profit; public opinion, which is divided and passionate on this highly
contentious issue; and their own desire for profit, both personal and
financial.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/2/29/NanoTania.jpg)
Triple S, Operation: Fowl Play by Tania Knight (capricious_angel AT hotmail.co.uk)
Kieran and James are best friends, second year students at the School for the Animorphagally Talented (underage ninjas), aka Triple S Animal division, known as SATUrN. Kingdom and Castle are twins, broken out of a juvenile detention centre to join the Triple S bird division, a new branch of SATUrN going by the name WINGS (Winged Installment of Ninja Ground-to-air Soldiers).
All of the Triple S are people who won't be missed. The government's new technology has allowed them to alter the teenage body and give it the ability to shift shape. MI6 decides to combine 2 secrets - genetic engineering and covert operations. No-one believes that the adorable stray cat was the assassin that did away with their drug-dealing uncle. Between the excitement of missions and the dangers of training, secondary school life continues much as normal...
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/e/e9/Twice_cover_again.jpg)
Twice by Vivian Rivera Read more here!
"The world you know now is a lie. Joseph Kadlowski was a homeless man who drowned himself in poison. He found the truth to all the sugar-coated stories and was killed because he knew too much. It isn't safe to say he was murdered because he's still alive. He's just not in his own body. If you had a chance to live life twice... would you take it knowing there was a price?"
This novel is about 21-year-old Joseph Kadlowski. As this mind-twisting story unfolds, Joseph learns that he has been killed and his soul transferred into a government-made body that will forever change his perspective on reality. The government is using new technology that captures the essence of the human soul and places it into bodies made by special labs of the MBA (Mindless Being Association).
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/1/18/Apotheosis.jpg)
Apotheosis by Chad Dambrowitz Read more here!
In God all things are possible, but only in science is God possible.
A dark look at the madness man faces as he looks into the eyes of God and sees his reflection.
Image was made using a stock photo by Cubstock on Deviantart.
Anomalies by Christine A. Bearl Read more here!
Without their knowledge almost everyone in the world has been marked by nanobots. These nanobots have assigned each person their own unique code. A Quantum Super Computer can use the code to locate any person.
The agency that owns the Quantum Super Computer does not just tag people. They have many other technological projects and experiments. They have even abducted a woman that has seen too many of their other projects. David finally decides to come out of hiding and take a stand against the agency that used him. Will he be able to relieve the guilt he feels for creating the Quantum Super Computer for the agency? Cassandra learns that without her knowledge the agency was using her in an experiment. Can she get her life back?
The agency will stop at nothing to keep their existence a secret.
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/3/38/Craw.jpg)
Brought to Life by Richard S. Crawford Read more here!
It's the epic story of Boris, the first synthetic person, and the challenges he faces as he tries to establish his own identity.
NaNoWriMo
![](http://www.trashionista.com/nanowrimo.jpg)
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
As participants spend November writing, they can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
In 2009, NaNoWriMo had 167,150 participants. 32,178 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.
This year, NaNoWriMo and iGEM are collaborating for the first time to showcase stories featuring synthetic biology.
See our NaNoWriMo-iGEM article at the Office of Letters and Light! We hope that through this exchange, iGEM participants will be able to see the range of sci-fi synthetic biology novels written by the public, and NaNoWriMo participants will be able to find out much more about what synthetic biology can achieve by browsing through iGEM projects. Many of the stories on this page tell a futuristic tale about ethical complications when humans decide to synthetically generate and/or alter humans. Although the settings of these stories may be chronologically far away, they pose many questions about the means of synthetic biology research and its applications. And although the idea of humans abusing synthetic biology research to such extremes may seem quite far-fetched at the moment, synthetic biologists should also consider political and corporate parties (such as those in these novels) who may choose to invest in synthetic biological warfare or ethically questionable products.
Some interesting questions to ponder...
Are there any ethical boundaries to the design of synthetic organisms?
What are the ethics when it comes to synthetically generating or altering humans?
What about the use of synthetic biology in warfare, peacekeeping and law enforcement?
Are there any barriers set in place to avoid terroristic applications of synthetic biology?
And before those products even come into existence, are there any ethics regarding research methods and subjects?
What about accessibility of synthetic biology products? Will poor and sick people receive the same benefits? Will synthetic biology just be another way to reap lots of money off the poor in an unsustainable way?
Is synthetic biology going to become a political bargaining chip like other morally grey topics?
As the field of synthetic biology grows, these questions become increasingly real and require increasingly practical answers.