Team:Edinburgh/Human/Epic

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The Epic

This particular aspect to the human BRIDGEs branch of our project was conceived in late July, on the train home from the UK-wide meet-up. One of the talks earlier that morning had been regarding the pervasiveness of human aspects throughout synthetic biology, and of the various different manners in which this could be conveyed to the public: not only via scientific literature and presentations, but also via more accessible methods such as plays, music, stories, and so forth. This got some of the more literary-minded members of our team thinking... what if we were to write a short story on synthetic biology?

In that moment of madness, The Epic was born.

We had great fun coming up with and writing this story! We also were amazed at how it forced us to consider ourselves and our work from a different, perhaps more objective perspective, in an attempt to write in such a way as to reach out to as many readers as possible. Our efforts were boosted by workshops by writers Pippa Goldschmidt and Ken MacLeod from the Genomics Forum, in which we explored the portrayal of science in fiction as well as public engagement in scientific work through the use of writing.

Below, we have posted a rough draft of the first act of the story, to whet the possible appetite of our readers for more.

A few disclaimers that must be made before proceeding any further:

• Yes, we did intend this to be at first a short story. Unfortunately, in between waiting for simulations to complete and cultures to grow, it kind of... expanded... on us.
• No, this was not simply an excuse for us to gain superpowers.
• Yes, there is (plans for) actual science within the story, as well as an interesting look at conflicting ideals within the field of Synthetic Biology, the issues that it faces today (safety, security, legality, etc.), and the challenges that it may come across in the future.
• No, we don't want to end it in just one tale. There are plans for sequels in the works, and at least one member of our team won't be satisfied with anything less than a quadrilogy (or, technically, a tetralogy).
• Yes, we are interested in a film adaptation. Any takers?

Prologue

The Rest of the Story

Part I of The Epic is now ready for your perusal as a GoogleDoc, a pdf, or in the embedded frame below.