A Braver New World

Why dystopian science fiction fails to capture the wonders of biology

Mar 09, 2022

It’s a sobering time with the world on the edge. Here’s a piece I wrote that zooms out — hope it provides a dose of rational optimism for a tech-bio future.

What’s your vision of tomorrow? Two divergent paths to consider

Last night I started reading Brave New World and couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Why is sci-fi so often dystopian? Where’s the optimism in how biology will shape our world for the better?

Just think — mRNA vaccines arrived in the nick of time to save millions of people from a global pandemic. Science radically changed the course of living history. Humanity didn’t have that shit in the bubonic plague.

As much as COVID has been a destructive force filled with shared pain and loss, its legacy has also made biology cool again — the average person has unknowingly become much more interested in diagnostics, mRNA therapeutics, drug discovery. “Viral load” and “genetic variant” have become embedded into everyday language.

And yet, biotechnology is often represented in science fiction as Black Mirror-Esque eugenicist societies, babies created through state-controlled artificial wombs, and Frankenstein “gene-edited” creatures gone rogue. These stigmas imprint in people’s minds. When I tell people at parties I’m a reproductive genetic counselor, I’m often met with nervous laughter followed by jesting questions like, “so you help people create designer babies?”

In science, there’s a disconnect between reality and imagination. The truth of where science is going is more optimistic than what science fiction often portrays. Stories are meant to inspire us to imagine what’s possible and what we could be capable of. When then did dreamers become more pessimistic than realists?

Consider this underrecognized, yet transformative application of biology:

Today, we can prevent rare genetic disorders for the next generation. Couples with a known risk of passing down a single gene disorder can genetically test their embryos created in the lab and choose to transfer an unaffected embryo. This can be a game-changer for families who wish to prevent undue disease burden for their children.

I’ve been privy to these stories firsthand. An early exposure stands out — a couple lost their first child at the age of 3 from a fatal metabolic disorder. Devastated and fearful of going through the same tragedy with future children, they turned to genetics and reproductive technologies. Turns out they were both carriers of the same rare disorder and embryo genetic testing was possible. Knowing their second daughter was unaffected before birth turned their heartbreak into hope. You tell me if this is equivalent to creating superfluous “designer babies.”

Here are two more examples on the horizon:

Reducing the world’s food insecurities through engineered microbes — Progress is being made to engineer microbes to fertilize food crops sustainably — produce mini bioreactors at the root of plants. Moving away from synthetic nitrogen fertilizer can eventually become cheaper, more effective, and better for our planet’s health. Imagine a world with enough food for everyone. I’d want to live in a world of benevolent genetically modified organisms, wouldn’t you?
Storing digital data in DNA for the long haul — Okay, this one is kind of nutty. But you can take the letters of DNA bases A, T, G, and C and code them to represent the binary system 00, 01, 10, and 11. So you can reduce the storage of an entire server room to a test tube the size of your thumb. Humanity’s most precious bits of knowledge could be preserved for millennia in DNA.

Being rationally optimistic doesn’t mean I’m blind to the challenges ahead. The world’s first gene-edited babies spurred by the work of a Chinese scientist and the epic rise and fall of Theranos, a blood diagnostics company, serve as highly publicized “I told you so” cautionary tales. Wrestling with the implications of newfound powers takes deep work.

But adverse gut reactions towards the unknown also overshadow the legitimate scientific progress being made, inching forward each day to shape human life for the better. It takes courage to uncover the truth of where science is going. What I write about here on Health & Wealth reflects that fundamental vision of a better tomorrow.

I can’t predict everything about the future. But I know that embracing the future starts with walking towards the unknown with wonder, not fear.

So here’s to stepping into an even Braver New World.

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