The Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture (Leonardo Book Series) [Paperback]

Eugene Thacker (Author)

Book Description

Series: Leonardo Book Series | Publication Date: September 8, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

"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

About the Author

Eugene Thacker is Assistant Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (September 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262701162
• ISBN-13: 978-0262701167
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,156,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DNA=channel, February 4, 2006

By 

Kenji Siratori (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture (Leonardo Book Series) (Hardcover)

"Eugene Thacker send back out the DNA=channel that turned on the industrial ill-treatment of a chemical=anthropoid era respiration-byte." - Kenji Siratori, author of Blood Electric