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If you could augment your body's abilities in any way imaginable, what would you do? When Oakland filmmaker Regan Brashear posed that question to subjects in her documentary, answers ranged from photographic memory to the ability to teleport.

The responses may seem like wishful thinking, but Brashear's new film, FIXED: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement, illustrates that some of these fantastical ideas may one day become a reality and, in the process, permanently change our conception of what is normal. Investigating innovations such as bionic limbs and exoskeletons, Brashear examines how these developments value being able-bodied, calling into question whether our focus should be on technological advancement or adapting society to the needs of the disabled.

Brashear was first inspired to create the film while attending a genetic engineering conference in San Francisco in 2004. After hearing Gregor Wolbring, an associate professor who researches biochemistry and bioethics at the University of Calgary, speak about a previous conference in which participants had discussed converting existing technologies for improving human performance, alarm bells went off for Brashear. "Hearing that our government...