Synthetic Hype
I am concerned because this seems to be the latest in a long line of grand promises that have accompanied demands for resources (both monetary and intellectual) for successive major biotechnological undertakings over the past twenty years. Each of these undertakings has been worthy in its own right but none has, as yet, come anywhere near to realizing the extravagant claims made by its initial promoters. Modern developments in biotechnology have been driven, in part, by an ever receding horizon of promise. Many scholars (Adam Hedgcoe, Mike Fortun, Karen-Sue Taussig, and others) have commented on the politics of promise and potential in biotechnology. With each new advance, claims are staked out for future benefits that remain unfulfilled until the next new advance re-stakes the claim and re-sets the horizon for realizing its promise further into the future.
The dynamic really began with the Human Genome Project in the 1990s.
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