Persuasion, Human Improvement, and Disability: A Talk from Fables and Futures

In this talk, award-winning poet and memoirist George Estreich will draw from his new book, Fables and Futures: Biotechnology, Disability, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves (MIT Press, 2019).

From Francis Galton's “Essays in Eugenics” to the announcement of the first gene-edited babies, the dream of human improvement has been entwined with persuasion. Looking at contemporary and historical examples, from the famous allegorical drawing of the “Eugenics Tree” to Chinese scientist He Jiankui's YouTube announcement of gene-edited twins, Estreich will explore the literary aspects of persuasion, with particular attention to metaphor. What values do these persuasive acts embody? Whose purposes do they serve? And whom do they obscure, dehumanize or erase? The literary content of these persuasive acts suggests a necessary role for writers, literary critics and scholars of disability studies, as we seek to guide the use of new and powerful biotechnologies in human beings.