There is a growing buzz around the potential for science and technology to create significant "human enhancement" applications, such as bionic limbs, improved memory or cognition, or the ability to choose specific characteristics for our offspring. The possibilities stir the imagination and excitement of many, while for others the rhetoric and current research into human enhancement signals alarms of a new eugenics. And yet, for most non-scientists, this sounds like the realm of science fiction, a world awash in mystery and misunderstanding.
Film Reviews
"An ethical and philosophical mind-bender..." — CPH:DOX Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival
"...wonderfully original look at bodily variations..." — B. Ruby Rich, Film Critic and Professor of Social Documentation
"Fascinating, humane, and provocative reframing of conceptions of 'normal' bodies and 'disability.'" - Gina Maranto, author of "Quest for Perfection"
"...incisive, balanced, and mind-bending..." — Mary Lou Breslin, Senior Policy Advisor, Disability Rights Education Defense Fund
"Fixed: The Science/Fiction Of Human Enhancement" features: NPR radio host John Hockenberry; MIT bionics engineer Hugh Herr; biochemist and ability studies scholar Gregor Wolbring; disability studies scholar Dominika Bednarska; disability justice educator Patty Berne; exoskeleton test pilot Fernanda Castelo; robot scientist Rodney Brooks; futurist Jamais Cascio, bioethicist and policy advocate Marcy Darnovsky; brain-computer interface study participant Tim Hemmes; philosophy professor Cressida Heyes; transhumanist James Hughes; reproductive rights advocate Sujatha Jesudason; and disability lawyer Silvia Yee.
With cameo performances by some of the world’s leading integrated dance companies, featuring disabled and non-disabled dancers and artists, including the Anjali Dance Company; Antoine Hunter (of Sins Invalid and Urban Jazz Dance Company); AXIS Dance Company; Candoco; Dancing Wheels; GIMP; Kounterclockwise; Lisa Bufano; Marc Brew; Remix Dance Company; and Sue Austin/Freewheeling.
Through a dynamic mix of verité, dance, archival and interview footage, "Fixed: The Science/Fiction Of Human Enhancement" challenges notions of normal, the body and what it means fundamentally to be human in the 21st century. © 2013 Making Change Media (USA). All rights reserved.
“Fixed: The Science/Fiction Of Human Enhancement” is on Facebook, Pinterest, and you can follow @FixedDoc on Twitter.