2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

To what extent does Patricia Piccinini challenge our perspective on the ethics of bioengineering?

portrayal of this organ is achieved in quite an aesthetic manner, with rich colours and glossy/shiny materials. This not only postulates her fascination for this reproductive system, but also for how technology may interfere. An embryo’s main function is to determine the organism's early-stage development. Because of this, Piccinini uses this organ as a symbol for the essential mutability of life (Piccinini, 2016). In the artist statement for this piece, Piccinini ponders that change and evolution is something that humans are most proud of, and that technology has become a vital instrument in order to make these changes. However, this doesn’t necessarily establish these changes as beneficial, as Piccinini also comments on the ability for humans to choose the wrong evolutionary path (Piccinini, 2016). Although one may perceive this piece as illustrating the possibility for technology to aid and change the methods of reproduction, it simultaneously elicits a far more holistic underlying message. Piccinini states that embryos represent “pure potential”, it isn’t anything at first but has the potential to become “something amazing” (Piccinini, 2016). Consequently, is Piccinini attempting to illuminate bioengineering’s potential to create positive change within the natural world? In reference to the research question, Piccinini seems to consistently elucidate the positive aspects of biological engineering, however without hesitation to question the ethics and intent of tampering with such technologies.

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