Lateral Improvements: MFA Thesis - Metals

Abstract

The modern era can be characterized as a constant stream of updates and upgrades. Our technological advancements, in particular, are continuously reiterated with newly invented tools, hardware upgrades, and software updates. In medical science, progress provides new treatments and cures for existing diseases, and with this, new doors have been opened regarding genetic interventions for both prevention and treatment of various conditions. Regarding this progress, ethicists Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu have raised new questions about our moral imperative to change and to improve. In this era of constant, so-called improvements, what are we looking for? How can we define success and who is qualified to do so? Is there a point at which our improvements ultimately become a hindrance? Science writer J. B. MacKinnon brings up similar questions about human interaction in nature. Persson and Savulescu’s ideas regarding human augmentation, coupled with MacKinnon’s research on evolutionary disruptions in nature have prompted my own exploration of new possibilities for natural motifs in body adornment and to question the idea of improvement.