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Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Human/Pig Emybro

Human / Pig Hybrid created at Salk Institute, pictured. The dramatic organ shortage of transplantation has paved way for the atypical construction of interspecies chimeras. The future endeavour of stem cell research has engineered that these chimeras will be a host to growing human organs which will be utilised for organ transplants. Human stem cells are injected into pig ‘hosts’ and the two develop together. Ethical concerns of creating cognizant, sophisticated chimeras have been raised as the prospect of human cells migrating through the host body is a real possibility. Using non-human animals as incubators for human organs largely raises critical concerns to the violation of human and non-human dignity and the natural order. Although human lives can be saved through this new technology, this may seem irrelevant as the cost outweighs the result.

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Animal Worlds
"chimera"
an organism containing a mixture of genetically different tissues, formed by processes such as fusion of early embryos, grafting, or mutation.
From the Oxford English Dictionary

Photo Essay

Flowers for Algernon
Close reading
In Flowers for Algernon, the trope of the animal is used to criticise human exceptionalism and raise ethical questions of how we treat other living beings; both animal and human. The role of Algernon, the laboratory mouse, is utilised to highlight thematic considerations of how intellect is used to separate humans from non-humans and consequently exposes how the human standards of measuring intelligence, which relies on language and quantitative data, block any empathetic understanding of consciousness within animal forms. When Charlie introduces the mouse, it is an emphatic statement, ‘They called the mouse Algernon’. Through the name, the mouse is personified. Yet, Keyes draws on science fiction motifs of experimental elevation on non-human beings, demonstrating that Algernon remains an object for the human to own and master. Through the labeling of Algernon and manipulation of his intelligence, the scientists are able to maintain human-animal divide. Consequently, the recognition of the other is constrained by the imbalanced value granted to rationality, enabling the dehumanisation of and violence towards other beings.

However, the dichotomy of intellect versus animality becomes blurred when Keyes explores the relationship between Algernon and Charlie, two individuals who for a time, both share the same metrics of intelligence (according to the scientific experimentation they are both subjected to). Charlie states, ‘Everyone identifies me with Algernon’, reflecting that idea that the animal is used to allegorise the marginalised other, who falls outside the standard conception of what it means to be human (p. 300). Algernon is used to foreshadow the tragic fate of Charlie, compelling audiences to contemplate the consequences of human interference in nature. When Charlie surpasses Algernon he is able to comprehend both the ethical and intellectual spheres of consciousness that his other human peers cannot. As Mrs Kinnian remarks, “for a person who god gave so little to you done more then a lot of people with brains they never even used.” (Pg.n. 7)

In narrating the relationship between Algernon and Charlie, Keyes calls his readers to possess deeper notions of understanding, empathy, and reverence to all living beings just as Charlie is able to conceptualize. The simultaneous development between the two represents a form of intra-action as the hierarchy between human and animal is subverted by the humanisation of the test subject. He examines the treatment of human (Charlie) subject and mouse (Algernon) subject as independent beings; not giving primacy to one organism or the other by dissecting the concept of non-human animal (NHA) ‘Uplift,’ (Faderman, 2015) that painfully engages the animals to enhance their abilities to fit human standards. The concerning process disrupts the biological order and reminds us to acknowledge the importance of all forms of life where non-human animals are equal to every part.
Bibliography
Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2007. Web.
Roy-Faderman, Ina. "The Alienation Of Humans And Animals In Uplift Fiction". Midwest Studies In Philosophy, vol 39, no. 1, 2015, pp. 78-97. Wiley

Written by:
Amy Huang, Rose Rzepa, Natasha Stavreski
Animal Worlds: Photo essay "chimera"
an organism containing a mixture of genetically different tissues, formed by processes such as fusion of early embryos, grafting, or mutation.
from the Oxford English Dictionary.

A hybrid organism containing animal and non-animal cells becomes an unrecognisable beast living amongst the natural order. This new generation enables bio-medical research to advance investigations, and transform them into existence through the creation of chimeras.
Photo essay