Sterling, Bruce. Tomorrow Now (New York: Random House, 2002), p. 10.


Back in the early days of harnessing DNA, people were always fussing about full-grown multicellular beings-genetically altered humans, plants, or animals. There was a lot of anxious talk about clones (genetic duplicates) or chimeras (creatures with fused cells, whose bodies are mosaics of different species). Genetically modified organisms contained snippets of alien DNA, such as the artist Eduardo Kac's rabbit "Alba". That arty little rabbit, infused with jellyfish genes, could glow bright green in public. Alba the rabbit made a well-nigh perfect art-world cause célèbre at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Alba really panicked the bourgeoisie and was a nice succès de scandale, a worthy credit to the social insight of the artist.


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