Weird Fictions Research Group cordially invites you to a lecture about biomedicalization in the Mass Effect franchise!
Karolina Kowalska
I Settle for Nothing but the Best: Biomedicalization in the Mass Effect Franchise
Monday, April 29, 2024
4:45PM
You can get 3 OZN points for participating in this event.
Where?
Dobra 55, room: 2.118
(the building features some mobility accommodations: ramp and lift)
What?
“Transformations range from life after complete heart failure […] to the capacity to genetically design life itself.”
(Adele E. Clarke, et al, ‘Biomedicalization: Technoscientific Transformations of Health, Illness, and U.S. Biomedicine’)
From prenatal gene therapy, through biotic implant enhancement, to the Lazarus Project, health in Bioware’s Milky Way galaxy belongs as much to you as it does to a private company. Step into the world of Mass Effect, where cutting-edge biomedical technologies redefine the boundaries of human potential, where organic and synthetic life blur, and where health becomes a commodity. In this lecture, we delve into the concept of biomedicalization within the sci-fi franchise, exploring how advancements in genetics, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence reshape the fate of humanity, at the cost of human privacy. Issues such as profiling, ethics, and privatization serve as pivotal points in understanding how Mass Effect navigates the fine line between progress and the compromise of choice. The lecture aims to encourage critical thinking about the consequences of such technological advancements, sparking discussion on the ethical dilemmas of biomedicalization.
Who?
Karolina Anna Kowalska holds an MA degree in American Literature. Her academic interests include revisionist comic book studies, sapphic subversion of the horror genre, and speculative fiction video games.
She is the editor of Second Thoughts, a student magazine at the Institute of English Studies, and the founder of the American Classics Book Club, a literary discussion club in Warsaw libraries. She is currently enrolled in the ASC’s BA program and spends her free time volunteering at UW’s Welcome Point.
