And You Thought AI Was Scary

Something tells me that wrestling over the future of genetic engineering will make our current debate over AI look like a tea party.

Whether manipulating human DNA will become a bigger part of medicine (or any other life-altering practice) remains to be seen, but gene editing has developed at a furious pace since Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier announced the breakthrough CRISPR-Cas9 tool in 2012 (later becoming the first all-women team to be awarded a Nobel prize in science).

Of course, the peril of genetic engineering is a well-established science-fiction trope, from Brave New World to Oryx and Crake, Never Let Me Go and one of my all-time faves, The Windup Girl. It somehow made its way into my novel, A Corruption of Memory. (Along with memory, cognitive links, interstellar gates, AI and hover bubbles. Can you even have sci-fi without flying cars?)

In ACOM, the engineering is done using a souped-up version of CRISPR. Adapted from the natural defense system bacteria use to fight off viruses, the tech allows scientists to insert, move, and delete DNA to correct mutations. Crucially, a CRISPR edit is passed on through the germline to future generations, permanently changing the human genetic pool.

In 2023, U.S. approved the world’s first CRISPR medicine—for the treatment of sickle cell disease. Trials are underway for a host of other illnesses and disorders, including inherited blindness, high cholesterol and severe inflammation. Needless to say, there are risks—like CRISPR making off-target changes which can lead to mutations that show up decades later. (Spoiler alert!)

The technique also opens up a Pandora’s box of ethical and moral issues. Fundamentally: the fine line that can be drawn between adding muscle, designer babies and eugenics. Who gets to say where we will take it? Will it create a new generation of haves and have-nots?

We've already had one CRISPR uproar with "China's Dr. Frankenstein." He Jiankui announced in 2018 he'd used CRISPR for the first time to genetically alter the DNA of embryos in an effort to protect them against HIV infection. Three babies were subsequently born. The scientist got three years in jail for deceiving medical authorities and was universally condemned but is now working again, albeit in a more diminished capacity.

It is from these technological ambiguities that great sci-fi is born. As Marius, one of the protagonists in A Corruption of Memory says, “When it comes to humans and their tech, it’s impossible to stuff the genie back in the bottle.” 

I, for one, will not stop being mind-boggled by the fact we all have a blueprint inside us that straight-up designs our hair color, height, muscle mass, etc., and can even play a part in intelligence. It could be that we are only at the dawn of the genetics age. Apparently, there’s piles of dark DNA inside us too that doesn’t code and is hard to sequence so that we don’t know much about it. Scientists speculate it acts like a traffic cop, deciding what genes are activated, or driving fast changes to adjust to the environment. Just the term (borrowed from dark matter) gives me shivers and it becomes key in the book.

In addition to genetics, memory is core to my novel. People have been studying memory since before Plato’s time but in the last century they began to look for a physical mark of it in the brain. Now they can see the “engrams” or memory traces being formed in mice, and even manipulate them, with much work being done here in Toronto.

This raises the possibility that one day, we might be able to do the same in humans—add memories or delete them. Add in the emerging concept of storing information in your DNA, and once again you have the makings for a sci-fi novel.

I take great liberties with this science in A Corruption of Memory but the most exciting—or disturbing—idea is that it’s all based in reality.

If you want to nerd out on gene editing here are some books:

A Crack in Creation, by Jennifer Doudna

The Code Breaker, by Walter Isaacson, profiles Doudna and the race to CRISPR

The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi, is a haunting sci-fi novel full of engineered beings, corporate war over genetic codes and bioengineered plagues. And if that's all too heavy for you try this!

Unsnobby wine recommendation No. 1: This is for all the folks in Ontario missing their California Chardonnay with U.S. booze off the shelves due to the ridiculous trade war between Canada and the U.S. (Okay, I'm showing my age, but I do love an oaky chard on a hot summer evening! 😂)

Oyster Bay Chardonnay Just $20 at the LCBO from this New Zealand winemaker that's better known for Sauvignon Blanc.

Songs with stories recommendations No. 1:

In my book, it's always about the lyrics. So keeping to the California theme, I'm offering up Hollywood Nights by Bob Seger. Simple lyrics I grant you, but with an obsessive quality that paints a vivid picture. Got any wine and song recommendations for me?