LIFE FORMED: EVOLUTIONARY DESIGN AND THE FUTURES OF A POLITICAL BIOLOGY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʻI AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE May 2019 By AuBrey M. Yee Dissertation Committee: James Dator, chairperson Jairus Grove Noelani Goodyear-KaʻōPua Kathy Ferguson DeBora J HalBert Jenifer Winter Keywords: Alternative futures, Synthetic Biology, CRISPR ABSTRACT With the advent of CRISPR and gene drive gene editing technologies, synthetic Biology is Paving the way towards a world where humans have the caPacity to raPidly design and re-design lifeforms. With little oversight and agreed uPon governance structures, how will we ensure that these technologies are used for the greatest good? As we Begin to actively design evolution, how might we decolonize this science? Privileging alternative forms of knowledge Production and ethical frameworks from Indigenous peoples and spiritual ecologists in order to shaPe a Preferred future for the Planet in the era of synthetic life. ii CONTENTS ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................ii INTRODUCTION: SYNTHETHIC BIOLOGY AND THE MEANING MACHINE................1 Redefining the ‘Natural’........................................................................................17 Understanding the Synthetic................................................................................18 Indigenous Sciences............................................................................................20 The Meaning Machine ........................................................................................22 Hunters, Collectors and Chimeras.......................................................................23 Synthetic AuthorshiP and Cyborg Ironies.............................................................33 The Agency of Creation.......................................................................................39 CHAPTER 1. NECROMATERIALISM – THE AFFECTS OF PRECARITY....................42 Necro-materialism and Designing for Death........................................................42 Affects of Precarity...............................................................................................47 Vector Politics: Biotechnology in a Permanent state of emergency.....................48 Parts and Wholes.................................................................................................54 An OPen Source Science meets an Organismal Cosmology..............................58 CHAPTER 2. WHO OWNS EMERGENCE?..................................................................66 Hornless cows and Moldless mushrooms............................................................66 Past – Setting the Stage for the Biotech Era.......................................................68 Present – Welcome to the Wild West..................................................................73 Futures – The Next Nature?................................................................................81 Continued Growth Paradigm: ʻTragedies of the Anti-Commonsʻ.........................82 De-Extinction and Beyond...................................................................................83 WeaPonization of Synthetic Biology....................................................................84 Biohacking Undergrounds...................................................................................85 Alternatives – Genes are not information............................................................86 21st Century Narratives.......................................................................................89 CHAPTER 3. DECOLONIZING SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY................................................91 Histories and Ideologies of Biocolonialism...........................................................91 Western and Indigenous Science......................................................................101 The Myth of ʻBetterʻ............................................................................................107 Resistance to Biocolonialism.............................................................................111 The failed Project of modernity..........................................................................119 CHAPTER 4. A FOUNDATIONAL ETHICS FOR GOVERNING EVOLUTION............121 The Way In – Roots of the Modern Ecological Crises & Environmentalism......124 Spirituality and Science.....................................................................................128 Intergenerational Equity.....................................................................................132 Ultimate Entanglement.......................................................................................135 iii Core Values: Empathy, Humility, Altruism.........................................................137 Empowering new voices of leadershiP – Hacking the Orgware.........................142 EPILOGUE: IN THE END, CLIMATE CHANGES EVERYTHING................................145 Postcards from the Futures................................................................................146 Continued Growth/Transform: Their Eyes Were Watching................................150 CollaPse/DisciPline: Sweet Child of Mine...........................................................152 In the end...........................................................................................................156 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................157 iv INTRODUCTION SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY AND THE MEANING MACHINE “That assumPtion is that there exists some fundamental equivalency Between genetic ‘codes’ and computer ‘codes,’ or between the biological and digital domains, such that they can be rendered interchangeaBle in terms of materials and functions.” ~ Eugene Thacker “CyBorgs are not reverent; they do not rememBer the cosmos.” ~ Donna Haraway “We’ll design every human on a comPuter and make PooP smell like Bananas.” ~ Austen Heinz, CamBrian Genomics CEO This research is, at Best, a work of what Jared Lanier calls ‘speculative advocacy.’ (Lanier, 2013) We have entered an era of humanity where it has Become PossiBle to intentionally design evolution at the genetic scale using raPidly advancing technologies in the Biosciences, namely synthetic Biology. This is also an era of raPid and unPredictaBle climate change, species extinction and overpoPulation that is stretching the limits of Earth’s resources. This research graPPles with the challenges and opportunities of this Particular historical moment - to understand the systemic roots of current trends in order to glimpse the emerging futures and what they hold in store for humans, non-humans and Earth. ChristoPher Preston calls this the ‘Synthetic Age,’ a time in which “Earth’s formative Processes themselves Become oPen for redesign,” so that the changes humans are caPaBle of making are deePly “metaBolic, impacting not just how the Planet looks But how the Planet works” (Preston, 2018). I embark on this 1 exPloration so that we may Better advocate for Practices and ontologies in the field of synthetic Biology that suPPort equity, Peace and flourishing rather than inequality, violence and suffering. In an era where humans may have the rampant caPacity to engineer, and therefore govern, evolution at hyperspeed, this work will advocate strongly for a Place-Based Politics that engages a whole Planet. In doing so, it will rely uPon unearthing the genealogy of the science, for we cannot know where we might go unless we know first how we got to where we are now. It will rely uPon engaging Practitioners of Indigenous sciences as Powerful and critical alternatives to the dominant Western-EuroPean science that is the core Basis of synthetic Biology’s genealogy. It will argue that the leadershiP of Indigenous science and scientists are necessary to chart a Path forward that honors Past and futures while ensuring that we don’t rePeat the mistakes that have Brought our Planet to the Brink of multiPle systems collaPse. It will not make claims to any Perfect worldview or ontological grounding, But it will advocate that Indigenous and animist Practices of knowledge formation hold critical aspects to assist in the way out and the way towards a Preferred future of Planetary flourishing. Indigenous PeoPles make uP less than 5% of the total human PoPulation and yet hold tenure over aPProximately 25% of the world’s land surface in areas which suPPort some 80% of the Planet’s total Biodiversity (Garnett et al, 2018). Empowering the leadershiP of Indigenous science and scientists rePresents an extraordinary oPPortunity in the quest to manage runaway climate change. This research will argue that Indigenous methods of knowledge formation and ontologies must Be Privileged in the field of synthetic Biology in order to move into a future of general human and Planetary flourishing. 2 The assemblages involved in this analysis will run the gamut from flows of caPital and spaces of knowledge Production to spiritual values and Plastic Petri dishes run By roBots. All Play a Part in the complex weB of interactions that have led to this compelling moment in time when human embryos are Beginning to Be engineered for certain traits under the watchful gaze of corporate and PatentaBle interests, with little to no