On Beyond Living_ Rhetorical Transformations of the Life Sciences - Richard Doyle

7/28/2019 On Beyond Living_ Rhetorical Transformations of the Life Sciences - Richard Doyle

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O BEYOND

LIVIGRhetorical Tranrmations

the L Sciences

Rhd oy

STNFORD UNVRSTY PRSSSTNFORD CLFORN 7


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Stanford Universit PressStanford, afornia 1997 by the Board of Trustees of theLeland Stanford unior Universit

Printd in the United States of ericaP data are at the end of the book

Figure (p. 32) is reprinted from M Tompkns InsdeHmse 967 by George amow and Marnas Y cas.Used by perssion of Viking Penguin a dvision ofPenguin Books USA nc


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Acknowledgments

his bk emerges ut f an elg human and therwse elyn FxKeler thrugh her teahng wrk and rendsh atiated and fusedmy astnshment at and le f tehnsene his bk wuld be mssible withut her. ran Rtmans wrk and warmth hae mrhedmy brain beynd regnitin. Frederk Dlans teahng guidane andendshi erlate thrugh eery age f this bk. Mhael Frtuntaught me hw t think abut raties and hw t rate sme f mythnking. Paul Harriss hne als rad trs and laughter nstantyresue me and remnd me what were u t. I am ntinually grateful frAital Rnes remarkable thught and warm surt.

e Deartment f Rhetr at Uc erkeleyMatt Gerge Mi-hael Witmre Felie Gutierrez elan Gunn Mihael MDnaldJhn ShliesserJhn Dlanmade t ssble fr me t hak the ressf emingAadem and taught me mre than I an reunt. hanks

t Dad Chen fr makng the Rhetri Deartment suh an aleatryand thughtful aademi nihe. I am grateful t Jennifer Culbert fr thethinkng and the years f armatin and surt he Uc HumantesResearh Insttute gru n btehnlg rided bth nanial and

gnite resures fr the eay hases f ths rjet. Seial thankst Carl Cranr Dnna Haraway Came Lmges Paul Rabnw andDiane Paul. he Rathenau Suer Aademy in erln has ridedmuh eedbak and ad r this rjetthanks t mthy Lenir Hans-Jrg Rheinberger and Lus alan Rddey Reid has been a funtf adie an nsght and Stefan Helmreih has rded me with ruial nersatins eerywhere m anta Fe t Crnel. My thanks t

the Meln Fundatin and MI a Men Pst Dtral Felw


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V Acknowlednts

sh. Helen artar Pau dne Nathan Maren and Amy atzknexerty guded me thrugh the edting and shing f the manusrt

but I am t blame fr any errrs that ret nt the bk. Sherry rennanJe Nan Dn alstsky Susan Squer and my new Penn Statelleages an students have already heed me ultivate a new set fssbities n entral Pennsylvana Amy Greenberg never eases tastund me wth her ve thught and sense f ssibility Fnay Id ket thank my arents Jak and Ann Dyle wh gave me muh mre thanDNA hs bk is dediated t my brther Jhn

R.D


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Contents

he Subime Objet f ilg 2. Mr. Shrdinger Insde Himsel he Rhetrial Origins

f the Geneti Cde

3

Frm Cdes t Wrds Gerge Gw and the Age fthe Wrld Sripture 3

Its a Nuei Aid Wd Mnd,ab and Lifes Future 6 ergies f Reading DNA Langage and the Prblem

f Origins 6

6 mergent Pwer Vitai and heg in Artiia Life 0No 3

Bibliography 63

ndx


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N BEYD LVG


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CHAPTER

The Sublime Object of Biolo

* Our machines are disrbngly livey, and we orselves areighenngy ner.

Doa Haraway

hs s t s muh a k as a gru f theses buhed tgether fdedbud ad ered as a ma f dsurse eets that hae bth rgazedad dsturbed what s ae tday fe see

Theses

ei a w a KnwedeOe thess fat, a swarm f themers the am that what efrmed the rugh ad agged budares f a sesus the bjet fbg has sehw bee dsaed wth the meue ertakg rterrtralzg the rgasm ad gettg ugged t the muter. Per-

has ths s ly a regt f a rr mutltdeed f we ksey as I hae tred t d, t seems that we eer reay kew what wewere takg abut whe we were takg abut fe1 I tme we weuter the dut but heerg mat f the regt that thsdsurse stellat has beme a rhetra bak he, a ae wherethe u f the desre t kw what fe s bth fuds ad embarasses thefe sees2 ut fr w, I make ths sme am I take sashts f

thse aes where the rhetrs f meuar bgy s u, ad I mare them, tg ther derees3

Is ths a sme auemet f the hstrt ffe see? Wrsestl, s t yet ather bwg befre the eabt f the tal? Smetmes, erhas ut ths teret hes t take serusy the dereethat ststruturasm makes, s my eter wth the theress thatamates the dsurse f meuar bg seeks a aayss wth the

utsde f set dsure that at smy be aed hstra,


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Sublime Object ofBolo

iteay een metahysial The eatins f fes that ganizewhat we al ife what we thik a bdy is fm a whe men f the

nthght and the nthinkable and these fes d nt eae what wed a histy nthed N d they eae siee intat Thsthe qestin that is this thesis: at are we tudyin when we tudy fe tday

This qesti ganizes eah eading I gie f the way in whihlangage sees as an atie esity f the nthght f siene itssftwae In hate 2 M Shdinge Iside Himsef the eliafmatin f the desit f heedit as we as the synedhalsbstitti f heedity f ife is seed as a exame f the disjn-tins and sliages that animate sienti disse At the exense f ahistia ant f win Shdinges delyment f the heti des i whih ne d fs n the ntext fShdinges meI tae t the dissie eent itsef Hee I flw Mihel Falt inqestinig the dent Rathe than teating Shdinges text as anahial memy se by whih histians enstt the ast ana-yze it as a hetal agithm a diagam f the fes that ganizedShdinges text and at a distane feled the mleaizatin fife4I hate 3 Fm Cdes t Wds: Gege Gamw ad the Age f theWd Site I highlight a hle in Gamws sheme f tansatingDNA int teins a hle that mes t stand f an absent bdy eChate , Its a Nei Aid Wd ndJab and Lifes Ftefses n the tema bematis ked by the alizatin flifein the seeign genme Chate 5 Alegies f Reading: DNA Lan-gage and the Pblem f Oigins exles the hetial blemsassiated with the sse f life and langage i the ge f DNAmeget Pwe Vitait and Thegy in Atiia Life taks thew f ife as it mes nt the mte a ital windw n thestita

I this bk then I want t eme the teatment f histialses as sites f meaning ad highight thei atiity thei fes Re

tial sftwae is a inage that I he hes highlight the fat that thehetis f ife siene as intefaes had eets the than thei mean-ings and that thei meanings ae ets f fe and signiatinThs thesis tw:

ei Hw e anuae MatterMy snasts ae hetial es; awkwad and smetimes ndedee-

ed they nnetheess bing t the fait image f what Sla Ziek has


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Sublime Object of Biolo 3

caed the matealzatn f bele"5 Rathe than a mee desctn heustc f the lfe scences the hetcs f cde nstuctn and

gam matealzed belefs nt scences and technlges Hee I cllase the dvsn flteay and mateal technlges utlned by SmnSchae and Steven Shan n the eviatha. Whle useful n ts nss-tence n the mtance f the hetcal cnstuctn f scentc factsSchae and Shans dvsn f the lteay fm the mateal ultmatelyvleges the mateal at the exense f wtng Indeed n the desc-tn f the scentc text Schae and Shan deend n a eesenta-

tnal mdel f hetc We usually thnk f an exemental et as anaatn f sme sual exeence t nts t sensy exeencesthat le behnd the text. hs s cect. Hweve we shuld als aec-ate that the text tself cnsttutes a vsual suce.6 hat s naatvefunctns as a knd f sulement t the mateal technlg f the aum famng t n a cheent and esuasve fashn s that thes mtbe cnvnced f Rbet yles ndng at a dstance n the absence f theum f yle. And yet ths famng veks the way n whch suchnaatn s ften t the exements as the ganzng metahsand hsty f the ject hat s the naatn fexements nts ntust t sensy exeences that le behnd the text but als t thenaatves tht ende the mateal ganzatn f the exement esua-sve and cheent F examle the naatve f yles ums nted tthe mlct naatves abut the elatve value f vsual eesentatnand abut the mastey f yle the scentst hese wee nt meely

slements t the um; they wee a at f the netwk f we andthnkng that made yle's ect ssble

hus an emhass n the eesentatnal functn f naatve ve-lks the naatval stuctung f exements Cnsequently t gnesthe dsunctns and clabatns amng technlges hetcal andthewse and thus ends u stng a hstcal agent n cmmand f heteche y cntast I want t ague that hetcs wk me n the mdel

f cntagn than cuncatn eesentatn they ass thughelds and agents as ntetextual fces that ecast knwledges and theknwes whle smetmes emanng n the eam f the unthught whatFedch Netzsche called the unhstcal the acts f fgettng ntegalt any act f ceatn

Rhetcs ae dagams f te tsde" taces fthe fgtten eatns f we and metahyscs n and wthn scence. Jacques Dedas

analyss f metah vdes us wth a case n nt.


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4 Subme bjec ofBoog

Meapo a ben ue om a nework of poopeme wc emeecorrepon o rope or o gre, an ee poopeme are conemporaneou o or n yemac oar w ee rope or gure . If one

we o concee an o ca

e meaporca pobe of poopyone meapor, a ea, away wou reman excue, oue e yem: emeapor a e ery ea, wou wc e concep of meapor cou nobe conruce, or o yncopae an enre can of reaonng, e meapor ofmeapor8

Fr Derrida writing abut te writing fhilshy this imssibility farriing at the na r mlete metahr f metahr exhibits hilshys deendene n the assed er the reterit smething utside thesystem. hat is the ery wrking f metahr the fat f metahrtesties t the fat that language wrks thrugh a frgetting at the eryleast a frgetting f what we mean by metahr. Our mania fr auntsflanguage that stress the ssibiliy f uniali and erlk the freand rhetriity fanguage udes the ways in whih anguage matters.here an be n easy distintin between writing and its bets bth

are eements f an interfae. he reatins that make u this interfae aremas f wer.

hus anguage is mre than twdimnsinalit is nt simy signsan signieds but raher an enmy f ierenes that inudes signsthings and wha i i poibl o ay. his realm f the ssible is a kind ffre eld that rganizes the relatin between sigs and things. hetraes and traings f this ream an be read ut f rhetrial deies

tehngies flanguage that at n and in bdies ultures and sienesah rhetria deiebits f sftwarean be traed ut gien a mr-hlg diagrammed

One wa in whih the fre f anguage an be diagrammed is tbring t ight the substitutins and mements wrught by rhetris. Frinstane ne an diagram the fres that made ssibe te lalizatin fife in a gene the literal rhetria ramng f the bdy int the hr

msme r in the ase f artiia ife int a xe hat is the rhetrisartiuated in the ife sienes are indexes f a etahr fmetahr tuse Derridas hrase whse amnesia exended t the bdy. Muh f thisbk in fat is a diagramming f the ways in whih the rhetri fmleular bilg rdered the bdy. It arranged it arund a mleurst as a desritin a seulatie reatie ahistrial mde f life as amleule It as did s ia anther meaning f rder it manded it.

hat is my reading f the rhetri f mleuar big insists n ging


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Sulime Oec ofBiolog 5

beyon he hereneuic anayss of he changng meaning ofherey anfe hrough he asenan iscpne f mecuar bioogy. aso see o

mar ou he rheorica vecors ha forme he shape of our boiesoayhose boies whose iness neigence an sexua preference sorere" hrough he gene10

n hor foow L. Ausins accoun ace wh some Derrieaninsighs of he performaive eecs of anguage he force ha maes asayng a oing as in he o" of marriage Derria has ouine per-suasivey he ways n which performaiviy probemaes or overaes a

semanc hermeneuica accoun ofanguage as communicaionHere a leas rovisional recourse o orinary language an o he equivocalesof naura language eaches us ha one may for examle comunicae a movemen or ha a remor a shock slacemen of force can e communicaeha is roagae ransmie I is also sa ha ieren or isan laces cancommuncae eween each oher y means of a gven assageway or oenngWha haens in his case wha s ransie or comuncae are no he

nomena of meanng or sinicaonIn hese cases we are ealing neher wih asemanic or conceual conen nor wih a semoc oeraon an even lesswih a linguisc exchange

The ransmisson passage an communcaby of anguage hereforebecome somehing oher han an aar of meaning or nformaion; heybecome somehing more e bascs or conagion he ransmssion anrepeon of an eec across boies of scourse an across boes DNA

n is guraion as a anguage ironicay provies us wih a meaphor forhis hining of anguage as a conagion he passage from eoxyrbo-nucec ac o proeins passes hrough an in a boy an s an eision ofhs boy he spacemen of he organismic proucion" of a vngboy ha characerizes he hsory of moecuar boog an aows hecommunaon of he gure of a genec coe" ha seaessy anauomaicay ranscribes an ransaes he DNA wor" Ths herme-

neuca paragm of DNA ranscrpion n ransaion sysemaicayoveoos he force of his acviy, s performance s emboimenOne way of escribing his eraicaion of he ierena perfor-

mances ha raverse he DNAproen reaon is o appea o he wons of synhesis ha occur uner he meaphor an regime of coeA he rs eve wihn he shapes an ineracions o a conguraion ofmoecuesnucec acis an amno acisa in of orer emerges a hemoecuar eve where here exss a sasca reguar beween a sequence ofDNA an a chan of amno acis. Ths can a presen ony be a


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6 Sublme Objec of Bolostatistical reguariy ue to the compexities an contingencies of proteinfoing t is ony when this orerstatistica an a prouct of repeate

interactions an moecuar reationsis then itsef orere an synthe-sie into a singe static causal site in its own right that DNA emerges asthe racuous agent ofife. t is this secon synthesisthe instalation ofDNA as the sovereign agent of ifethat trace through the rhetoric ofmoecuar bioogy This secon synthesis taes pace throuh an anaogousregie of metaphor a persistent epoyment of the force of rhetoric thatwors to eace the poysemic an retiona natures ofanguage.

Gilles Deeue an Feix Guattari writing in at I Phiphyconvert this tenency of scientic iscourseits habit of eraicating theconitions of its enunciationinto a genre istinction between phiosophy" an science." For Deeue an Guattari a scientic notion iserive not from concepts but by functions or propositions."12 A con-ceptan empirical entiy that phiosophy inventsis a mutipiciy thatcan only be articuate in terms of its becoming an historici. Whileresisting arrestthe concept cannot be scipine into a unit otherwiseit is not a conceptthis ynamism of the concept oes have a morpho-og even if it is a isturbe one Every concept has an irreguar contourene by the sum of it components . . only on this contion can itescape the menta chaos constanty threatening it stang it trying toreabsorb it"3

But the irreguariy of the concept is il suite to the persuasionmachine of science Here the prey is reguarities" an the stalng of

reguarities cs for what Deeue an Guattari characterie as the func-tive" Whie the concept is a nonmimetic thning too for phosophyan as such can avoi the question of referentiai the nction" orfunctive" is a scientic too that sows own" thought iscipines itinto reference n the case of science it is ie a freeeframe. t is afantastic win dwn an it is by sowing own that matter as wel as thescientic thought abe to penetrate it ith propositions is actuaie"14

This formuation of science as a freeeframe" is instructive for it highights the importance of the framing" of scientic scourse a rhetoricaliscipining of the iscourse that lteraly maes some objects accessibean others invisibe This freeing" of scientic iscourse suspens itsreation to history as we as its reations to anguage For what oes notappear in the eeeframe o science is the technoog o framing itsefwhat w cal rhetorical software.

Rhetorica software" mars my attempt to foregroun the reationa


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Suble Object of Bolo 7

a maerial ineracions ha mae possibe he emergece of scienicsaemens Whie highlighing he exualiy of scienic pracices he

erm avois a exua eermiism as any user of sofware ows sof-ware is usabe only wihin a newor of harware anhis is frequeyoverooeweware" The rheorica" sie of his oube formuaiois an aemp o mar ou wha Deeuze an Guaari escribe as hefanasic" proucion of scieic saemes he ivenive an imagia-ive aming of maer Crucial o Deeuze a Guaaris caim is ha i isony hrough such a iscipiig ha maer is acualize brough onohe pa of referece Theirs is hus a reaiona accoun of maer anaguag a i is his oio of he reaions bewee such framing" anhe acualizaon of scienic pracices ha I see o mar ou wih rhe-orica sofware"15 Aong wih he noio of he fucive he conep ofrheorica sofware aemps o siesep he cosan ecouners wihsubecivi provoe by he performaive

A exampe wi I hope hep cari his oion Firs Gees R Us":oe cou characerize much rece iscussion ofhe geeic eermi-ism" of humas arou he funcive Gees R Us." 6 Raher han a merecopua his ac of eiio he eiin of he human is a funciveha oes wor on he pane of referencei maes i pausibe o give asaemen of wha hua beings R" a he same ime ha i requires afaasic iscipining of he scienic obec he human sofar as humaieni is characerize here as emerging from DNA an am" Weare" is iscribe a he sie of he oube hex. For his inscripio o be

possibe or pausibe boh he boy of he huma an perhaps moreimporanly he iscursive a isiuioa vecors ha mae possibe hesaeme Gees R Us" mus fall away if he saeme is o have ayforce or wha amous o he same hing any referece 7

Thus i is o ha he funcive Gees are us" is ohig a merechimera proece by he camera obscura of ieoog a socia co-srucion I is us ha is force as a scieic saemen is scienici

epens on he ampuaio of he boy ha i heras I aso epensupo a se of rheorica pracices sofware" ha are as ye o quieup o he as of eforcig he weig beween iei an DNA haGenes R Us" promises

Of ourse here are paces i he rheorica sense where wha we arecaing he boy" maes isef fe in moecuar bioog The riumphs ofmoecuar bioog are no only cosrucions; I anayze he iscourse of

moecuar bioog as a ropoogical space where he resisaces of he"


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8 Sume Oect of Boo

boy nerface an entange wth he shapes n orsons ofanguage Therheorca software of moecuar boog composes a set of toos roughy

te o an ttng eren wetwares an harwares an I see ou anagram those paces where the erences n ths economy come o-geher an sp up space or substue. Thus he crtque I attemphere of the hermeneuca accoun of an n the ocumens of moecuarboog aes s cue om anoher pace wha I have cae he posva"boy Ths s the boy ha s an s e to moecuar boog.

ei : at BdyThe posva boy s a conemporary mater of fact. A cyborg mncren vrua surgery a fetshaon of he feus; all these gures arefacts an hey hghgh or ac ou the technoscenc construcon ofthe boy as a ste of a genetc remoe conro 8 In hs ext I anaye anmap out some of he ways n whch ths has happene Erwn Schr-ngers catachress; George Gamows heoogca wor magc; JacquesMono an Franos Jacobs me trave; he conaon of vng an

spea y Jacob Roman Jaobson Caue LvStrauss an PhilppeHerer an a teevson camera; e mpossbe" pixe boes of art-ca fe In thess 2 I tre o prove a way of ang abou the way nwhch anguage maers n scence. Ths of course s not jus a hess; she worng hypohess of each chapter an renements an rejectons ofha hypohess hnge on each chapters performance It cou be sa hatsuch a anayss pays a bg prce he prce of contex of wha gets synec

ochally abee hstory" I forget for exampe he hstory of (extra-rhetorca) nsruments the hsory of funng he hstory of scenss.Such excuson canno an shou no be overooe; t s n fac anntegra par of my anayss o foregroun he rreucby contngen anapproprave nature of hstorca anayss nee of naratve n generancung my own." Ths voence extens o a sience regarng herreucby race an genere nature" of he scourse uner scusson

here a silence epoy not because I n the generng or racng ofmoecuar boogca scourse unmportant bu beause I am ooing forthe rhetorca possbily conons of race an gener n her currentan emergng conguratons.

At he same me my oversght alows somehng ese I hope toemerge he outlnes of he postvta boy a boy wthout fe. Boeshave been overlooe an recas as an eect of a moecue an exenson or


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Subme Objec ofBoogy 9

supplemen o he rea imeess deahess bi of immanence nown asDN. Thesis Wha now wha nowledge" focuses on he concep-ua shif ha maes possible he new nowedges of bodies. For now Iwould lie o provide a rough ouine of he rajecory and shape of heposvia body. To do so I mus rewind my narraive for a momen baco he quesion ha animaes hesis 2, How does language maer" andexpore Gilles Deeue's noion of he virual. The virua gives us a oofor inerfacing wih he ouside" of discourse he silen underside of heacual and he said.

The rua s no hdden n he sense of a repressed sgned or os referen I soccued bu as par of a necessary cearngFor a saemen or hough o appearn s apparen smpcy and cary, s compcaed geness mus recede nohe abysma shadows om whch came The rua s he unsad of he saemen, he unhough of hough. I s re and subsss n hem bu mus beforgoen a eas momenary for a cear saemen o be produced . . The askof phosophy s o exore ha neabe forgeng, o reaach saemens o hecondons of er emergence 9

Simply pu i is no merey a maer of racing he eecs of hesaemens of molecuar biology. The role of he unsaid" mus aso behough and no simpy as he os choice or alernaive of he pas. If wehn in erms of los branches or pahways here we inscribe a em-poraiy of before and afer a ogic of he eiher/or ha is no primafacie appicable o hisorica change Indeed he mode of a los" choiceor aernaive o he presen by gheoiing a possibiy" as los in anosagic pas unwiingy grans a egemony o he dominan discursivearicuaion even as i aemps o recuperae possibliy from he pas.Insead I wan o argue here for wha Deleue and Guaari have wrienunder he sign of he rhiome" where he connecions and gaps ofdiscourse compose a sew of coniguiy sippage and displacemen. Thereis no onceandfora branching of discourse or hisory here are murmurs and shous and scens of possibiiy a every place and omen. I is

no ha hese momens are unorganied hey are coningen orders ofhe virual and he real inerfaces. The virua is a sacriced oher side ofhe saemen he sence" from which any speech ac burss forh. I isa subsrae ha is aced bu no erased. Is races coninue o have effecs as in a Marov chain where an iniial vaue ipacs a whole serieshrough coniguiy even as i perhaps dsappears. Thinng spaiayand we shall see he virual has spaia dimensions and eecswe coud


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0 Subm Obj ofBolog

tnk f the irtal as the nk" f narratie the atal sae betwenthughts stries and ames that gets traersed by tres as in the me-ment f ne frame f animatin t anther ne aragrah t the next.

hus when asked as elyn Fx Keler des whether wrds haefre in and f themseles I must say n but nly beause there is nlanguage in and f itself" rhetris always insribe and are insribed innt ny ntexts but interfaes wetwares and sftwares and hardwareser whih human atrs" are nt s lealy sereign20 Indeed thentagin f the unthugt suggests that the inuene f rhetrial sftware rises as it is frgtten" ignred r what amunts t the samething assumed.

he mliated nditins f the emergene f mleular bilgrely n the disaearane int an abyss" f its initial alues the desiresidelgies and frgettings with whih it was inented In this ase theabysmal shadws" are ast by the abyss itself. Fr the great unsaid f thelife sienes f a mleular bilg that sught and fund the seret flife is the fat that life has eased t exist Or rather that it neer did

exist that the life sienes were funded n an embarrassing but rdu-tie ambiguit the aque sitiity alled life."

Life?

Mihel Fuaults analysis f the ssibilit nditins f bilg in eOrder n ers te stunning lam that befre the nineteenth en

tury life did nt exist. Mre reisely the netual matrix that framesbilg as a siene flife had yet t be artiulated

Hsorans wan o wr hsors of bology n h ghnh nury; bu hydo no ralz ha boog dd no xs hn and ha h parn of knowldgha has bn famar o us for a hundrd and yars s no vald for a prvousprodAnd ha, f bology was unknown, hr was a vry smpl rason for ha lf sf dd no xsha xsd was vng bngs, whh wr vwd

hrough a grd of knowdg onsud by naural hsory

In the shift frm natural histry t bilg Fuaut argues life" mest uy a sereign anishing in within the rganism"22 Whereasin the regime f natural histry liing beings were mared n te basisf a taxnmy that uld be gleaned m a sine lane the isiblesurfae life" inisibly mes int its seret existene by intrduingr injeting deth int the inisible interir bdies rganisms Fr


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Sime Oject ofBoog

Foucau, e come o be a he objec of a orgam' proeco, aeror waed o from deah by he omac armor ad pracce of

. .overeg orgam

I ugge ha h reorgazao of he objec offe cecevgbegproduced orgam rpe for boh va ad moecuar bo-og. Depe her appare oppoo, boh valm, he dea ha feexced ow phycochemca aw, ad moecuar boog, he ceceha ha camed he reduco offe o hoe ame phycochemca aw,reed o a uee uy ha ravered a he derece ad dcou-e ofvg beg, fe" For whle here wa o vbe g wh whchoe coud overcome he radca derece ha were ee o dguh,for exampe, he verebrae from he verebrae, boh oeheebaed he uy offe, commo coro." I h coruco offea a vbe focal u," ha, Foucau argue, mae a boog po-be By pugg lfe o he uee deph of he body, h guraoao ocaze fe e o foreg o moecuar booga ecre For wa he coceaed apec of fe, f o ecrecy, ha ued he frag-

meed ad deeaed ed ofvg beg Lfe become he ueeguaraor of boog, owabe oy a a dace.

Ths lfe oes not exist, er se it is an astraction mch as it matters lttle, aer that glls an ngs may have a few var iales of form, magnite, or nmer ncommon they resemle one another ecase they are two varetes of that nonexistent, astract, nrel, nassignae organ, asent from escriale species,

yet present in the animal ngom n ts entiret, which serves for respration n

general23

I oher word, fe occupe he oereg vag po o heba of ac of exece. 24 I a reroacve eec ofhe orgazao ofhe orgam, he produc ad o he caue of he echque of orgam. Ju a ug ad gl ubue for he geera ye oexe uof reprao, o oo do he remag pracce of orgam ubuefor he vrua aby of fe, a opace Bewee he vbe ad hearcuabe a gap or a djuco ope up, bu h djuco ofform he paceor opace', a Foucau pu where he formal dagram waowed up ad become emboded ead wo deredreco ha are eceary dverge ad rreducbe"2 fe vbe,paradocay, ofar a coceaed: vg pece . . . ca be ca-e oy becaue hey are ve ad o he ba of wha hey coca"26Bewee h vby, fe au a a egma," ad arcuao, fe


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Sublime Object o Biology

coecio o he fucio of orgaim, he body of he moder orgaim reide Orgaim a oce proec life i heir deph ad produce

vali hrough heir fucio Thu, he diagram: he double du of aorgaim ha boh poee life ad produce i i walowed up plac-ig life a ivible, uowable deph, a vaihig poi, ad coecighe ariculaed fucio oflivig beig o a log eher o life. We eehere life role i a oological ecoomy:

Lie is the root o existence and the non-living nature in its inert orm ismerel spent lie mere being is the non-being o lie For lieand this is wh it

has such a radical value in nineteenthcentur thoughtis at the same time thenucleus o being and non-being there is being onl because there is lie and inthat undamental movement that dooms them to death the scattered beingsstable or an instant are ormed halt hold lie immobileand in a sense kitbut are then in turn destroed b that inexhaustible orceThe exper ience o lieis thus posited as the most general law o beings the revelation o that primitiveorce on the basis o which the are

Wha i crucial o oe here i ha alhough he aurali GeorgeCuvier diplaceme of he axoomic moel focue o cio, hepracice of orgaim, hee cio are hemelve cio of a ui-veral, ile, exraoological forcelife"ha primive force o hebai of whch hey orgaim] are." Thu, reproducio merely mai-ai life i i ui i doe o creae i. Ad exiece, while occupyiga diere pace ha ife, reie o i While livig beig are rucuraly

ie, coaly maiaiig heir exiece agai deah, hey are madepoible by ha which i beyod beiglife. While orgaim become,wih Cuvier, ubjec o ory ad ime, ife, a i were, goe o, elyad iviibly a Leriche wroe, Healh i life lived i he ilece of heorga,"8 he life i he virual oplace of ha ilece.

The iial value of biolog, hoe whoe eec ca il be fel a heorigi of molecular biology, iclude a body ad a cocep oflife wihouhe modali of exiece. Life exiece i forgoe, bu i uiy io; he virualiy oflife i i fac wha mae uiy, amid he eemigprofuio of he ewly hiceed orgaim of biolog, hiable. I i acocep beyod he pariculariie ad pracice oflivig orgaim, ad ihu achor he ew ciece oflife Beyod he fucio ad dereceof orgaim, here i a ecre: life wihdraw io he eigma of a forceiacceible i i ece, apprehedable oly i he eor i mae here

27

ad here o maife ad maiai ielf"3


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Sublme Objec f Blg 1 3

hi atural hitory too h plat a it paradigmatic, trapartobjct of tudy, bioog focu o th aima ad it thic, th uuiy calld if tht dw i th dpth of bodi If atura hitoryaalyzd th thig that wr, dwig i th pac of th rprtatioof big, th bioog aw big a mr piphoma oflif, a crtforc byod big Ad yt i cotmporary molcular bioog, thcrt i out Accordig to th Nobl Prizwiig bioogit Fra


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4 ublme Object ofBolog

ca be foud i a deciptio of oe of the mo uccefu cotempoaybiological tudie he ocaled wom pojec a maive eot to udetad elean he ti oudwom that i may wa vie fo the oeof paadigmaic povita ogaim. Fo with elean we ee a eziedeot to completely oecome the mode hice of the body a a iteof mediatio betwee the foce of life ad the coditio of exiece.Alhough elean may i fact have a body hat body i a apaeite of ifomaio ad memoy

30

elean ha bee the mai focu of Sydey Bee' eeach fo thepat yea Hi deam . o pedic behavio fom a combiatio ofeuoaaomy ad geetic too oot i elean becaue it i a ealaima ad yet tapaet boh itealy ad guatively. 33

After a bref rtaton wth C brisiae Brenner settled upon C elega though t s extremely smple t s a real anmal . It has nerves musclesntestnes t reproducesAnd f you ht t t reactsWhat's more C elegas stransparent nvestgators can actualy watch the process of development unfold na lvng anmal under a mcroscopeAt the same tme ts entre lfe cycle s a mere

sx day s and 000 of them can lve n a petr dsh

If the mode body wa mapped aatomicly cut up ito pattei the ew heeeuti o depth aticulated by bioogy he mappedaccodig to a coepodece bewee iteio ad exteio fomwhich ae a itega pat of he aima' eece35 the povital oga-im i itelf a id of map whee ieio ad exteio geeic ad

aatomy implode ude the gaze ad touch of eeach. The body of thewom itelf i a id of diagam with which oe ca ace cel lieageUig a lae you ca ablate oe cel ad be aboluey codet ofwhatce ha bee ed ad what it would omay give ie to you caloo at the coplete eual cicui fo a paicula piece of behavio adge a compee ad covicig deciptio of the atue of tha be-havio . . You ca loo at it ad ay hat i a thee i.' 3

Thi idetit of what we cod ca the beig of elean ad itappeaaceYou ca loo a it ad ay tha i a thee i' aoucetha at the evel of he ogaim Jacob' cam tha thee i ohig behid ife ha a opeaioa validi i eeach. Thu while fo themode ogaim life wa buied away fom beig a a iviibe vitualad oexie goud fo the life ciece life ha ee dipaced i thepovil ogaim a a ogaim' beig ad it appeaace becomeychoized ovecomig the commo cotol ofife ad he media-

tio of it potecto the body of the mode ogaim.


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Sblime Objec f Bilg

This idei bewee he appeaace o elegan ad is beig sems,a eas i pa, om he ac o is physic aspaecy: sice C eegas

is aspae, cels ca be wached as hey divide, igae ad dieeiae i ivig aimals7 This maes pausibe he s ha o e heoicaalgoihm o elegan: Yu can lk a i ad say ha is hee is (emphasis added Bu, agai, bewee he visibe ad he aicuabe, heseeabe ad he sayabe, hee is a gap Wha maes ossibe he cai hhee is ohig bu he visibe, give he egacy o he mode ogaismad is depedece o he ivisibe?

Oe aswe is ha he posva ogaisms viua mode is he co-pue The copue mode cass elegan io wo oms o a iomaio cosuc, memoy ad pogam. I a discussio o he emaode ibes e al's Mlecular Bilgy the ell, we ead his aaog i is moscocise om.

Fr cell a fr cmper memry make cmplex prgram pible; andmany cell geher each ne epping hrgh i cmplex develpmena cnr prgram generae a cmplex adl bdy Th he cel f he embrycan be ikened an array f cmper peraing in parael and exchanginginfrmain wih ne anher Each ce cnain he ame genme and hrefrehe ame bin prgram b i can ex in a varie f ae; he prgramdrec develpmen lng vari aernaive pah accrding a cmbinainf he pa infrmain he cell ha remembered and he preen envirnmenaignal i receive.

Accodig o his mode, he, oaisms ae budes o iomaio. .elegan ae ioaio cosucs o he exe ha hey deped o heigeomes as he ogaizig picipe o hei gowh ad deveopme. Sooo is he ce ise a iomaio cosuc is impoace i his modelies i is abii o emembe choices made by is acesos The beauo elegan is ha hei somaic cel ieages ae ivaia, meaig hahe ae o each descede ce ca be pediced om is posiio i helieage ee. Ta is, ay give ce ca be see o coespod o a

memoy addess, a posio i a ce ieage diagam ha esies o isceua geeaog

Thus, ay give ce ca be see as ohig bu he isaiaio oamemoy o pas choices, ad hose choices heseves ae see o edieced by he geeic pogam WheJoaho Hodgi sas ha hashee is, we ca heeoe see ha o elegan we ae deaig ess wiha egime o geope ad pheoype ha wih a moe geeaized mode

o codig, he idea ha he emaode ca be bes ad compeey ude


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r6 Sublime Objec ilood a cellular auomaa where coplex paer emerge ou of heaao of a few mple rule Wh a uderadg of boh he

program (gee) ad her varou ae (he dere paer of celeage) oe ca gve a complee decrpo of he auomaa caed elegan. Ideed h he aalog draw Mlecular Bilgy he ellCompuer modelg how ha eve a vey mple program ca lead ohe produco of aohgly complex paer of cell ae uch aarray oe cao deduce he program mply by obervg he ormaldevelopme of he paer"3

Noe ha h aalog a lppage ae place whch he compuercolape o program. herea he r quoao from MlecularBilgy depeded par o he oo of cel a hardwareThu hece of he embryo ca be leed o a array of compuer operag parael ad exchagg formao wh oe aoher . eac poehe ame bu program" he program ad varou ae cell arevewed a ohg bu a program ad reula paer No compue" or cell voed he ecod quoao The rheorc of ha

paage pea o a very mple program" producg complex aewherea he r quoao depeded o he oo ha he cell wa heage whch mae a ere of dcree choce"4 Of coure heeae" are ae of ce bu here ha he dco bewee heprogram ad aao collape for uch a aao depedo a orgary program aag elf"41

We ca ee here ha arrave a a habual crpo of brache of

dcree" deco ha have begg ha bee crbed o a ua- ha Deleuze ad Guaar have refered o a rhzomac." Depehe ceraly of he cell a age" he r quoao ceraly waudoe by he ce' depeece o he choce of aceor" Theechoce lead o he eradcao of he ceral ad overegy of he cella age much a h rhzomac example draw from Deleuze adGuaar' A uan Plaeau Pupe rg a a rhzome or a mul-

plc are ed o o he uppoed w of a ar or puppeeer bu o amulplcy of erve ber whch form aoher puppe oher dme-o o he r"4

I my example he choce" or wll of he ce deped o memory of pa choce hoe of aceor whch are hemelve memoreof memore The ecod vero of ur oryhe oe ha eem oforge he way whch he ce fuco a memory from he ar"

eradcae he coeco h ecoomy of ce poduco ad po


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Sublime Obec f Bl 17

he cetraliy of he program ad it tae The plaform fr heechoice i upoe ad umared, a he foca poi of aayi i heprogram ad it eec, o hardware

However, appied o elegan, a i quie explicitly i here, we ee haby aalog he body of he ematode become othig bu a memoryThere i o gap bewee he program ad it itaiatio, othig oru he program o" the program ru, ad variou pater are pro-duced ach cell i ielf the memory of the body of elegan ad ideveopme

Wih elegan we ca ay hat he povia orgaim i ohig but

codig44 It i cing i it ou form, i he ee ha he abiity to aythat i here i" reie upo a phyical geetic map. A he ame time, ii cing i i ee a a verb i tha ce eage i ee a a algori of aworm' ow deveopmet, which i ief he ac of iatiaig code.Tha i, the code," he geome of elegan, implicitly code ad decode ief" Yet wa i he tha" whoe exitece i aid bare by theworm project Wha i i ciei are ooig a whe hey wrie ha i

ere i"

Te Sublime Resouion?

Both he moder ad the povia bodie ca be placed wihi a etatveframor hat w I hope, hep iuate my r heiwhat are weudyig whe we tudy life For, depite Jacob rhetoric ad my aalyi,

oh the moder ad he povial bodie occupy a poiio i he be-yod That i, he virtual cotrucio of he moder otio oflife reiedo e oio hat bed or beyod the pracce, ympom, d deathof orgam ay a uiy, a rimitive, iviible force o he bai of whichivig beig were. For he potia body, the overooig or diappearace o the body dipace hi beyod" oo a ever deer ad evermore compex geeic apparau Tha i, i i o impy ha he acceer

aig purui o owedge of molecuar geetic ead o a greaer appre-ciatio of the riche of geetic expreio. aher, the ieiy of hepurui of a compete uderadig" of elegan icreae he reoutio of aalyi ad pluge reearch ever deepe io he geome to apace beyod he moecule, he povia Wha ad where i hi pace"or eec of he povia Speaig of the proce ofphyica mappig, oeof the elegan reearcher, Joh Suto, uwigly give u a hi

There i a id of circularit o i . The beter he map i he eaier it


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1 8 Sblime Objec fB

o cloe hg ad he he bee he map become"4 Hee, I wa oa, wha way he map geg bee? Tha , ju wha begmapped a phycal map o . elegan

O he oe had, he awe o h queo obvoua bee map o wh hghe eoluo, a egaed coeco o odeed peceo DNA ha aow eeache o locae a gee ad a abou uc-o6 Oe pae, obe Hovz o he elegan equecg poj ec,vew a a oppou o oba a a eve o eolu eve beoeacheve a deadg o a amal ha ue a evou yem ocoo behavo' "47 he coupg o a phyal map wh cell eage

alow oe o ay ha a hee " ha oe ha a decpo o bohhe pogam ad aao. Paccay peag, h mpa aab ad acceb o elegan: he old day, you wee gogo cloe a gee you had o d ome adma eaby ad helaboouly wal ow he chomoome o d he gee Wh he map,you ca eay wa o he eeze ad pull ou ha pece o DNA. "48

Ad ye he ac ha elegan ha bee odeed h way mu o

obcue he ac ha he heoc o youca oo a ad ay ha ahee ' " opeae o he ba o a bele he oal eouo o heoy o elegan, a oy whou gap, a udeadg o a aaveha, cl peag, ha ued wh objec, a obec ha e,accodg o ulo, evelop al o boogy I a ee, oe gamle h coa al o bolog" (p. 3 3 ) Tha , he complee decp-o o elegan ove he deece bewee he vg ogam ad

decpo, ad he eouo o h deecehe mploo o abody a decpo o codg ad mappghow u ha, moceay, wha beg mapped he wom pojec o, he uuaee, a ogam, oa a he oga e a map o bay," adecpo o al bolog." at the map an the cell lineage iagm incribei the en a t. Tha a hee " aouce he ac ha hee omoe o be old abou . elegan I a o abou a ac, o a ea he

eouo o, a oy Wha mapped heeoe alo omehg oheha a wo o geome he ev o eec a covce u hahe oy ove, eouo I ohe wod, he mappg a dagam-mg eve boh a decpo o he ode o uclec ac he elegan geome, he geeaog o cel aceo, ad a a map o u owha mae hg he oy plauble. I decbe wha mae eou-o" obe Hee, I wl y o dagam h eouo"

Relutin ha a ee o meag ha ca be ogazed, o ou


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Sublme Obe Bl 9

pupoe, ino wo diinc and nealy oppoed inecion. Fi we ndha eouion" e on he idea o peciion A hey examine hewold moe and moe minuey wih inumen o eve highe eou-ion hey come upon phenomena no peviouy decibed" High eou-ion" hee ee o he abiiy o peciey diinguih he mechanim ohe behavio o elegan Wih hi meaning o relutin we ee ha ie on he abii o an obeve o ecognize, and pehap mae, die-ence. On he ohe hand, eouion" i ao abou coue, he eadicaion o dieence: The poce by which a dicod i made o pa ino aconcod" o A ouion o elemen o a dipue."4

I wan o caim ha he eouion" poen o by Hoviz ha heeec o boh o hee meaning a once. I i cea ha he depoymen oa phyica map, a ce ineage dagam, and, evenually, he u equence ohe elegan genome i a echnia eo o gea peciion, one hadicove and decibe new deence in behavio and geneic endow-men On he ohe hand, i i a an eo whoe expici goa i o maei poibe o ay ha i all hee i," o eove he queion and oy o

elegan I wan o ini ha boh ae equay impoan, i no equayobviou, apec o wha I have called he heoica owae o eeachThe vey pecic idea o a higheouion undeandng" o elegan,which wom eeahe have, i a poduc o he unpoen naaive heyue a a oo o oganizin and puuing eeach, ju a much a hepeuaive eouion" made poibe by he echnoogie oYAC (yeaaicia chomoome) and phyica mapping. Boh a apec o he

age naaive od o legan, one which, ionicay, announce heend o he oy

Thi age oy i he oy o e," a oy o he ubime objec obioog. Lie he pneuma o he Gnoic, i canno diei i, in a way,immaeia, ozen, imee, and wihou gap Fo Kan, he ubime waha which povoed a eelng o peaue and dpeaue hough iinabii o be epeened In Kan accoun, i i peciey he ailue o

epeenaion o do juice o he ubime objec ha give u an idea ohe hape o he ubime objec. Tha i, we now om ou epone hai i a quai o he ubime objec ha i povoe a aue o epeena-ion. I peen ha which i unepeenabe.5 JeanFanoi Lyoadaicuae hi we n he ublme iuaion, omehing ie an Abo-ue, eihe o magniude o opowe, i made quaipecepbe (he wodi Kan) due o he vey aing o he acu o peenaion Th

aboue i, in Kan' eminoog, he objec o an dea oeaon"


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Sublime Obec f Blg

We can see that in a certain way the nineteenthcentury concept ofife was networked with such a Kantian reading of the sublime. As thebeyond" of disease hidden in the silence of the organs life was present-

able only in its inabiity o be represented visible ony in its invisibility.5With elegan, we have a radically dierent story but the sublime remains. For whe it is true that the abilit to ook at it and say that is allthere is" argues against the unrepresentabe ineable subime nature oflife the new visible invisibiit can be found in the increasing resoution ofthe descriptions of the nematode. or what is ooked at here is the absenceof anything beyond the genetic endowment of elegan and its instantiation. Put another way the aesthetic of a compete understanding" is anaesthetic that nds nothing sublime. Jean Baudrillard writes of his encounter with such an aesthetic that of the hyperreal

reca a parcular cene f a hyperreal exhbn a Beaubrg f ehcred, abuey realic and naked culpure r raher mannequn n unequvcal bana pn. Th nananeune f a bdy whch meanngleand whch ha nhng ay bu mply exi ha a kind f upeng eecupn pecar. They leaned ver ee mehing k a he exure he kin he pubc har everyhng bu here wa nhng ee. Sme evenwaned uch he bdie e her real bu f cure ha didn wrkbecaue everythng w already thee empha added)

The resonances here between this hyperrea aesthetic and the worm proj-ect speak for themseves: the frenzied detail the tactie interaction withthe object the claim to be abe to say nothing more. t is a real ani-mal' . if you hit it it reacts" Such an aesthetic is fascinated and stu-peed by the ed of narrative. Can it really have nothing more to say?Yes that is there is" t is the constant inquiry the joyous disbelief thatnally there is nothing more beyod our gaze that marks this new subime. t is the remains of the sublime sublime remains whose fascination istied to the memory of a story that looked for somthing beyond frag-mented surfaceslimbs nerves intestines baal positions. The wormproject is a project that seeks to demonstrate through thousands of serialelectron micrographs" yeast articia chromosomes the sequence of agenome and the rhetoric of compete understanding that the secret oflife is that there is nothing beyond the surface that there is no secret. 5hus the subime object of boog is no onger the ife that is beyonddisease and the organism visiby invisibe instead it is the continua storythat there is nothing more to say a story of resolution told in higher andhigher resolution.


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Sblime t f il 2

Tus, rsoluton r marks t dsplacmnt o t sublm objcto bology, and t s tsl a markr o t sublm n t yprra asttco elegan In ts capacty as a markr o prcson, rsoluton nds t

story o elegan nsoar as t maks t lausbl to say tat s al tr s,to rsolv t drncs bwn a computr program and ts xcuton,DNA and a body At t sa im, ts vry rsoluton allows morstors to b told, stors about t nd o stors, but narratvs nont-lss. Ts narratvs ar about t contnual and constant trump omolcular bolog, a trump at announcs t absnc o tat mta-pysc nt ddn bnd t word l.

T nw sublm obct o bology s tus vsbly nvsbl n twoways Frst, t transparnt body o t nmatod, tr but unsn, srsolvd nto notng, a mmory o a body, a body o mmory tatunctons as a rpostory o t past cocs o ts ancstors Scond, anw drnc s uncovrd or rsolvd bnd t c lnag da-gram, wrg dagram, and t pyscal map notng I now want to tracout t sap o ts notng, bcaus wl t may b notng, tontlss as ts cts as a vrtual obct

Molecular Biology Is Dead-Long Live Moeular Biology

Slavo Zk as wrttn o t psycoanalytc account o t sublmbody, a antasy n wc tr xsts a body wtn t body tat rsstst cycl o gnraton and corrupton Zks paradgmatc xampl ot sublm body coms rom cartoons. Consdr Tom and rry, cat and

mous. Eac s subctd to rgtul msadnturs: t cat s stabbd,dynamit gos o n s pockt, s run ovr by a stamrolr and sbody s attnd nto a rbbon, and so ort but n t nxt scn ap-pars wt s normal body and t gam bgns agant s as toug possssd anotr ndstructbl boy. 55 Zk strsss t ways n wct ndstrctbl body wtn t body xmpls acus acans no-ton o a spac bwn two dats, btwn bologca and symbolc

dat For wat's crucal n ts xamplgvn t malabit o tnoton o lvng s not t mraculous ablty o a cat to wtstand gxplosvs. Ratr, t s t abity o t narratv to wtstand sucxplosons bcaus tat abty s td to t tcnus o anmaton andrtorc tat kp t cartoon ong and kp Tom av. On o tstcnust actual rconstructon o Toms bodytaks plac bwn rams, as a blacknd, scorcd cat s transormd, onc agan,


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22 Sbme Objec fB

into the same, nined feine bod hs, fo s, the impotance ofLacan's anaysis o the two deathsone bioogic, one symboicies inits abiit to highight the dstinction between the end of a ife" and theend of a stoy. Moe than once we have watched catoon sos ascend tocatoon heaven in bioogica catoon death, bt the stoy and the catoongo on, symboic death defeed fo anothe fame, anothe episode of animation.

hs, what animates the stoy of elegan, given that thee is noife" eft in it, is a stoy of the end of naative, a stoy that, ike conven-tiona animation, both coves ove naative gas and ives o them hat

is, the vey things that make animation, and naative in genea (if thee issch a thing), possibe ae the gaps that make pasibe the appeaance ofmovement and change. Beyond each fagment o fame of a naative is astoy that moves, ad this beyond;' that which exceeds any individafagment, is the site of the sbime object In the case of om, this objctis an indestctibe body that etns between" ames. In moecabioogy, the end of the gand naative of ife, the death" of ife is

ovecome thogh a new stoy of infomation, in which a seqence ofbits" is stng togethe o animated int a coheent whoe thogh thediscose of that is a thee is," a stoy of coding withot mediaon obodies hs, we ead in Wate Gibet's owads a aadigm Shift inBioog," Moeca bioog is deadLong ive moeca bioog" heamigity and sbimit of moeca bioogica eseach can be fond atthe point of ," a make of the esotion" of the sbime object of

bioog, a esotion at once apocayptic and inventive, between twodeaths. o onge abot ife," ife science is now abot the fact that theeis nothing bt stoy, nothing bt infomation his infomation is thesbime body, that which pesistenty etns56 Fo exampe, in Gibet'smanifest fo postvitaity, he contasts the moden and postvita paadigms In the cent paadigm . . . he coect' appoach is to iden-ti a gene by some diect expeimenta pocededetemined by some

popety of its podct o otheise eated to its phenotypeto cone it,to seqence it, to ake its podct . he new paadigm, now emeg-ing, is that a the genes' wi be known (in the ense of being esident indatabases avaiabe eectonicay) . 5

What has happened between these two fames o paadigms? henotypes, bodies, have disappeae as efeents fo the seqence of nceicacids, which have themseves become a thee is" he new bioog,

Gibet wites, wbe dominated by theoetica conjecte" and inte


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Sbme Obec f B 23

petation of seqences A eseache wi begin with the end of na-ativiy, with the idea that al thee is to know abot an oganism can e

fond in its eectonic database seqence, the notion that sch infoma-tion is the timeess and pehaps indestctibe essence of the oganismBt she wi not stop thee the naative of ife wil now be an eegeticaone, whee theoists scan databases and thogh individa insight andinspiation, podce new knowedge, new stoies of oganisms that wilthemseves become a pat of the woldwide databases. Ths, the sbimeobect and body of bioog emain in the fom of seqences and theinewok of databases These seqences, netwoked togethe as a eagentthat the scientist ses . incde a knowedge of the pimay seqenceof the oganism, togethe with a ist of a pevios dedctions om thatseqence8

It is this newok, and the hetoic of insight, that pevents the secondeath of ife, symboic death, as the sbime obect/body of seqencesand ewoks still shimmes with an ndestanding ofife despite andbecase of esotion. While thee is no ife beyond the body ofthe osvita oganism, thee is a sbime beyond, and it can be fondin the new densiy ofintepetation boght to bea on geneti seqences,the new naatives hat aise ot of the end of naatvit, an epoch thatseems to be witho stoies. This is what animates Gibets manifesto:)Thee is a maaise in bioog The gowing ecitement abot the genome poject is maed by a woy that something is wonga tension inthe minds of many bioogists that seqencing is boing And yet eveyone

is seqencing What can be happening O paadigm is changing.One most cetaily gets boed when that is all thee is Whie it is of

cose te that the technica, epetitive nate of genomics is seen to beteios, this begs the qestion of what makes bioogica eseach inteesting in the st pace. Whie some bioogists mon the oss of thei odpaadigm in a maaise, onging fo the mediations of phenote andbehavio, Gibet cals fo a ew basis of naatives, one that nds new

densiy and inspiation fom the nothing behind the massive, competeknowedges fond in databases of infomation This nothing is cetaiyno thing athe it is a newok of hadwaes, wetwaes, and sofwaes thateconstitte the sbime object of bioog at the mak of . ittingy,Gibet wites nothing abot what these new naatives ae to be abotathe, he meey maks and heps to animate a movement towad apaadigm shift in bioogy, a shift towad a hypeea paadigm that pobes

and intepets infomation that is compete, aeady thee


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24 Sbime Objec Bil

his shit it should be clear is not simpl a progressive shit wheremore and more knowledge is gathered about lie. Rather it is a dis-

placement o the very terms o an understanding o le one thatreverses the polarit o analysis rom the modern study o phenotype andbehavior to a study within an economy o sequences. Fo the very ormu-lation and constitution o sequence databases and libraries depends on aloss or an overcomng o the priority o the body o the organism as thesite o reerence or lie This loss or overcoming eaces or ignores theorigins o such sequences and istalls them as what rian Rotman has

caed a metasign an inscription that marks absence In our case therenzied increase sequencing announces the absence o that prior site oieorganismsat the same time that it marks new economies o reer-ence or le ones in which the constany changing and growing data-bases rame the vitalit o any given sequence In the absence o anytranscendental articulation like that o the sovereign organism and itsinterior vitalit lie in the age o postvitait becomes anchored not to

the organism and its will to live but to the constant wordwide compa-tion and exegesis o sequences 6 Like rian Rotman's anlysis o xeno-money in which a utures market explodes to overcome the loss o gold asa transcendental signier lie beomes dislocated no longer localizable ina body but dispersed through the narratives and networks that make upthe interpretations o genetic databases61

Thus insoar as lie becomes identied with genetic sequences andtheir translation it becomes distributed situated not within the sublimesovereign interior o organisms but in and emerging rom the strongreadings proered by theorists and their tools The eects o a network otools rhetorics and work lie is not some transcendenta object something that is stued ter the biologica object th postvita or-ganism is in the position o a cryoic body dependent on the network otechnologies people and narratives in order to l ts promise o a le ithas dis0cated62 y connecting lie back up to its conditions o emer

gence I hope to dislocate it to mark the way it occupies not one tran-scendental place or position but instead emerges out o the series oconnctions between words and technologies human or otherwise Tsdisocation in a way makes it impossible to speak or write o lie ingenerl insoar as the emphass on the connections o narratves andnetworks o technologies marks the heterogeneities ad dierences owhat has been caed since the nneteenth century lie


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CHAPTE 2

Mr. Scrdinger Insie Himsel

he Rhetoical Origins of

the Genetic ode

Biolog hink ha hey devoe hemeve o he dyof lie. I' no clea why.

Jacque Lacan e Semnar Jaqes Laan

Boogi no longe dy lfe oday.an


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26 Mr Schrdinger nside Himsel

Tody e nd reory ogeer omple gene dbses,exs wll oy beome redble" n er dep, rness, ndbsurdw e fuure mppng nd sequenng of e" umn gen-ome, reeblondolr proje funded by e onl Insues ofHel nd e Deprmen of Energ. Ts msse nd frenzed eor odeermne referene sndrd for e gene umn nds s mrke-by n medne, nd ye s moons nd ees re more red dprofound. n e one nd, e genom projes n be seen s nu-r" desnon for eweneenury fe sene, sene s so

drsly mploed fe" nd nformon" gene sequenes nbe rnsmed by eleron m On e oer nd, s nsrumenproje ses sef s onoogl reser One of e sronges rgumensfor supporng umn genome projes s ey w prode knowedge bou e deermnns of e umn ondon. One group ofsenss s urged suppor of umn genome projes beuse sequen-ng e umn genome wl prode one of e ms powerful oos u-mnknd s eer d for deperng e myseres of s own exsene."

Added o s wn speer of surelene nd exsen supd reque murmurs of beer eugens e probem w pose eugenss more o do w e mes n w e ends"2

Ts per wll no de explly w ese remrksndeed, nmny wys ey funon s er own rque3 Insed, I wn o fouson w s mde em possbe s enosen semens. In ordero fous on e reorl sofwres of moeulr boog, I wl exmneno ony e ol dsourse of e fe senes, wose sory ells of en peneron of e seres offe nd e ume msery of e ,bu so e more ye edges of e dsourse on fe, edges nbed byroons nd popur rossoer works. Te neronneons nd reepons of ese seemny leory dsourses w e rse of moeulrboog dsrup e m ere n be nyng lke ner ner-ne ofoneps n e sory of moeur bolog Rer n foow

ng one brn n geneog leds o noer, brn ul-mely ends up onneng o ree of sen us roug wwe n re e eoluon of moeulr bolog, we re ofroned eme w n error, dsplemen or poyp erups no new form ofknowledge w new enooges nd power ees. We dsoer, longw Fouu,

to ollow the complex course o descent is to mintin pssing events in theirproper dispersion it is to identi the ccidents the nute devitionsor con-


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Mr. Schrdnger nde Hmef 27

verey the compete reverathe error the fae appraa and the fautcacuaton that gave rth to thoe thng that contnue to et and have vauefor u . . . that trut or beng do not e at the oot of what we know and what weare but the exterorty of accdent.

Wa foows en s an accden repor, a descrpon of a reorcacoson

X Marks Mtaphsics: Schrdingr's Muaion

loug a pyscs, Erwn Scrdnger ad a profound pac on eeaporcs of e genec susance Havng receved a Noel Pre n9 for s reakroug work n quanu eory, Scrdnger urneds aenon o ologca quesons n s popuar accoun of e pyscalass of vay at I , pused n 9, provdes a reorcaode of e gene a would nuence Francs Crck, wose researcw aes Wason resud n e dscovery of e now faous douleelca odel of NA. also provded e groundwork for GeorgeGaow's descrpon of e DNAproen reaon n 9 as a ranslon6 An analyss of Scrdnger's ex w provde us w a vew ofo s dependence /on e radonal eapors of eredy and srecasng of e, wc aowed o forulae e noon of ered-ary code.

Scrdnger's reorc rees uc on e radonal eapors ofgenecs n s suary of a sujec. ndeed, ecause of is posionas a deane, Scrdgers caracerzaon of genecs gves us a verygenera pcure of e naure of e reorca reservor avalale o egenecs of e 9s I s aso s saus as dleane a aowsSrdnger o renerpre soe of ese coon ropes. For exape,s dssson of genecs egns w e noon of e paern Le euse e word paern of an organis n e sense n wc e ologscas e four densonal paern, eanng no oly e srucure an

funconng of e organs n e adul, or n any oer parcular sage,u e wole of s onogenec developen.8

Here Scrdnger eploys wa I wll ca a penoypc rope, n ae noon of paern refers o e sape of a deveopng and devel-oped organs and no jus o e genoype, e sape, as were, of sgenes. Ta s, paern refers o e ongong grow and developenof an organs, a ck descrpon of e r, grow, and fe of an

organs, a cradleograve ograpy. Noe a Scrdnger s careful o


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2 r. Schrdnger nside Hise

mar the importance of nomencature by his use of quotes and the deni-tiona gesture with whch he begins.

From here however the rhetorica pattern shifts and dispaces omthe deta and compexty of the ving organsm Schrdnger moves tothe chromosome Because this four dimensiona pattrn s known to bedetermned by the stucture of the . . . fertzed egg and because thatce itsef s essentiay determined by the structue of ony . . the nu-ceus Schrdinger turns hs attenton to genotpe. It s these chromosomes or probaby ony an axa skeeta bre of what we actuay see

under the mcroscope as the chromosome that contan in some kind ofcodescript the entre pattern of the indvdua's future deveopmento onger then is pattern to be seen in the exhibited characterstcsand functoning of an indvdua organsm. Rather it s now somethgthat is contained n the coded and scrpted chromosome o onger areecton or even a producton of genotpe pattern s now terayinside genotype. By tropng the trope of pattern Schrdnger iterayand grotesquey turns pattern and the organism nside out. With thsmovethe metonymc substtutin of code for organsm the entrefuture brth fe and death of the organsm s contaned or engufed bythe chromosomes This fantastc and mpossibe twist n the hstory of thegenetic substance must be seen as a fundamenta reprogrammng of herhetorca soware of genetics and by extenson moecuar bioog As none of Freuds absurd dreams in whch a patient faied to dstngushthe bust and the photograph om the actua person; Schrdinger mis-

takes or dspaces the pattern of the organsm by its codescript nject-ng the fe of the organism into its descripton.1

Thus despite Schrdngers care n hs depoyment of the terms of hssummary pattern takes on an essentiay derent meanng as the de-veopmenta and physca compexit of the four dimensiona pattern sdspaced by the genetc nstructions for that pattern Because we aredeaing wth scripts or texts an anaog drawn from terary theory

might umnate for us the nature of this textua probem. Pau de Mandescribes an anaogous sppage that arses n theories of dscourse:

wold e nornae, or exaple, o conse he aeriai o he signierwih he aeriaiy o wha i signies . . No one in his righ ind wold ryo grow grapes y he linosi o he word day," i is very dicl no oconceive he paern o ones pas and re exsence as in accordance wihepora and spaial schees ha elong o cional narraives and no o he

word.


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M Schdinge nside Himsef 29

Tis passage speaks precise o e paern" ofScrdingers move Bpacing a spaioempora series of evens wiin" a codescrip, Scr

dinger is eecive pu in e posiin of ring o grow grapes b eig of da" More precise, e conses e organism" wi is essence" or is reipe." I is is confusion a de Man abes ideoog"12

Scrdinger, a eas in par, is aware of e possibili for confusionwas aenive o e need for carefu deniion, e oers a more precisereason for e codescrip" meapor n caling e srucure of ecromosome bres a codescrip we mean a e al peneraing mind,once conceived b Lapace, o wic ever causa connecion a immediae open, coud el om eir srucure weer e egg woud deveop, under suiabe condiions, ino a back cock or a speckled en."13Te code is us a once secre and ransparen Te idea, odike readerwoud be ab o read e ure o an given organism from e ex of issabe and indelibe codescrip" 14 Bu Scrdinger seems o reaize ais is no an enire sasfacor meapor. Even o Scrdinger, eempora and spaial coapse e is speaking of seems o be undone b arope a requires bo a code and a decoder foded ino one: e ermcodescrip is, of couse, oo narrow Te cromosome srucures are ae same ime insrumena in bringing abou e deveopmen e foresadow Te are a code and execuive poweror o use anoer sime, e are arciecs pan and buiders craf in one."5 n is carefuaemp o aricuae is descripon of e geneic subsance, Scrdingerironica fas pre o a Freud caracerized as a verbal fooisness"

and wa De Man abeed ideoog Ife ad posied e cromosomes ason a codescrip a required a reading r a ransaion o produce anorganism, Scrdingers moe coud be accommodaed o e morecompex deveopmena mode of paern" wle oering a sefu eurisic or meapor fr e specic funcion of e cromosomes wiina paern16 Wi is as move, owever, Scrdinger paces a epower wiin e code and none wiin e deveopmen of e or

ganism Te inserion of buders craf" ino e pan" of genoperepresens e deeion of e organism and penope. Tis deeioncondenses a ifeime of dveopmen ino a momen of aw code andexecuive power."

A mode for is deeion or excange of one mode ofife for anoercan be found in Scrdingers ex isef, in e mecanism of crossover":Before being separaed in e reducive division, sa e one in e

aers bod, an wo omoogous cromosomes come ino cose conac


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30 Mr Schrdinger Inside msef

wth ech other durg whch they sometmes exchge etire portos.7 Subject to chce the ecouter d exchge of oe ee for

other tkes pce through crossover the chsmtc substtuto of oelee sequece of DNA tht codes for trtfor other Echcrossover occurs v chce chsmtc ecouter d yet the frequecyof exchge c be mpped ccordg to the dstce betwee the respec-tve stes o the chromosome. The greter the dstce betwee two steso chromosome the greter the lkelhood tht exchge il tkeplce Ths mode more speccy the mode of uequ crossover'

whch te exchge durg crossover leds to the deleto of oe lleled gmetes cotg the deeto chromosome wl presumbly eor produce vble zygote provdes us wth ter mode for themetphorcl geess of moecur bology 8 Tht s the ecouer of oeptter wth other d the subsequet deleto of or deth of theorgsm re egorzed by the dscusso of crossover at I

Schrdger's legcythe cscde of evets tht ed to geetccodews subject to chce but ths crossover from physcs to boogws fct ccordg to our model helped log y hs dstce fromboogy dstce sued up hs descrpto of hmself s dlet-tte the fthers body of moeculr boog at I thechce ecouter betee the metphor of geotpc d pheotpcptter physcs d bolog eds to retooled coceptul d metphorc hertce for moeculr boogy hertce bsed oSchrdger's codescrpt f9.1

These cocetrc chsmt whch the chsmus or exchge be-twee the pheotpc d geotpc vors of ptter s cotedwth crossover or chsmus betwee physcs d boog s tsef eveloped wth the erferece ptter geerted by Schrogers efold-g of the populr d the scetc at I Here we mght cSchrdger's reformulto of ptter Xry mutto s ths ter-fce or crossover work mrks wth X the costt chsmtc operto

t work scece wht we mght cl the vgo of scetc dpopur dscourse Derrd hs rgued tht phlosophy cot be extr-cted frm ts rhetorct most otby ue o phlosoph's rece upometphor. But the other sde of ts ss lso shows the extet towhch rhetorc s debted to plosophy metphor rems l tsessetl chrcterstcs clsscl phosopheme.2 Phosophy d rhet-orc thus mrk ot oppostos but es of derece wht Ges De-

leuze mght cl fod or wht Derrd explctes s the cotm


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Mr. Srdngr nsd Hmslf 3

ion ofogic, h logic of conaminaion." Ths crossollinaing modlsal oin o h ways in which discourss, l h chromosoms n chr-

dingrs x, cross ovr and conain" ach ohr. As a lay of dirncsrahr han a ool for maning and counicaion, scinic discourscan b sn o b boh roducivly and holssly mbddd in hdiscourss of chnolog, hiosohy, and, as w shal s, caroons

n h caroon univrs, sac gs dislacd, rvrsd, or nfoldd is his univrs ha, w migh argu, is h univrs chrdingr borrowsfrom n a carooi gsur, chrdingr uls or incs a caroon, animossibl and rvrs rrsnaion of h nw biolog," ou of hur n h 90s, hysicis Gorg Gamowhoris of h Big Bangand, along wih chrdingr, h man rimarily rsonsbl for h n-ion ha DNA is a cod"drw and wro a numbr ofoular xs onscinc Among hm was M Tompkin Inide Hime Adventure in theNew ioogy a x in which Gamows cional characr and sommcoauhor is, much li chrdingr, imossibl incd ino his ownbody o br undrsand i ig ) A mammoh hyodrmic sucs

Tomins body ou f h wod and ino his body

amjust gong to njt you nto your own ood stram so tat you an s foryoursf t varus oons om w you ar formd . . As spokDr. Strts put s and nto a pokt of s wt gown pud out a argypodrm syrng and pontd ts ong sny nd toward Mr. Tompkns.Tr was a vont flng o suton and for a momnt Mr. Tompkns ft justas f wr a am tryng to squz tsf troug a nd's y. n

somthng pnd s arm aov t ow t suton turnd nto prssurand Mr. Tompns was fory jtd nto a rapdly owng mass of somsgty ylows transparnt ud.

Th srucur of his nonsrious bu also nonrivial ro, wich al-ows Tomins o fold in on himslf in an ac of slfhabiaion andmaniuaion, arals chrdingrs movmn, as an organism, in hisown analysis from h osiion of a body in h wold o a body insid of a

chromosom insid of . a x nid at I ? Jus as Gamowrlis xlicily on a caroonish ro as a narraiv dvic o xlain hnw biolog," so oo dos chrdingr imlicily rquir a nw rhoricalsofwar ha aows h chromosomal nguln of h organism hamad h codscri" ausib also mims h ndlss foldings andrfodings of discours ha, hav rid o show, ma scinc ossiblTha is, h idnicaion of an organism wih is dscriion or is a


42/188

3 Mr Schrdnger nide Himelf

: I

j' ('I \ I '\

. - \ - " I " \ , '

Fig Mr Tompkn give h ody o moleclr iology Reprne wihpermiion om Gmow nd Yc, M Tomps Isde Hmse p

gorhm, ad he rheoca ws eeded o aage such a coaio,aegorzes he sceic dream of eacig is rheoric whie deoyg

i, Xig ouThus far have sressed he saia reorgaizaio of he orgasm ad

he ody ecessary for he aearace ad hkg of moecuar oog.Foucau's work o he ace of ciso ad mord aaomy, summe ui he chaer ie Oe U a Few orses, marks he way i whcdiscursive racices have cosiued he odyad, I mgh oe, vg hrough ew acs of saiaizaio, eseoogca reaks ha


43/188

Mr. Scrdinger nside Hmself 3 3

coud be ound a e edge o a knie bu a were consiued Foucauargues by a new onoogy e nonera condiions on e basis o

wic i [medicine] can speak'22 Here I wan o caim a uike Fou-cau's objec and period o sudy wen dea became e concree apriori o medica experience . . . and] deac[ed] ise rom counernaure and became embodied in e iing boies oindiiduas2 Scr-dinger moes beyond e pin a wic e paien is ardy more anan ineced corpse a aed barre o e poin no body indeedno ie need exis a a ouside o e aperiodic crysa Scrdinger

inaderenty injeced imseino24 No onger does e cadaer proidee maeria and paradigmaic basis or e medica body e body andie ae disappeared.

Te quesion o e spaiazaion o e body as Foucau as sownis aways boun up wi e powerIknowedge dyad. In our case e con-siuion o geneic disease a regime o e gene in wic a disease isgenei and disease is gured as a ime bomb waiing o expode on adoube eix e ocaizaion o disease on a sequence o NA and no abody can be seen be inimaey inertwined wi Scrdinger's anasicinerenion.2 Bu e power eecs are no imied o e eecs o spa-iaizaion. Te ascripion o agencyaw code and execuie power . . arciec's pan and buider's cra in one o e ereiary subsance canbe seen as noing ess an a reooing o e concep oie.26 Crysasno organisms ae agency in Scrdiger's unierse and i is is uni-erse we sa see a wi be sared by eary workers in moecuarbioogy ike Wason and Crick I is is paradox o scieniic inquiryeincrease o scienic conro a eads o e deeion o agencyaFoucau sums up: Wesern man coud consiue imse wiin isanguage and gae imse in imse and by imse a discursie exis-ence ony in e opening creaed by is own eiminaion'27 BoTomkins and Scrdinger seem o ake is moe ieray insoar as i isony roug eir own eiminaion a ey can be ineced ino bodies

or cromosomes28 course e mere ac a Scrdinger's reoric encodes e ge-

neic subsanceand indeed ieas a wrien code does no accoun orwy is reorica moe was aracie nor does i proe a is aricuaion ad any rea impac To jump o suc a concusion woud be operorm Scrdinger's error o misakng a ex or a compee deeop-men o an organism or a concep I does oweer demonsrae a is

aricuaion was bo easibe and aaiabe. I aso demonsraes isor


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3 Mr Schrdinger Inde Himelf

cally where a ea ome o he eabl o rope e he boo ole"come rom a we a perhap he mporance oaendng ohe wren

rheorca dpacemen ha mae up cenc dcoureThe power o h ormulaon cear noar a Shrdnger' loca-on o ie nde he codecrp npred among oher ranc Crc:A major acor n [Crc' eang phyc and deelopng an nere nboog had been he readng n 96 o at I by he noedheorecal phyc rwn Schrdnger Th boo ery eleganly pro-pounded he bele ha gene were he ey componen ong cel andha o underand wha lie we mu now how gene ac"2 Wha'parculary nruce abou Waon' ormuaon ha draw aen-on o precely he conaon ha anayzed earler Whle ' perecypredcable ha he rual ouder o molecuar boogy would emphaze he role o he genec ubance n le hi quoaon rnyurae he eec boh cenc and rheorca o Schrdnger' de-crpon No only dd prode he moiaon or a mgraon ophyc no he e cence bu alo helped rame he queon ole

whn a reducon ramewor ha ough and ound he ecre oe na cryaograph and no n acua organm Aburd" or no Waon andCrc' dream o underandng wha e " nclude a Nobe Prze andhe begnnng o a reearch program o read he boo o lie" whoeulmae eec rae o he genome nae

Thu Schrdnger dd no n ome ene go awr aher h ep-ode n he conuon o moecular bologca dcoure brng no

rele Derrda' remar quoed earer ha cence ho hrough whwrng and rheorc and rheorc auraed wh derence der-ence ha mae pbe he momen o nenon ha deoogca orno mae plaube deren cec regme and reearche Scen-cy el a lea n par a rheorcal eec an eec o he pobilo he dpacemen and exchange o meaning and model boh whnand acro dcoure Thee exchange need no obey he dcplnary

rcure ha raere her dcoure ndeed hey need no be po-ble" n any rc ene pped o our examplehe becoming moeclaro e and deaeoucaul' remar reonae wh uncanny underaemen ery grea hough n he ed o pahoog ay down a cong-uraon or deae whoe paial reque are no necearly hoe ocaca geomery"3 Schrdnger' rheorcal and cenc exchange ohe rope o phenope or he rope o genope wa no merely reud'

erbal careene" wa a rheorcal paubi condon o molecu


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M Shrdnger nde Helf 3

lr biolog. It md it thikb d prcticl for Wto d Crickmog othr to qut if with th tructur of DNA d vtully to

k to dcod" it.Ad yt Schrdigr rhtoricl ivtio i till fr from th Lpl-ci rdr of th book ofif" prig ovr lctrophori gl toyTh trctory of th cod" mtphor w fr om impl Whi it itru tht cod wr itry i th ir" durig th yr ofWord Wr IIth impct of th pcic mtphoric of th cod" w l th clrTh rductioit dltio of th orgim" dicud rlir w mdpoibl though th otio tht th c of lif w cotid i dicrt uit of codcript but it i oly ftr th rticultio of thtructur of DNA tht th tropic of cod" gt pyd out. I Crick dWto Moculr Structur of Nuclic Acid: A Structur for Doxy-riboucic Acid; which outid th ow fmilir doubl hlic tuc-tur of DNA o mtio of th cod mtphor i md Howvr ithir xt rticl Gticl Impictio of th Structur of Dox-riboclic Acid; thy writ: i log molcul my dirt prmuttio r poibl d it thrfor m liky tht th prci -quc ofth b i th cod which crri th gticl iformtio."3

Yt ut wht w mt by thi cod; bid th fct tht it om-how rltd th quc of DNA to proti rmid uitbly ig-mtic How thi gtic iformtio" ythizd proti w till u-crti. It rmid for Gog Gmowlog with Mr ompki hicouthorto dcrib th trltio" of th gtic cod rrch tht

I outi i chptr3

But rthr th procdig if hitory uwidom Schrdigr ctchri purly i th cotxt of th pt I wt totrc out cotmporry cho rptitio or ymptom of Schrdigrcodig of th livig Tht i i liu of th hitoriogrphicl covtio ofprovidig otxt fom th pt to xpli cully th origi of vt xtrior to y writy itrvtio I or th quly rfrctorycotxt of th prt tht plc from which I wit d rrt th

htoricl origi" of th gtic cod.

Smar DNA, Posvia ivin

I hi rtic Sf Orgiztio Livig Sytm I DNA ArticiItigc?" D. H. Adm ttmpt to rcogr th ditictio b-tw ivig d olivig ytm i trm of itligc Whil

chwig th dicrditd viw tht if i dpdt o om l


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3 6 M. Sdinger nside Himself

dened via oce Adam ao ake ue w e cam a a maea an neen capabt o ponaneou e oganzaon and a

eeoe e dncon beween vng and nolvng yem oneo degee and no o knd32 Inead Aam ague a a wde un-damena and pobaby unbdgeabe gap ex beween e ncedibycompex oganzaon n livng yem and wa camed o be e-oganzaon n nanmae yem (p 223) To peeve e dnconbeeen e lvng and e nonlivng we a e ame me avng oany (ldened) noon o vat; Adam oe a mode o a kind

o ma DNA o DNA a an aca egence DNA poeeunque caacec even wn e mal group o poena ubanceenabng no olya a compue anaogueo oe exceponayage amoun o nomaon bu o anae and mpemen byopeaing a an aca nelgence yem33

Wa among oe ng o unnng abou Adam omuaon a epea Scdnge nde / ou geue a e eve o ecybog. No onge cybog a pobe penotypc meapo n wco Donna Haaway we ae al cmea eozed and abcad y-bd o macne and oganm34 Te cybog now conuc and odee ave body n ma bu lee mmanence ung e uncono e deco o e boad o an ndua copoaon wile epoen wok by pocee eenaly eembng oe o aembypan robo.3 n o Adam ex announce a e cybog noonge need e oganm o mpemen pogam. In a evea oMcLuan man become e exenon o e nanoecnoogca amea puppe un by moecua acine.3 We Scdnge wroeexpcy magnaly abou e le o e oganm Adam move onbeyond vali o nellgence. No onge e a n wc al edncon beween lvng beng ave e ba a Foucau paadox-caly pu 37 No e anmae a wc can be dngued ome mecancal. Te undamena oppoon gven a DNA e

con o nanmae mae eween neligen and dumb en-e beween oe capabe o eoganzaon and oe a ae no.

Tu Adam nevenon avod e demma w wc e begancoong beween e va mode and e eoganzaon o almaeby movng e ocu o nquy away om lie and pung on nelgence. Bo pevou opon depended on a compaonw omeng caed e. Adam econgue e queon a one o

nlgence and u e n ome way moe beyond o po e


47/188

Mr. Schrdner nside Himsef 3 7

vi" The ion of ouse esides in he f h Adms is ol ble ooneive of he ivi of DNA s n ii ehnoog eeive

oblieing he phyi techne disinionnd he disinion beween henime nd he innimein he sme gesue s he exhnges DNA she see of life fo DNA s he see of inelligene. DNA of ouseis no edued" o deed in n w b his exhnge. I minshe ismn wih whih one psses fom one ode of ompexi o n-oe These odes of omplexisuh s ii inelligene AI)e mied in ei owmephsil qugmies nd poduions bu hese

pobems n be pusued wihou efeene o life" In he movemefom living" o hinking" vii" ges spied ou.8I nno hope o do usie hee o he ws his eooling ofechne nd

he ogni imp e poliilh is he opi fo nohe bookbu wn o sugges hee h Phippe LoueLbhes nsis oftechne ndpoiis in Heidee A and Potic poins he w. If LoueLbheis oe in dening techne s he suplus of phyi hough whihphyi deiphes nd pesens iself" nd hus poliil ognii is hesupus neess fo nion o pesen nd eognize isehenAdms's nnounemen h i is onl hough techne h he ogni ispossibe h he poduion of nu" bod equies he nnoehnoogil n be seen s sieni guing of his supus" s DNAisef one boh phyi nd techne he ogni nd he mhini iomion beoming fom" I woud seem h wih his sing of DNAs Aiil Ineigene" he pobems of he ogni n poliis hve

been ineed ino he bod nd h his s no fo defense of heognism bu he fo deonsuion of he ognism iself efusl ofhe pivege ode life in is uni piviege h indeed moleulbioogi disouse someimes einsibes even in he fe of is obie-ion. In he nme of he ognism nd is pui o nom" some whope o debug" his ii ineigene he genome nd esoe i ois nul uni One ommeno hs gued h individuls hve

pmoun igh o be bon wih nom deque heedi endowmen . . The ide of genei noml one f fehed is dwingose wih he developmen of ful genei mp nd sequene."1

An expiion of he peise ws in whih he opes of AI e mdefesibe wihin Admss gumen would equie n nlsis of he heoi engineeing of his ex whih spe/ime fobids Howeve exemeAdms's posiion migh be he possibili nd ogen of his fomuion

speks o he f h whe e genome poes m heoi be


48/188

3 8 Mr Schrdinger nside Himse

ou he ook oflfe" hey my lso e ou wh les eyond" lfe"The rumphs of moleculr olog re no ony ou he reducon of

lfe" o genes;' lhough hey re n pr ou h They re lso ouhe producon of new secre secre no longer of lfe" u of hwhch remns fer he lefovers of Modern's fe;' he posv Ofcourse wh les eyond s no n epoch fer" lfe u one n whch hemephyscs of vl ge posed o new ddress perhps compuerddress n ddress n whch ecomes possle o rephrse phosopherohn Serle's phorsm Cn mchnes hnk? Ovously yes We re

precsely such mchnes" o Cn Mchnes hnk? Ovously yes Ourgenes re precsely such mchnes"42The dsplcemen mrked ou y Adms's reserch s hrdy nevle

or unvocl Bu does serve s mp of rnsformon h hsoverken (or les ken plce n) he lfe scences rnsformon ofhe very oec of reserch n my nex chper w ce ou he gpsh mde possle cruc movemen n hs rnsformon he movefrom codes o words


49/188

CAPTER 3

From Codes to Words:

eorge amow and

the Age of the Wrd Scripture

In195

less tan year ater Watson and Cricks wish to suggest astructure or DN a short seemingy unambitious text appeared in Nature. George Gamow cosmologist pysicist and cartoonist suggested aconceptual mode or the DNprotein reation in which the synthesis oproteins rom the double helica structure o DN could be explained. In195 unbeknownst to Gamow . L Dounce had articulated in roughorm the now amliar DNRNproteins troika but the uestion o

how nucleic acids were related to proteins was stil a ystery. Gamow'stext Possibe Reation between Deoxribouclec cid and ProteinStructures included a proposalthe socaled diamond codethat wasutimately proed alse but his conceptua and rhetorica inuence can beseen in the conguraton and solution o what Crick woud later cal thecoding problem. Gamow's conceptuaization o the coding problemthat s how our dierent bases produce or determine twenty dierent

amino acidsas a probem o tranation played a key part in research onthe code and it an be seen as a rhetorical shit rom the previous emphasis on the metaphorics o templates' It oered a crucia rhetoricalagorithm to moecuar bioog oe that aowed or the possibe expanation o the compex reation between the substance o heredity DNand the ongoing unction o living systems. What I ill trace here isGamow's precise dscursive description o this relation as a transa

tion an articuation that begins with the metaphor o numbers and


50/188

40 rom Coes o Wors

ends with organisms" This encryptio and decryption of life" within arhetoric of nmerolog" and translation;' will arge is not merely

one metaphor or heristic among othersit as and is a strctringtechnolog of moleclar iolog a technolog that retools the depths ofthe ody as a secret even sacred archive

By locating and descriing the dole helx as a se of espionageGamow set o the treasre hnt associated with the coding prlem andestalished the cel as a site of a lexical textal prolematic a pool ofcytoplasm cled p with a good Book rcial to this project was theimplicit notion that this ook of life like its intertextal conterpartthe New Testament oered oe proper reading one story one Trth. will retrn to this notion of nivocali in my conclsion n what folows wil trace the rhetorical software Gamow sed to recast the genetic odyFor despite te rhetorical and scientic displacement of the ody as thesite of vitali the odys metonymies nnetheless remain in a crypt ahole" or gap where the magical arc etween N and proteins text andesh past and fre crackles.2

Traslaig Gamow's Traslaio

n my accont of the history and proto history of moleclar iolog stagger om Schrdinger to Gamo seemingly lind to Watson andrick's formlation of the dole helical model of DN. Volmes haveeen written on this reakthroghit is the st of the heroic history of

science a story of mediocrit pnctated y great thogts and greathmans.3 While acknowledge the importance of the Watson/rickmodel esecialy its rhetorical inene my tracing of the emergentmoleclar discorse on life leads to tacit shifts or actres that took placeoth within and otside the las and jornals of the early 90. s arged in the rst two chapters of this ook see the transformation ofthe life sciences less as a conseqence of a major reakthrogh that revol-

tionized the discipline than as an emergent phenomenon that grew ot ofan ecolog r rhizome o eects eects that are themselves often thereslt of assmptions metaphor prespposition4 For example y hisown accont Watson's work with rick leaing to the articlation of thedole helix reslted less fro carefl progress toward revelation thanom a complex of gender eects play and a desire for speed. This workwas itslf in trn inected y Schringer's seemingly marginal writings

of the 90s Both of these textsSchrdinge's and Watson and rick's


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From Codes to Words 41

wee a pa ofhe afomao he vey cocep offe, a afoma-o ha paced fe chece Schdge' e, at I Le? a

queo ha had, fo evea ceue a ea, eemed ehe efevdeo oeca Moe ha a cque of vam, he chaege o heoo of he pecae" of va made pobe a boogca mode offe ha acvey goed he ogam The fac ha fe o beyod heaw o phyc ed wfy o a e obvou cocuo ha fe' moog he body coud be oveooed. I he a chape, I aemped o howhow oe moveme of h ope oo pace, whee Schdge' mea-

pho ofhe codecp eemed o poduce a amea ofhe body. I hchape, I foow a ma dpaceme of he copoea, a afomaoha, I wi ague, made pobe by a hf he cocep offe ha willhave already taken place.

Geoge Gamow, a a ma, edcpa ubjec movg be-wee caoo, comoog, ad code, povde u wh a aegocague fo hee compex ad jagged dcuve bea fe The powead paubi of hee bea, I w ague, ca be aced o he uadpeuppoo oGamow' aao of he fac of he doube hex oa eadabe body Tha , ahe ha edg he expc coe ofGamow' cheme, he peuave foce of he damod code ca be foud wha wa ilenced o a ea aumed by Gamow' accou. I whafoow, I w be qug, heocay, o he e cdo of hepobiy of Gamow' mode of he code. I w pay peca heed o hepeuppoo mobized by he meaphoc of aao," a wa

h meapho ha eemed o amae he commuy of ce whocaced he code.

I my uwdg of he heoca o a ucue Gamow' ex,I w ug o a head, moe peccay, a be" I a commuca-o Nature oMay 30 p. 96] D Wao ad F H. C Cc howedha he moecue of deoxboucec acd, whch ca be codeed a achomoome be, co of wo paae cha fomed by oy fou

dee d of uceode" Whe Gamow code a DNA moe-cue a a chomoome be," he aae H a aemp o epehe DNA mode popoed by Wao ad Cc wh a gd of he ce.We have aeady ee how Schdge med he meapho of chmo-ome be a coag" a odecp." Gamow' ope hee h aao of a moecue o a chomoome be. Th dpace hequaave deece bewee a ceua (cyoogca ogazao ad a

moecua oe, pavg he way fo a afomao of he ogam o

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On Beyond Living_ Rhetorical Transformations of the Life Sciences - Richard Doyle