Chp 9

Although scientific images have strong meanings, they are also aesthetic pictures, such as the first image of an xray on page 348. It is obviously a technological achievement, but also visually pleasing -- showing how authentic it is, soft looking, and almost pretty. With the rise of technology came about new ways of taking scientific images: Xray, CT or CAT scans, PETs, ultrasounds, and MRIs. Using all these ways of creating images is important to help cure or help people's health. Images both literally (medical) and figuratively (a pleasing picture) make people feel better. An example of this is the fact that in the 1800s, people were fascinated with taking photos of others showing different facial expressions, stances, and emotions.

Nikolas Rose, a British theorist says that we, in the 21st century, know our bodies through a molecular level. At first this didn't make any sense to me, but it does. Back in history people used to think disease came from an angry god, or that you were being punished for doing something wrong. Now, we know what causes diseases, how to treat them, their molecular structures, etc. With stem cell research and the great race for the cure for cancer, it is undoubtedly seen that we are in fact a society focused on the microscopic image of our bodies. People get Botox for a tighter face or use Rogaine to help (or hope) to grow back some hair. Both of these substances work because we know what those specific arrangement of molecules do: same as how now some people are trying to configure the DNA of their children to avoid diseases and create an almost 'super child'. Human genetic engineering means that some part of the genes or DNA of a person are changed. It is possible that through engineering, people could be given more arms, bigger brains or other structural alterations if desired. A more common type of change would be finding the genes of extraordinary people, such as those for intelligence, stamina, longevity, and incorporating those in embryos. Human genetic engineering holds the promise of being able to cure diseases and increasing the immunity of people to viruses. An example of such a disease is cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that affects lungs and other organs. (Wikipedia).

Then book gets on a roll about dead bodies and dissections. To me this was confusing but I thought this quote sums it up "To many observers, the morgue simply satisfied and reinforced the desire to look....people want to go to the morgue to see".

While photographs were important to medicine and science, they are also extremely important to other things, such as forensics. Without pictures of a crime scene, or even a victim, it would be a guessing game to figure out what had happened. A crime scene can bring about all aspects of this chapter: First, pictures are taken of both the scene and victim, second, the body is autopsied(?), third, based on the results and our knowledge of the molecular world, we can determine how the person died. This covers Rose's theory (molecular world), photos of the human body (autopsy), and the various image tests (xray) done to determine the damage to the body.

When images of a baby fetus was released, it caused a stir of controversy. Many felt that by looking on the inside of a person, it was revealing their true identity. The idea that bodily truth can be made visible was of interest to French philosopher Michel Foucault. He thought instead of traditional methods of diagnosis, it would be easier and more truthful to look on the inside of the body. ie. an ultrasound would be more reliable than a woman's description of her bodily sensations of pregnancy. In some cases this may be true, but it will never replace traditional means. Since complications of the body are so...well complicated, it would be unwise to not listen to the person. For example, right before a heart attack, some people report a numbness or tingling in the left arm. If this was not important and you told a doctor your arm hurt, looking inside the arm would be pointless.

Then the book talks about race and DNA. The TIME magazine cover of a woman who is 15% Anglo-saxon, 17.5% Middle Eastern, 17.5% African, 7.5% Asian, 35% Southern European, and 7.5% Hispanic (computer generated) is said to be the future/new face of America. I think this is interesting, because it does seem like it will eventually be inevitable.

Lastly, science is being used in advertisement images to promote drugs/medicines. These ads attempt to show how people will feel after taking the medicine.