[Nettime-bold] Diversity.com/Population.gov - Eugene Thacker

[diane ludin <duras@thing.net>]

Diversity.com/Population.gov

    by Eugene Thacker [maldoror@eden.rutgers.edu]


    A Tsunami of Data
    When, in the early 1990s, the U.S. government-funded Human Genome
Diversity
    Project (HGDP) drafted plans for a genetic database of some 4,000 to
8,000
    distinct ethnic populations, it was met with a great deal of
controversy and
    criticism. The stakes were raised even more when it was discovered
that the
    HGDP had proposals for the patenting of the cell lines from several
members of
    indigenous populations, all without those members or communities
informed
    consent. Due to the interventions by such groups as the Rural
Advancement
    Foundation International (RAFI), the HGDP was forced to drop three
of its
    patents. In 1996 it provided a testimony to the U.S. National
Research Council
    and has since drafted a document of "Model Ethical Protocols" for
research,
    which emphasizes informed consent and cultural-ethical negotiation.
Since that
    time, however, the HGDP has been conspicuously silent (it is now
based at
    Stanford University, as the Morris Institute for Population
Studies), and, despite
    the flurry of news items and press releases relating to the various
genome
    mapping endeavors around the world --both government and corporate
    sponsored--there has been relatively no news or updates on the
progress of the
    HGDP's original plans.

    Much of this curious disappearing act has to do, certainly, with the
bioethical
    conundrums in which the HGDP has been involved, as well as with the
    combination of vocal critics such as RAFI, and the HGDP's having
been marked
    by the media and dubbed by its critics as "the vampire project."
However, while
    the HGDP as an organization may have slipped from science headlines,
the
    issues and problems associated with it have not. Another, parallel
development
    within biotech and genetics has emerged, which has more or less
taken up the
    "diversity problem" which the HGDP had dealt with in the 1990s:
bioinformatics.
    Bioinformatics involves the use of computer and networking
technologies in the
    organization of updated, networked, and interactive genomic
databases being
    used by research institutions, the biotech industry, medical
genetics, and the
    pharmaceutical industry. Bioinformatics signals an important
development in the
    increasing computerization of "wet" biotech research, creating an
abstract level
    where bioinformatics can form relationships between bioscientific
approaches to
    diversity and the fluctuations of the biotech economy. A driving
economic force
    is finance capital, bolstered from within by a wide range of "future
promises"
    from biotech research (software-based gene discovery, data mining,
genetic
    drugs, and so on). The emphasis we are witnessing now in "digital
capitalism,"
    to use Dan Schiller's term, is an intersection of economic systems
with
    information technology. As Michael Dawson and John Bellamy Foster
show, this
    trend leads to an emphasis on a "total marketing strategy" that is
highly
    diversified: consumer profiling, individualized marketing,
"narrowcasting,"
    "push-media" and so on. Such trends are transforming biotech
research as well.
    More often than not, the future of a research field within biotech
can flourish or
    perish depending on the tides of stock values. In turn, those stock
values are
    directly tied to the proclaimed successes or failures of clinical
trials or research
    results. Most of the stock value of the biotech industry is an
example of what
    Catherine Waldby calls "biovalue": either being able to produce
valuable
    research results that can be transformed into products (such as
genetic-based
    drugs or therapies), or the ability to take research and mobilize it
within a
    product development pipeline (mostly within the domain of the
pharmaceutical
    industry).

    These trends are worth pointing out, because they draw our attention
to the
    ways in which race, economics, and genomics are mediated by
information
    technologies. Genomics--the technologically-assisted study of the
total DNA, or
    genome, of organisms--currently commands a significant part of the
biotech
    industry's attention. In economic as well as scientific terms,
genomics has, for
    some years, promised to become the foundation upon which the
possibility of a
    future medical genetics and pharmacogenomics would be based. As a
way of
    providing a backdrop for Diane Ludin's project, "Harvesting the
Net," what I
    would like to do here is to outline some of the linkages between
biotech as an
    increasingly corporate-managed field, and the emphasis within
genomics
    programs on diversification. Such research programs, which highlight
types of
    "genetic difference," demonstrate the extent to which culture and
biology are
    often con-fused, as well as the extent to which both ethnicity and
race are
    compelled to accommodate the structures of informatics.

    [continued:]
    http://www.walkerart.org/gallery9/ludin/


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