Could we accidentally bestow human-style awareness into a pig?

My new book is called Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful, and it's a fictional look at human genetic modification in the near and distant future. The book is told through six interconnected stories, each exploring a different aspect of our future world and the evolving face of humankind.

As a novelist, my central concern was this: What will it be like to grow up, to fall in and out of love, to discover who you are, when the very essence of "you" might be changing? Pulling this off with any degree of authenticity, though, required lots of research into the current state of bioscience.

That research changed the way I think about our species and our world. Maybe youre already staying fully up to date with the gene editing tool known as CRISPR or the many initiatives to extend human life or the plan to release thousands of genetically modified mice onto Martha's Vineyard or...well, too many other examples to list here.

But if not, please allow me to share just a few of the science fictional themes I explored and the real-world advancesadvances that would have been pure fiction only a few years agothat now lie almost within our scientific grasp.

The gift of life from another

Early in my book, semi-identical twins are dying of organ failure. When one lapses into a vegetative state, the decision is made to harvest the healthy tissue of her organs to rebuild her brother's and give him a chance at life. This is an only-slightly-exaggerated example of present-day medical dilemmas around organ donations and searches for compatible bone marrow, and it lead me to ask what other life-saving contributions one person may someday be able to give another. Read the rest