Week 4 : Medicine + Technology + Art

 The material for this week's module on the intersection between medicine, technology, and art invoked two very different feelings for me. One of awe, in response to all of the different mechanisms in our bodies at a genetic, cellular, and physical that we have been able to figure out over centuries, and another of shock, at what we have used this information for. This week's topic is also one that is more personal for me, as I want to pursue a bioengineering masters and maybe become a doctor. Despite my previous knowledge and interest in the topic, I was surprised to learn about tensegrity as the potential mechanism for natural structural organization in living organisms (Ingber). I am fully in awe of this field of mechanobiology and the implications it might have in tissue and bone engineering. 

Figure 1: Tom Flemon's tensegrity model of the human spine (SunSpiral)

I was also interested to learn about the birth of reconstructive or plastic surgery during World War I and impressed by the early attempts of Harold Deft Gillies and other surgeons at re-aligning healthy tissue and using grafts from other parts of the body ("The birth of plastic surgery"). However, this awe turned more to shock as I realized that although reconstructive surgeries are still being performed today, there has been a great rise in the number of surgeries that are performed for cosmetic reasons. In this case, the individual elects to have a non-medically necessary surgery. I can't decide if I support or am against this type of cosmetic procedure, as surgery is not a joke and can have serious unintended consequences. Yet, who am I to prevent someone from making their own choices regarding their body? I think the hippocratic oath is vague in this regard (Tyson), since it can be argued that treating someone who didn't need treatment in the first place counts as over-treatment. However, it is difficult to define what someone else's needs are, since someone might say they need a cosmetic surgery to increase their confidence. 

Figure 2: Before and after of reconstructive surgical operation performed by Eric Cerrati, MD (Ceratti)

This is also applicable in the case of the french artist ORLAN, who elected to get cosmetic surgery as a part of some of her performances. Many people were outraged at this spectacle, and I was personally shocked at some of the the gory and intimate pictures of a procedure that few people regularly see on display in this manner. Supporters argued that this sort of performative surgery was a feminist act and a successful critique of traditional cosmetic surgeries, which tend to support unattainable beauty standards for women (Pescarmona). At first ORLAN's performance was shocking to me because it sacrificed a huge part of her personal identity (her face). However, it is technically no different of a choice than the one that people implanting microchips into their bodies or becoming test subjects for experimental procedures make. The more dangerous thing we should be worrying about is companies like Elon Musk's Neuralink beginning to push this technology to consumers (Dorisca), transforming the biohacking community from individuals who have made those decisions for themselves to a capitalistic system that doesn't care about the individual. 

Figure 3: A photo from French artist ORLAN's 7th surgery performance, "Omnipresence" (ORLAN)

Works Cited

“The Birth of Plastic Surgery.” National Army Museum, https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/birth-plastic-surgery.

Ceratti, Eric. “Reconstructive Surgery Before and After Photos.” Eric Ceratti, M.D. , 2022, https://www.drericcerrati.com/reconstructive-surgery-photo-gallery/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Dorisca, Samantha. “Elon Musk Will Reportedly Be Implanting Microchips into Humans as Early as This Year.” AfroTech, 6 Jan. 2022, https://afrotech.com/elon-musk-micro-chips-humans-neuralink.

Ingber, Donald E, et al. “Tensegrity, Cellular Biophysics, and the Mechanics of Living Systems.” Reports on Progress in Physics, vol. 77, no. 4, 2014, p. 046603., https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/77/4/046603.

ORLAN. “Second Mouth, 7th Surgery-Performance Titled Omnipresence.” ORLAN, 21 Nov. 1993, http://www.orlan.eu/wp-content/gallery/operation-omnipresence-1993/derniere-orlan-1-72dpi.jpg. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Pescarmona, Denee. “The Performances/Surgeries.” English 114EM: Women Writers, 1650-1760, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2003, http://oldsite.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/ecook/courses/eng114em/surgeries.htm.

SunSpiral, Vytas. “Tom Flemon’s Tensegrity Model of the Spine.” Being Human, 27 Apr. 2010, https://www.magicalrobot.org/BeingHuman/2010/04/introduction-to-biotensegrity. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Tyson, Peter. “The Hippocratic Oath Today.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 27 Mar. 2001, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hippocratic-oath-today/.