Ecological Amnesia and the Path to Ecocide: Biotechnological Practices in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56062/Keywords:
Biotechnology, Ecological Amnesia, Ecocide, Transhumanism, Genetic Engineering, Biocapitalism, Oryx and CrakeAbstract
Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake predominantly represents transhumanist biotechnological practices through corporate laboratories to eradicate human limitations. Such Corporate biotechnological practices create ecological amnesia. This refers to the lack of ecological wisdom and awareness when creating artificial species in corporate laboratories. It ignores the interconnectedness of humans, animals, and plants to maintain a balanced ecosystem. Drawing on Rosi Braidotti’s critical posthumanism, N. Katherine Hayles’ notion of disembodied information, Techno-Humanism: Requiem for the Cyborg by Timothy Lenoir, and Isabelle Stengers’ slow science, the studies trace a causal pathway. Initially, Oryx and Crake presents engineered species such as Pigoons, ChickieNobs, and Crakers that lack evolutionary lineage, making them patentable and functional entities. This paper examines the consequences of ecological erasure on ecosystems, resulting to the fragile simulated environment. This ultimately leads to ecocide. To address the potential risks caused by corporate biotechnology. The research also analyses the 2025 IUCN synthetic biology policy, the Nagoya Protocol, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Policy and proposes a normative ethical framework called ecological memory ethics. This paper not only predicts the possible warning of transhumanist biotechnology but also offers an ethical framework for maintaining long-term ecological accountability.
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