Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art

Medicine and technology, or "Medtech" and art, have not been very related to each other throughout history, at least not in the conventional sense. Before the modern day, very few medical procedures were performed for purely aesthetic purposes, and medicine was a pragmatic practice, meant to either cure someone or alleviate pain before death. However, this is not to say that there were no historical practices that involved both the medical sciences and the arts. One culturally significant early example of when medicine was used to create art was in the Egyptian practice of embalming. I would consider the techniques employed to preserve the body, which would then be placed into a sarcophagus, to be a form of funerary art. However, I think that it's rather pointless to focus on the premodern fusion of Medtech and art, since artistic intent was not a goal for most significant inventions. 

A Sarcophagus
https://gnosticwarrior.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/08/Sarcophagus-egypt.jpg

I will, however, emphasize the importance of the historical interest in human anatomy and physiology, and its pertinence to our modern understanding of medicine, since much of the progress made in this field has been from the curious doctors with personal interest in cadavers (Vesna). Sure, some of the science doesn't hold up anymore, and many of the conclusions drawn were dubious, but it still stands that for many doctors, they operated out of personal desire to improve the human condition and their understanding of it. Even personally, I find many displays of death morbidly beautiful, and yes, I know that in pop culture, the beauty of death is expressed as the motive for many a serial killer, but my own anecdotal evidence proves the fact that medicine and art are in some senses related demonstrably true. In fact, I would go so far as to say that even the anatomical study of "sanitized cannibalism", wherein the best cuts of human meat are surgically and culinarily analyzed, is an example of the artistic aspect of medicine (Arson). 

Continuing down this path, we have, in the modern age, a body modification revolution, wherein people have much greater access to procedures to modify one's own body to a sexually or psychologically gratifying form. This includes, but is not limited to, the most basic tattoos and piercings, subdermal and transdermal implants such as breast enlargements and genital beading, and sex change operations. Popular examples include the injection of synthol into arms to give off the appearance of a bulging musculature, or the practice of body suspension by means of hooks embedded in the skin. In some cases, individuals severe with body integrity identity disorder seek to align their physical being with their self-image by intentionally disabling or removing a body part (Muller). Here, we begin to see the connection between Medtech and art, as people now start to undergo body modifications in the interest of aesthetics, as a way of transcending the physical form by altering it to reach one's own desires. The future only holds more means by which the human body can be modified. 

An individual who has undergone extensive
body modification
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMcuRbXloTw/

Transhumanism, a philosophical movement, the proponents of which advocate and predict the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies able to greatly enhance longevity, mood and cognitive abilities, is of even greater interest as now, medical technologies have begun to breach the ethical and technical barriers of body augmentation. Examples of this philosophy, or at least concepts tangential to it, have cropped up in many forms of popular media. Japanese animation has a plethora of media that embodies transhumanism; Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell and Akira are all classic works in which characters augment their bodies with internal or external technologies to overcome the limitations of the human form. Other examples come from western media, in the form of both science fiction and superhero movies, as recent culture has tended away from individuals born with abilities and towards those who have gained power through great effort. 

Even disregarding the perception of transhumanism in popular culture, I believe that it is correct to assume that this is the path that many individuals will follow, that with greater technological advancements come more consumer-grade applications. Modern medicine has come much further than any historical figure had expected, and I think that once again, we, as humans, are blind to what the future holds. Many transhumanists believe in the technological singularity, concepts of uploading the mind into a collective consciousness, resulting in an immortality of sorts. Others want this immortality to be achieved naturally, through careful preservation of the body. Regardless, I await the day that prosthetic limbs become preferable to natural ones, when pacemakers are effective enough to be desired by everyone, when, in our efforts to shed our skin, we become some twisted amalgamation of man and metal. Only then, in coveting what we haven't, would we find beauty in the artistry of the organic human form.

Scene from Tetsuo: The Iron Man


References

“Medicine pt1.” YouTube, UC Online, 21 Apr. 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk

"Medicine pt3." YouTube, UC Online, 22 Apr. 2012, https://youtu.be/FIX-9mXd3Y4

Arson, Bob. “Butchering the Human Carcass for Human Consumption.” Church of Euthanasia, www.churchofeuthanasia.org/e-sermons/butcher.html.

Stanger, Melissa. “Body Suspension Can Actually Be a Bit Expensive - Ranieri Paid $130 for Hers - but She Has Her next One Scheduled for July with a Group of People.” Revelist.com, 23 June 2016, www.revelist.com/arts/body-suspension/3215/body-suspension-can-actually-be-a-bit-expensive--ranieri-paid-130-for-hers--but-she-has-her-next-one-scheduled-for-july-with-a-group-of-people/9.

Magnuson, Markus Amalthea. What Is Transhumanism?, whatistranshumanism.org/.

Moe. "Sarcophagus-Egypt". Gnostic Warrior, https://gnosticwarrior.com/sarcophagus.html.

Müller, Sabine. “Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID)—Is the Amputation of Healthy Limbs Ethically Justified?” The American Journal of Bioethics, vol. 9, no. 1, 2009, pp. 36–43., doi:10.1080/15265160802588194.

Alves, Jessica. Photo of Hair Styling. Instagram, 15 Mar. 2021, 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMcuRbXloTw/

Tsukamoto, Shin'ya, director. Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Japanese Home Video, 1991.

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