Meaning of biopunk | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A hobbyist who experiments with DNA and other aspects of genetics.
   countable
2. A technoprogressive movement advocating open access to genetic information.
   uncountable
3. A science fiction genre that focuses on biotechnology and subversives.
   uncountable

Examples

“Using equipment ordered from online biopunk shops, he is trying to manipulate the genome of a common (but not necessarily harmless) bacterium, Serratia marcescens.”

“[I]t's the biopunk revolution. Biopunks are the visionaries and biotech wizards whose imaginations were set⟳ on fire by the knowledge that scientists had finally sequenced the human genome last⟳ year. Biopunks get⟳ off on creative genetic engineering, RNA research⟳, cloning, and protein synthesis. Biopunks hack genomic data, lining up human genomes next to mouse genomes to find⟳ out what the two species have⟳ in common and what they don't (surprise⟳: they have⟳ way more in common than you could possibly ever imagine⟳).”

“In addition to scientists, a number⟳ of artists and cultural critics – some of whom are now proudly branding themselves as "biopunks" – are also sounding warnings about the importance of giving the public a voice in how their bodies' genomic information gets used. […] Not every bioinformatics researcher necessarily considers herself to be pursuing the same cause as self-described biopunks, but together, they may represent⟳ a movement in the making, one dedicated to the proposition that the information that defines humanity is too precious to be private.”

“In the early nineties there grew up biopunk, a derivative sub-genre building not on IT but on biology, the other dominating scientific field of the end⟳ of the twentieth century. Individuals are enhanced not by mechanical means, but by genetic manipulation of their very chromosomes.”

“At its heart, The Wind Up Girl is a biopunk thriller following a^([sic]) undercover corporate agent and a genetically modified woman – but its detailed, bleak depiction of the effects of climate change⟳ sets it apart.”

CEFR level