New Options and Identities: Body Enhancement in Science Fiction Narrative

Abstract

Science-fiction has been defined in many ways, but in this chapter priority is given Isaac Asimov’s vision which examines human responses to changes in science and technology. In this context the text uses various examples of science-fiction narratives related to the enhancement or modification of the human body for achieving specific objectives (for example, the augmented combat effectiveness of military personnel or the colonisation of new worlds). The possibility of changes or improvements to democracy and governance are analyzed and the implications of body enhancement in this sense are examined critically centered especially on the concept of “cyborg” and the use of all kinds of implants which was very prevalent in the science-fiction of the 1980s in the so-called “cyberpunk” movement.