Future Human Symposium

There is a need to rework the codes of science museums to confront the past and future possibilities of human evolution. The manner in which the history of evolution is presented leads museum visitors to interpret human evolution as progress toward perfection. I seek to fold back into museum spaces this problematic meeting of evolution and perfection. Scientific exhibitions need to foster the vital educational experiences of theoretical debate, the discussion of controversies, and the admission that science is malleable—morphing and changing with time. Research, technology and values will forever be entangled with our new abilities to genetically modify our own bodies. Forum environments within museums will allow the public to straddle the border between an array of political, ethical and scientific paradigms and to recognize that there are greater, richer truths within and beyond simple factual data. These truths are complex and dynamic, nearly infinite in number, and often incommensurable.