Check out this fabulous, funky produce! Would you buy one of these if you saw it in your neighborhood supermarket? These imperfect but beautiful fruits and veggies are the subjects of Uli Westphal's mutatoproject, which celebrates nature's oddities and diversity as our society continues to strive towards standardized, season-less produce. Though I'm sure I enjoy many genetically modified fruits and vegetables without my knowledge, I think it's so important that we seek to retain at least some of the mystery of Mother Nature's intentions.
Nothing emphasized this to me more than my recent read of Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. This is my second time reading Atwood's dystopic novel about a world driven by (and eventually destroyed by) the exaltation of bioengineering and technological innovation and it still gives me shivers.
"When any civilization is dust and ashes," he said, "art is all that's
left over. Images, words, music. Imaginative structures.
Meaning--human meaning, that is--is defined by them."
- Jimmy, Oryx and Crake
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