@article{ahip 656, author = {Sean Fitzgerald}, title = {Encouraging Discussion of Science and Technology Futures through Practice-Led Research}, volume = {1}, year = {2020}, url = {https://www.anthropocenes.net/article/id/656/}, issue = {1}, doi = {10.16997/ahip.13}, abstract = {<p>A version of this paper and associated short experimental film were presented and screened at the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) Conference: <em>Media Interactions and Environments</em>, University of Brighton, 8–10 January 2020. The refocused paper now presents a full copy of the original speculative fiction which examines an imagined physical creation of a synthetic-organic hybrid that could signal the end of the Anthropocene. The speculative fiction, ‘NUCA: Beginnings <em>in vivo</em>,’ is set against the environments of genetic manipulation, human endeavour and synthetic biology, and the ambition to design a non-natural gene-selecting intelligence to rival the four-billion-year experiment that has produced twenty-first century <em>Homo sapiens</em>. The context, ideas and practice-led research are delivered through the fiction, along with the short film, <em>NUCA: Next Universal Common Ancestor</em>.</p>}, month = {5}, pages = {9}, keywords = {creative practice,science communication,speculative fiction,practice-as-research,science-as-fiction}, issn = {2633-4321}, publisher={University of Westminster Press}, journal = {Anthropocenes – Human, Inhuman, Posthuman} }