"Margin of Error" in Beaker's Dozen (1998)
By Nancy Kress
Cyborgs; Gender; Genetic engineering; Posthuman
Machines implanted to maintain youth have fatal consequences
After five years of absence, Paula reenters her sister’s life because she needs Karen to help fix her faulty nanocomputers. Paula, who is preternaturally preserved by these injected units, understood the risks of keeping herself young forever: she would lose her fertility, and she would alienate Karen, who not only engineered the nanocomputers but disapproves of the side effects. Karen has three children of her own, and cannot accept that her sister – or any other woman – would choose sterility over aging. Paula fears the effects of the nanocomputers, which have malfunctioned and are causing cancer; ironically, instead of creating infinite youth, they are hastening her death. When she comes to apologize for stealing Karen’s ideas, she learns the terrifying truth about the nanocomputers: they have been programmed to malfunction, and because she has had the implants the longest, Paula is the only woman with irreversible side effects.
By setting the story against a family drama – Paula has stolen Karen’s ideas and slept with her husband – Kress indicates that human conflict inevitably shapes the application of genetic technologies. The nanocomputers are indeed failing, but only because sibling rivalry prompts Paula to force her sister from the company, and Karen to withhold information that could fix the glitch in time to save her sister’s life. Moreover, Karen’s personal beliefs regarding the side effect of sterility influences her judgment; because she chooses a family life, she feels less sympathy for those who might be adversely affected by the sterility-inducing modifications.
Evaluation: Kress’s short stories present genetics in an accessible and humanizing way, forcing her readers to address their personal stakes in advances in technological advancements and applications. Because her characters and settings seem real, the potential futures Kress posits seem all too plausible.
– Natalie Champ