Krendel Alexandra, Ryder Mike
Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, University of Southampton Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Southampton, UK.
Marketing, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster, UK
Med Humanit. 2025 Mar 26. doi: 10.1136/medhum-2024-013207.
In this paper, we explore how members of the public invoke science fiction tropes and references in response to the topic of complete ectogenesis (where the entire development of a fetus takes place outside of the human body in an artificial womb environment) and, to a lesser extent, genome editing. This paper addresses a critical research gap as fiction is central to how the public make sense of new technologies. This research is timely, as human clinical trials of artificial placenta and womb technology are expected to start within the next few years. We argue that gauging public opinion on this technology is a critical early step in understanding how the public might respond to such new technologies, should they become available in the near future and be presented in a particular fashion.Using corpus linguistic techniques, we analysed a large dataset of 15 548 YouTube comments (382 057 words) made in response to a video that depicts a fictional artificial womb facility, which went viral in December 2022 when some viewers believed it to be real. We identified several statistically significant trends, as commenters associated the video with science fiction, horror and dystopian fiction, while also making specific reference to , and (Clone Wars). These observations reveal how popular science fiction narratives serve as a key point of reference and that they stand as a powerful warning in the public imagination, and as a potential barrier to public acceptance of new reproductive technologies-despite the potential benefits for social justice and reproductive rights. Our findings therefore have implications for how scientific developments are communicated to the general public.
在本文中，我们探讨了公众如何援引科幻元素和典故来回应完全体外妊娠（即胎儿的整个发育过程在人造子宫环境中于人体外进行）这一话题，在较小程度上也涉及基因编辑。本文填补了一个关键的研究空白，因为科幻小说对于公众理解新技术至关重要。这项研究很及时，因为人造胎盘和子宫技术的人体临床试验预计将在未来几年内启动。我们认为，评估公众对这项技术的看法是了解公众在不久的将来新技术出现并以特定方式呈现时可能如何反应的关键早期步骤。我们使用语料库语言学技术，分析了一个包含15548条YouTube评论（382057个单词）的大型数据集，这些评论是针对一个描绘虚构人造子宫设施的视频做出的，该视频在2022年12月疯传，当时一些观众认为它是真实的。我们确定了几个具有统计学意义的趋势，评论者将该视频与科幻、恐怖和反乌托邦小说联系起来，同时还特别提及了《银翼杀手》《异形》和《克隆战争》。这些观察结果揭示了流行科幻叙事如何作为一个关键的参考点，它们在公众想象中是一个有力的警示，并且是公众接受新生殖技术的潜在障碍——尽管这些技术对社会正义和生殖权利可能有好处。因此，我们的研究结果对于科学发展如何向公众传播具有启示意义。
