Abstract

In 1962, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and transformed into Spider-Man; in 2000, Peter Parker was bitten by a genetically modified spider and transformed into Spider-Man. What does this change in scientific representation mean? This paper reflects a little on this question to suggest that, whilst in one way it is an indication of the cultural penetration of ‘gene talk’ – that is, the rhetoric of the genetic determination of the whole of life – in another way it means nothing of any particular significance at all.