Biotechnological Luxury and the Ageing Body: Neuralink and 'Forever'

Abstract

This paper develops a critique of the Neuralink brain-computer interface as an intended general population device through a reading of the short story 'Forever' (2020) by xenofeminist theorist and author Amy Ireland. It explores the co-constitutive relationship between ageing and technology, in which technologies are shaped by ideas about ageing, and ideas about ageing are shaped by technologies, through the figure of the 'grey cyborg.' By pairing literary analysis with a science and technology studies (STS) perspective, it examines how the ageing body is shaped through culture and technology. It focuses on the speculation that Neuralink will eventually contribute to 'unlocking human potential' through the preservation and enhancement of the human brain. The ideological framework that underwrites Neuralink is contrasted with the portrayal of a de-ageing technology in 'Forever.' This story centres a conflict between a wealthy male gerontocrat who has been 'de-aged,' and grey-haired female anti-immortality operatives that sabotage the technological gerontocracy infrastructure. Through my reading of this text as xenofeminist theory-fiction, I interpret the sabotage as directed not towards the material technology but instead the systemic power disparities that it risks entrenching. I argue that the story's network of ageing anti-immortality activists represents a feminist posthumanism capable of politicising the application of technologies such as Neuralink as a consumer device. By contextualising 'Forever' and Neuralink together, this paper challenges prevalent narratives about ageing and demonstrates how xenofeminist theory offers new possibilities for situating ageing with technology within broader critical understandings of bodies, technologies and their interfaces.