This document discusses elements of dystopian literature and compares them to real-life situations. It notes how genetically engineered animals have escaped captivity in works of fiction, similar to how modified crops are now grown. Several examples are given of consolidated agricultural systems and the risks of failures. The ability of governments to monitor civilians through technology mirrors concepts from books like 1984. While some modified foods are deemed safe, integrating human DNA into animals remains in the realm of fiction. Advancing food technologies also reflect realities.

1. Dystopian Literature
or Real Life

2. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• Genetically engineered creatures (you might
call them "muttations") have escaped from
captivity and bred with the native animal
population, wiping out their non-engineered
counterparts

3. Dystopian
• Hunger Games: Mockingjay birds used as spy
tools

4. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• Most food is produced in specific agricultural
regions, and is shipped long distances to
people who will eat it. This system is so fragile
that an unexpected event, like a drought or a
worker strike, could mean food shortages
across the country.

5. Both
• 4 companies control 80% of all beef
processing.
• Consolidated lettuce and spinach in California
has caused problems in the past
• When one part breaks down, it puts all the
consumers at risk
• E. Coli (2006

6. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both
• The government has the ability to monitor
civilians both in their home as well as in the
public.

7. Both
• In the book 1984 the concept of “Big Brother
is watching” demonstrates the intrusion of
government into civilians’ privacy. In real
life, through technology, the government has
the ability to monitor civilians, justified
through the extension of the Patriot Act.

8. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• New varieties of food have been engineered
to produce their own toxins, killing certain
pests that try to eat them. The government
insists that these foods are perfectly safe for
people.

9. Real Life
• In 2011 engineers developed sweetcorn that
produces its own pesticide, yet the FDA
passed the product as safe to eat.

10. Real Life
Although still under consideration from the FDA
scientists have produced Salmon to withstain
colder temperatures allowing them to grow
quicker, therefore reaching market more quickly.

11. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• One government-supported "muttation" fish
survives in colder climates by producing
antifreeze in its blood.

12. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• In many agricultural districts, farmers go
hungry because they can't afford to buy the
food they grow.

13. Both
• Farmers are being paid less and less for the
crops they produce, and grocery stores are
charging consumers more and more.

14. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• The government supports a project to
integrate human DNA into new breeds of
genetically engineered dogs, to make them
smarter and more useful.

15. Dystopian
• In Hunger Games, Human DNA has been used
in animal breeding projects

16. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• Food packaging often contains microscopic
nanotechnology to help food stay "fresh" on
its long trip from where it's grown to the
remote districts where it's eaten.

17. Real Life
• Hundreds of projects currently use
Nanotechnology.

18. Dystopia, Real Life, or Both?
• To address the country’s hunger
crisis, scientists have discovered a way to grow
meat in a lab. In time, this could replace the
need for farmers to raise livestock, and could
further distance ordinary citizens from their
food sources.

19. Real Life
• Dutch scientists have created a way to
produce lab raised meat from animal stem cell
tissue