Traditional science looks to the future as part of its brief. It is looking inevitably forward to the new, to the discovery not yet anticipated, to the experiment that will test out a new idea. FutureNatural is a book that expresses this desire, but in a wider context of culture and society.(1) While the idea of 'nature' has shifted over the millennia, science now seems to be playing a leading role in carving out the kind of future that we can expect for the natural world. This book raises the question: does 'nature' have intrinsic value or is it simply a cultural construct? How can we tell the difference between a 'nature' that is real and one that is illusory, given the technological interventions now possible in science? (2) In particular, the modern biotechnological processes of genetic engineering of life forms