The articles, essays, and book reviews of Nicols Fox have appeared in a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Ruminator Review. She has also written regularly for The Economist and is the author of Spoiled, a journalistic perspective of emerging foodborne diseases (1997) and It Was Probably Something You Ate (1999). She lives on the coast of Maine.
From the cars we drive to the instant messages we receive, from debate about genetically modified foods to astonishing strides in cloning, robotics, and nanotechnology, it would be hard to deny technology's powerful grip on our lives. To stop and ask whether this digitized, implanted reality is quite what we had in mind when we opted for progress, or to ask if we might not be creating more problems than we solve, is likely to peg us as hopelessly backward or suspiciously eccentric.