Before C.S. Lewis, before George Orwell, there was Goethe: in Faust Part II, the magician's servant Wagner concocts a literal test tube baby--a "homunculus" or "little man" made without any sexual intercourse at all. This picture of humanity cut off from its natural origins is frighteningly familiar, and it leads to a final word on science, magic, and the coming age of genetic screenings. Where do we go from here? Only the past can help guide us into the future.

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The Abolition of Sex: IVF, Designer Babies, and Goethe's Faust