Talbar – Self-optimization, healthcare, and boundaries

How do healthcare, self-optimization, and the beauty industry intersect, and whose bodies actually benefit from technology?

We start with the theme “The Body and Technology” and the medical technology developments that have made the body transparent, measurable, and controllable: X-rays, intensive care, transplants, and advanced diagnostics. This has affected both the boundary between life and death and our ideas about what constitutes a “normal” body.

In the talk, we link this to today's culture of self-optimization. We talk about how many people today log their sleep, heart rate, and steps, exercise, and try medicines and preparations to influence both their health and appearance. The focus is on the borderland between healthcare, optimization, the beauty industry, and abuse, and on how class, gender, and ethnicity determine who receives good care, who can “fine-tune” their bodies, and who is left out.