Automatons, cyborgs, mutants, humanoids, bionic humans, replicants, duplicants, etc. Until now, science-fiction alone has taken upon itself to imagine the shape and the characteristics of a new class of beings forged not from natural evolution but from artificial evolution, both human and technological. The convergence of robotics, biotechnology, neuroscience, genomics and nanotechnology, has led to the dream of producing an "improved" and synthetic form of human life. The modern ideal, which has truly become American in the sense that it strives to "push our modern dreams and hopes as far as is humanly possible: perfect health, prolonged life, the fusion of man and machine, tailor-made pharmaceuticals. These dreams give life to new utopias which reflect our changing times and our ambition to release the human race from its biological limits."