Most cultural critics acknowledge that developments in so-called “GRIN” technologies—genetics, robotics, informatics, and nanotech—are now arriving more quickly than we can assess their significance for our culture. As a result, the question of what it means to be human has tremendous urgency. Should we realize our most outrageous dreams? If so, which ones? What limits should we put upon ourselves? Who gets to decide, and how?To these “humanistic” questions it should not surprise us that science rarely has all—or even any—of the answers. Because changes that affect our very identity necessarily implicate a wide range of values, it is difficult to think of a time when the nexus of science, politics, and the humanities has been more vital. In the area of enhancement technology, for example, decisions about whether or not to use the technologies are influenced by a panoply of cultural currents such as individualism, consumerism, definitions of beauty, libertarian politics, and so on.Those who desire to contribute to the debate must develop an understanding of the motivations behind employment of these various technologies. It is not enough to ask what is essential to human nature. Leaders must strive to get to the heart of the desire people have to change themselves and each other in such fundamental ways, ways that may be impoverishing humanity itself much more than at first seems apparent. And to gain this sort of understanding, narrative is essential. Fiction is that place where writers have the freedom not only to imagine the unintended consequences of various biotechnologies, but also to fully illustrate the core desires that fuel the decisions to employ these technologies. In “Love Me, Love my Birthmark” I turn to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s compelling short story to illustrate how the humanities can and must contribute to the debates surrounding the human future. Hawthorne uniquely understood—and dramatically demonstrated—that the human quest for transcendence through perfection is usually motivated by a failure to love others properly.