"Recovering" from an Irrevocable Wreck - ethical?

*spoilers*

An accident. Tumbling 140 feet off the highway in high speed, BMW blowing up from tri-energy in the car, there was "Jenna Fox". On the way to the hospital, all her major organs were failing, her skin burning off, heart stopping nearly 6 times, brain damage. Next to her, Kara and Locke, the two of "Jenna Fox"'s best of friends - each severe head trauma. Kara dies 3 weeks after the accident; Locke dies 2 weeks after without regaining consciousness. Then, there's Jenna Fox. Why is she still alive?

BioGel - fluid containing billions of neurochips acting as the cells, technology, and complexity of the mind; BioGel developed from the founder - Matthew Fox, Jenna's dad. All of the fluid and organs had been replaced with billions of neurochips and donated skin. Technically, only a little more than 10% of the new Jenna Fox is from the old Jenna Fox. 10% of the original brain remains, as well as a small percentage of her original skin. In the BioGel, vital memories and information is uploading into the neurochips, functionally working as somatic cells. 

However, the main overarching theme throughout the book is ethics. What is ethical and what is not in comparison to what the person personally believes. For about half of the book, this Jenna is learning and trying to recover memories, without knowing anything about "the accident". There is a locked door in her house, though.  Jenna discovers critical information about herself: she was not supposed to live. Her parents had technologically engineered her and uploaded information into her brain. Jenna's mentality after that is all about being a "real" human, or a freak/monster. Of course Jenna is not pleased by hearing she is not 100% human, more so technology. She does not take this well, especially when they discover that she has a "back up memory file" just in case (as she says, enclosing a mind into technology"). Furthermore, she discovers that SHE is basically illegal because she has tons of BioGel in her (which is supposed to be regulated by federal policy). The cost of restoring Jenna also encompasses making the family move. The family moves South as to avoid federal trials, suspicion (of her survival), and to regulate the BioGel neurochips with temperature. The shelf life of those neurochips could last longer than any normal human is supposed to live. Is it worth it?

Personally, I think what Jenna's parents did was understandable, however it is still unethical. Any parent would want to save their child at any costs, but at the point in which the child does not like their stance in life AND the process being illegal, I think the BioGel process should not have been done.

Did you think what Jenna's parents did was ethical? Is it moral to create a "human" out of technology because of their own feelings, or to let nature be, losing a child? Comment on what you think :)

Pick up this book the next time you head somewhere, it's definitely interesting and a spin on the mind.

~ Amber

Sources consulted:
- the book, of course!