Contents   Opinion • I am not a hero By Albert Britt Robillard 1. Shattered ideals • The body jigsaw Philippe Liotard • Advertising, my mirror Interview with Christian Blachas • In and out of slavery Nicholas Mirzoeff • India’s wings of desire Shreedar Rajan 2. Passing rites • The sirens of Tokyo Muriel Jolivet • The rise and fall of the South African “six-pack” Thokozani Xaba • Minding the muscle tone Martin Gambarotta • China’s timid coming out Stéphanie Ollivier • The passing of bodily seasons Soumaya Naamane Guessous • “Taking the dress” Khadi Diallo 3. Escaping destiny • Illusions, scalpels and stereotypes Sander L.Gilman • Under the sun, under the knife Rakel Sosa • Beauty and the blind Georgina Kleege • The organ of last resort Nancy Scheper-Hughes • The knot in the brain A.C. Grayling • A release from life Wybo Algra • A lunchbox for longevity Ivan Briscoe 4. Cyberspecies • Teflon under my skin Marc Millanvoye • Goodbye biology, hello software Interview with Ray Kurzweil Beauty and dreams of perfection… the new body shop Dossier concept and co-ordination by Ivan Briscoe, Cynthia Guttman and Amy Otchet, UNESCO Courier journalists The cultural corsets confining our views of the human body no longer fit in a world engulfed by Aids and global advertising. From the former freedom fighter in South Africa to the Tokyo fashion victim, individuals are struggling to redefine what it means to be a “real” man or woman. Each advance in the operating theatre brings us closer to the dream of physical transformation—the promise and curse of modernity. Aspiring beauty queens flock to Venezuela’s cosmetic surgeons while Indian peasants sell their kidneys to make ends meet. Meanwhile, cyberpunks slip computer chips under their skin, anticipating the next leap in evolution. © Jacques Prayer/Gamma, Paris • Stephen Lock/FSP/Gamma, Paris • Victor de Schwanberg/SPL/ Cosmos, Paris