Downstream Regulatory Enzyme Antagonistic Modulator, or DREAM for short, is a protein critical to pain sensations experienced by organisms (Cheng et al., 2002; Cheng and Penninger, 2003). This paper discusses the genetic circumvention of pain sensations in athletic performances and the implications this would have for re-defining the ethical human in sport. It argues that the experience of pain is a constitutive element of performance, though the prospect of its removal, along with other forms of disease-resistant genetic modifications, problematises what constitutes an ethical alteration of performance. Precisely because the alleviation of pain is desirable, the removal of this element of performance is also a desirable modification. However, this argument asserts a particular, posthuman evolutionary perspective and presumes a particular way of understanding athletic identities. This paper explores the specific implications of DREAM for genetically modified athletes and the dangers of a genetic discourse in sport. It begins to theorise the posthuman in sport and concludes by arguing that posthumanness does not rely upon technology or ‘enhancement’ specifically. Rather it is more importantly an ideological perspective, which raises greater challenges to sport than the technological changes themselves.
Key concepts: ‘ethical human’, ‘pain in performance’, ‘posthumanness’, ‘enhancement ideology’

References

Cheng et al. (January 11, 2002). DREAM is a critical transcriptional repressor for pain modulation. Cell, vol. 108, p. 31-43.

Cheng, H.-Y. M. and J. M. Penninger. (2003) 'When the DREAM is gone: from basic science to future prospectives in pain management and beyond', Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 7, 2: 249-263.