In 1980, the Supreme Court determined that a genetically modified organism was patentable. Ten years later, the California Supreme Court ruled that a person did not have ownership rights in his cells. Both cases were crucial for the development of biotechnology as a multibillion dollar business. Both also contributed to changing conceptions of the human and of life itself. This chapter chronicles legal and political efforts to resolve the hazy definitions of life and the human as they move through the mainstream media and popular culture and contribute to an emerging narrative of humanity for a global age.