Dr. Amy Lynn Fletcher
Amy Lynn Fletcher, Ph.D., is an independent scholar, writer, and public speaker based in Knoxville, TN. She recently launched the Strange Fascination blog and is writing a book on the political history of cryonics. Her interests include death tech, the search for longevity, and the politics of science and medicine.
Prior to returning to the USA in 2021, she was an Associate Professor of Political Science at The University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She specialized in science and technology policy, publishing multiple articles and two e-books on issues such as bio-banking, de-extinction, smart cities, and the search for longevity. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Georgia in 1997, a BA Honours in Art History from the University of Canterbury in 2020, and a professional certificate in foresight from the University of Houston in 2019.
Her speaking experience includes talks with the Singularity Summit New Zealand (2016), TEDx Chch, the Canterbury Tech Foundation, the McGuinness Institute for Foresight, and the CFA-Dayton (OH). Her most recent talk, titled Never Say Die: Digital Afterlives in an Algorithmic Age, was delivered at Devmoot 2024.
Amy is the Author of De-Extinction and the Genomics Revolution — Life on Demand and Mendel’s Ark — Biotechnology and the Future of Extinction. In Mendel’s Ark, her first book, Amy looks at the impact of modern molecular techniques on biodiversity and extinction.
In her second book, De-Extinction, Amy considers the cultural history and politics of de-extinction, an approach to wildlife conservation that seeks to use advanced biotechnologies for genetic rescue, crisis interventions, and even species resurrections.