Reddit mentions of Never Let Me Go

Geneticist here. It's theoretically possible. Full-genome sequencing is available in wide-scale now, and the work that was done with sequencing the preserved mammoth lays a pretty good path to doing it. That said, it's not going to happen for a few reasons.

1 - We don't have the technology.

This is because nobody wants to touch human cloning right now. It's a death trap for the genetic establishment. You think people are freaked out by Monsanto crops? Cloning a human would lead to an impossible shit-storm. Ethically, why would you? All of the work in organ duplication using scaffold proteins and stem cells is to avoid any kind of need for a Kazuo-Ishiguro-style future before anybody has the chance to do so. We have fertility procedures, but those wouldn't work in this situation. So since nobody has built the research base to clone humans, no, we can't do it with modern technology.

2 - It's a unique and difficult problem.

Human DNA is trickier than most other organisms. Partly because it's so complex we don't understand it all yet. We thought there were twice as many protein-coding genes just fifteen years ago. Human DNA is pretty massive, and mummification is a hell of a lot more stressful on DNA than being frozen like the iceman. The chemicals/processes used to preserve a mummy work because they blast all the biological processes into a total halt and make the whole thing inedible and inaccessible to bacteria. Reconstituting all those chromosomes from seriously damaged DNA is no small trick.

Also, we have a higher standard for human experimentation, again due to ethics. It's all good and fine if you make a wooly mammoth clone and he dies after a year, or has a debilitating degenerate illness, or he's in terrible pain because you stitched something to the wrong place, but if you do that to a human subject? You've just killed your career and more or less proven to the entire scientific community that you're an attention whore who should never, under any circumstances, be given money again. Likely, you'd be in jail.

3 - It serves no purpose.

500 years is such a tiny drop in the bucket that it's almost 100% that this girl is more or less the same as any Peruvian village person you can find. She's actually probably a lot like a number of the tribesmen that you find who have never had "contact with modern humans." In fact, who knows. The Spanish were already in the region 500 years ago. So we already have individuals that are exactly the same as her. In fact she's probably only a few inconsequential genes from being the same as any given person reading this post right now.

For the second part of your question, flash freezing is usually the best way to preserve DNA. It doesn't stop chemical processes, but it slows them waaaaaay the hell down. Geneticists usually make use of -70 C freezers for storing reagents and samples, because it takes whatever biological process might be occurring and slows it waaaaaay down. This is routinely used to preserve E. Coli stocks indefinitely, so it works pretty well. With a large organism, every cell in the body is a potential harvest site for DNA, so you have pretty good odds that on aggregate, you'll be able to piece together what you need, given enough time and resources. No need for a reproductive cell in these circumstances.

tl;dr Probably, but no. And why would we want to?

The third one was used for the cover image of Never Let Me Go (Kindle edition):
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Let-Me-Kazuo-Ishiguro-ebook/dp/B000FCK2TW

Cool to see other pics of this person - thanks for posting

Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go might be the exact kind of book you're looking for. It's not necessarily for a young adult audience, but at times it does read like it could be. NLMG has a very unique take on a sci fi dystopia and it's all from the point of view of a female protagonist.

There's a film version of the book which I've never watched, but I'm told it's actually pretty bad so I'd say just stick to reading the novel.

I am going to take issue with that Brave New World and Hunger Games are dystopian, but not science fiction" line. The article linked to explain that distinction is based around the idea that dystopia must involve an ideological critique and uses The Matrix as an illustrative example, but doesn't seem to talk about what makes something science fiction rather than just blanket speculative fiction. (e.g. According to the author, The Matrix is not dystopian because the central narrative line is a messiah's human triumph over machines in thriller format, not the prediction/parable about humanity's end that would mark it as dystopian according to the thesis. I disagree.)

As far as I'm concerned, science fiction incorporates technology and/or science that is conceivable, but not currently available. So I'd say Brave New World's Bokanovsky's Process and The Hunger Games' genetic engineering in the form of mockingjays and tracker jackers as well as the flight craft and force fields and massive leaps in other technologies easily qualify them both as sci-fi. And dystopian.

So ha. ^Though ^you ^might ^get ^me ^to ^argue ^that ^Brave ^New ^World ^is ^actually ^utopian.

More Recommended Dystopian Sci-Fi Reads:

• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (adult literary sci-fi). Hyper-relevant commentary on social stratification, corporate power, class warfare, and rampant genetic engineering. One of my favorite books ever. Companion volumes (not sequels) are The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam
  
• Feed by M.T. Anderson (YA sci-fi), where everyone has the internet in their heads from birth. The consequences of instantaneous gratification and hypercapitalism. Super depressing and yet another one of my favorite books.
  
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (YA and a free ebook, btw). Maybe not the best ever, but hyper-relevant and you can treat it as a primer on internet security, higher level math, and coding. In near-future California, a teenage hacker is swept up by the Department of Homeland Security following a terrorist attack. Serious social commentary on mass surveillance and privacy.
  
• World War Z by Max Brooks, bearing no resemblance to the movie beyond the name (adult post-apocalyptic, an easy - and favorite - read. The abridged audiobook is good too). Despite the zombie apocalypse, this might not even count as dystopian because the interconnected interview narratives about the triumphs of human ingenuity are pretty uplifting. Themes of social change, the levels we'll sink to for survival, resilience...
  
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (YA sci-fi). At 16, the perfect society will make you pretty... And dumb. Society's obsession with beauty, etc, etc. I thought the series went downhill, but this is worth reading.
  
• Habibi by Craig Thompson (adult graphic novel). Half exegesis, half narrative about a post-apocalyptic Middle East mixed with stories from the Qu'ran and Arabian Nights. Deconstruction of the human spirit in a dying world, mainly.
  
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (adult literary). If you've even seen the movie trailer, half of the slow build to "something is not quite right" in the book is lost.
  
• Incarceron and Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (YA steampunk-ish). This almost broke my favorite books list. Almost. Two worlds: one steampunk, labyrinthine prison, one fake medieval "real" world.
  
  Dystopian and Not Quite Sci-Fi Recommendations:
  
  
• The Giver by Lois Lowry (MG). Forget the movie trailer. The book we read back in elementary school was more about a utopian society going back to a simpler time and a 12-year old discovering the cracks and making his own decisions.
  
• Wicked by Gregory Maguire (adult literary fantasy). Different once again from the Broadway show, this is The Wizard of Oz told from the POV of the Wicked Witch of the West. All about the nature and definition of evil, but even then it might not count as dystopian. The Wizard is a Nazi, btw.
  
• The Selection by Kiera Cass (YA popcorn). This is seriously only making the list because of the popcorn aspect and where it seemed like it was going to go before The One ruined all the political drama and revolution that could have happened. Basically a fun Mary Sue-fest about princess lessons in a future-North American caste society.
  
• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (YA spec fic). Anorexic teen during WWIII. Plenty of survival and resilience questions, but no new tech, so not really sci-fi, I'd say.
  
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (adult literary spec fic). Could arguably belong on the list above, but there's not much in the way of technology. At all. With declining birth rates due to pollution, the US becomes a theocracy. Written in response to the rise of evangelical politics in the 80s much like Oryx and Crake was in response to the politics of the early 21st century, but the main takeaway I got from it was that anthropologists are unconscionable.
  
• Into the Forest by Jean Hegland (adult literary spec fic). I didn't like this one at the time because the symbolism was so heavy-handed it bordered on magical realism and I couldn't understand the MC's decisions, but it grew on me in retrospect. After a flu pandemic, two teenage sisters live mostly on their own.
  
  But really, this whole article setup is eerily reminiscent of the "____ Literary Trope is Not Worthy!" followed by "Rebuttal!" linkbait we've been seeing a lot.

Just off the top of my head aside from the genre staples (1984, V for Vendetta, Brave New World, etc.)

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Shades of Grey: A Novel by Harper Fforde

I am currently reading The Passages by Just in Cronin

Sorry for the formatting, on mobile. I will clean it up later.

Goodreads has a lot of great lists of dystopian books.

The transhumans will raise humans to claim their organs and dispose them when there is no need for it.

Likely path for humans kept alive for organ harvesting.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FCK2TW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

(although he lived in England for almost all of his life, Kazuo Ishiguro started his career by writing two little-known books set in Japan, showing he is still firmly grounded with the Japanese culture - which was explained also in the main text of my original post)

Depends what sort of dystopia you're looking for, I suppose.

Modern Classics and "Literary" Speculative Fiction

• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, about social stratification, rule by corporations, and rampant genetic engineering. Has two companion volumes (not sequels) told from different points of view: The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam. This is going to be an HBO series.
  
• Also by Margaret Atwood is The Handmaid's Tale, which is the US reverting to a theocracy and written in response to the rise of evangelical Christian politics in the 80s.
  
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro has a movie, but if you've even seen the trailer for it, it gives away the premise and half of the book is about the slow build to "something is not quite right."
  
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy is another one with a movie. A father and son struggle to survive in a bleak nuclear winter.
  
• Into the Forest by Jean Hegland is about two sisters trying to survive mostly on their own after a flu pandemic. I didn't like this one at first because I couldn't understand the main character's decisions and the symbolism bordered on magical realism, but it grew on me in retrospect.
  
  YA and Graphic Novels
  
  
• Feed by MT Anderson is one of my favorite books. In a hyper-capitalist future, everyone has the internet in their heads from birth.
  
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (free ebook) is about a teenage hacker swept up by the Department of Homeland Security following a terrorist attack in San Francisco. Very detailed about coding and internet privacy issues.
  
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is about a perfect society that will make you both pretty and dumb on your 16th birthday. The series went downhill, but I thought the first one was good.
  
• The Giver by Lois Lowry bears no relation to the movie trailer. In a society that has reverted to a simpler way of life, a 12-year old boy is given the task of remembering what it used to be like.
  
• World War Z by Max Brooks again bears no resemblance to the movie. It might not even be dystopian, but the interconnected interviews show how different societies survive and evolve following a zombie apocalypse.
  
• Habibi by Craig Thompson is a graphic novel about a child bride and a slave boy in a post-apocalyptic Middle East with elements of magical realism.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffennegger Super good

or if you like something that makes you go "Is this really the way that the world is going to go?" try Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro then if you can't get enough of it, they recently made it into a movie with Keira Knightly