David Allen Kirby (born 30 November 1968) is an American professor of science communication studies at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo.

[citation needed] Currently, he is Professor and Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Liberal Arts and Director of the Program in Science, Technology & Society at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo.

[1][2][3] Kirby's concept of the diegetic prototype refers to the ways that fictional depictions can stimulate public discussions about social, cultural, and ethical implications of emerging technologies.

The work focused on the contributions made by scientists who serve as consultants for Hollywood film productions and the subsequent impact these movies had on real world science and technology.

[20][21][22] In 2013 Kirby received an Investigator Award in the Medical Humanities from the Wellcome Trust for a project entitled "Playing God: Exploring the interactions among the biosciences, religion and entertainment media.

[24] He shows the ways in which the film serves as a bioethics text that warns society about embracing the notion that an individual's personality and capabilities are defined entirely by their genes, an ideology known as genetic determinism.