have you film GATTACA?? if in the future our world was like this, would you continue your work or wo;uld you believe it

Question: have you film GATTACA?? if in the future our world was like this, would you continue your work or wo;uld you believe it unethical and unfair??

Asked by lovefromcally to Chris, Kay, Kerstin, Lorna, Liv on 16 Mar 2010 in Categories: Theories.
- Olivia Hibbitt answered on 16 Mar 2010:
  
  Hi lovefromcally,
  
  I love that movie! it’s an interesting question! Have you read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley? Similar idea to GATTACA but more extreme! The thing in GATTACA is basically eugenics which our society has a bit of a sorry history of! Hitler tried a particularly nasty form of it, but before world war 2 the idea of government controlling breeding to select for the best traits was a popular idea. The idea of selecting people for jobs etc based on their genetics, I think is a bit stupid…..I am a firm believer that nuture plays a HUGE role in making us the people we are and intelligence is a tiny part of that. I had a friend at high school who always got amazing marks….topped the class all the time. She went to Med School and dropped out after 2 months because she couldn’t handle the pressure!
  I think the only time this sort of stuff works is with genetic counselling which aims to help people who know there is a family history of genetic illness decide how to proceed with having children. This has worked really well in a community in New York. This is a jewish community which have a very high incidence of some very serious genetic conditions. By using this kind of counselling they have reduced the number of babies born with these horrible illnesses.
- Kerstin Zechner answered on 16 Mar 2010:
  
  I have, but a long time ago. I just remember Ethan Hawke 😉 But if you’re referring to cloning a “superior” human race, I definitely would not agree with it and probably stop doing science as I’d disillusioned.
- Kay Penicud answered on 18 Mar 2010:
  
  Yep, I really liked that film. I wouldn’t work in science if it created the ‘super humans’ seen in the film. Science should be about taking an interest in how things work, not to factory farm out ‘perfect’ humans

Comments

lovefromcally commented on 16 Mar 2010:

thanks both if you, that was helpful and olivia – i havent read that book but perhaps i should
and kerstin- i completely agree with you!

Question: have you film GATTACA?? if in the future our world was like this, would you continue your work or wo;uld you believe it unethical and unfair??