Gattaca

           

            So we finished watching Gattaca in class, and I am pleased to say that I really liked it. The climax of the film was excellent: Vincent (Jerome) almost getting caught being an invalid and his brother reappearing. I sincerely thought that more people besides his brother, the love interest, and later the doctor would find out. I think that this movie showed both sides of the controversy of genetic engineering very well. On one side, we see how things like violence, disease, and other negative qualities can be erased. This is the appeal of designer genes to most people because we all strive for perfection.

            On the other hand, there are many negative aspects to picking your genes. Many people would get superiority complexes due to better genes or for not being “God-children” as they called it in the movie. Also, if you don’t have the right “profile” it would make it very difficult to get a good job and meet a match. Because Vincent was fate-born, he would have never been able to travel to space or even work in such a place as Gattaca. Despite having no bad genes, many other factors would still be brought down on people. Science should focus more on curing mutations and diseases rather than trying to control them.

Gattaca

          We started watching Gattaca in class today, and I was surprised to find it’s very similar to my tech. research project topic –designer genes. This boy named Vincent was one of the few children born without genetic assistance; meaning he was more prone to diseases, bad traits, etc. He obviously stood out from other people, and it was known that he had a heart disease that would most likely kill him by age thirty. To make matters worse, he also wouldn’t be able to follow his dream in traveling in space because of this. 

            It would obviously be very strange to live in a world where people are almost perfect. No sickness, no addictions, no bad habits. I can see the appeal of removing genetic diseases, but literally choosing who your child would be is too much. Even picking the gender is going too far, in my opinion. Not everything needs to be dissected and understood to achieve perfection. Who we are is supposed to be developed and learned, not manipulated. A balance is important in life –we would never know what is good without bad and vice versa. I think one day science may go too far. We would have no mystery left in life, and how boring would that be? Designer babies would be crossing the line.

Preview of the film: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JSEty7Qr_c

Designer Genes

A little short story about my research on designer genes...

            Yes, this one would finally be it. He would get to complete his final test, at last. He knew as soon as he saw the information that this would be it. It was time.

            A knock at the door prodded him from his thought.

“Come in,” he said in a level tone, masking his glee. The couple that walked through the door was exactly as the photo had shown. Blonde, average height, and an arrogant expression on their faces that screamed superiority. Just like he had wanted.

            Mr. John Galenforth stepped forward, hand outreached.

 “Dr. Hortz, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Indeed.”

            They sat down in the leather seats arranged across from the doctor. Before Dr. Hortz could begin, Mrs. Margaret Galenforth interrupted.

“Doctor, thank you for meeting us so soon; this really is quite important.”

“I understand, go on.”

“I just received news that I’m pregnant, like I mentioned on the phone, so we have to act quickly.” Mrs. Galenforth’s eyes bulged with eager determination. The doctor hid a smile behind a cough. This was too good.

“Tell me exactly what you need, Mr. and Mrs. Galenforth.” He worked to maintain an attentive but calm demeanor.

“Well,” Mr. Galenforth began, his eyes roaming the room. “This child will become heir to my company, and we can’t afford anything getting in the way of that. We want him or her to not only look like us, but act like us as well.”

“You understand the risks of this—“

“Of course!” Mrs. Galenforth pushed. “We read all the information you gave us, and we are ready to start whenever possible.”

“Excellent, let’s schedule an appointment to begin.”

            Dr. Hortz couldn’t wait for the couple to leave. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold in his enthusiasm. His project was going to change the world –one baby at a time.

TO BE CONTINUTED

Frankenstein

       

     While watching Bride of Frankenstein, I started thinking about sentient beings. One of humanity’s biggest fears is to be taken over by other sentient beings –computers, in particular. I don’t think we should ever purposefully create other sentient beings because the risks and consequences are just way too high to chance it. If computers one day become sentient, I believe it will be very, very bad. They’d be able to know what emotions are and do, but they’d never be able to fully experience them, in my opinion. Without emotions, we are able to do a lot more without feeling guilty –emotions hold us back, honestly. It reminds me of the movie Eagle Eye where one computer was able to manipulate the entire city, force people to kill, manipulate citizens, attack, etc. Technology can be power, and power in the wrong hands will create catastrophe.

            That being said…back to Frankenstein. I really felt bad for the monster (yes, I know he went on a killing rampage.) However, he really did not know any better. He isn’t human; he doesn’t know what is right and what is wrong. He sees someone blocking him or attacking him, and he eliminates the threat –natural selection, almost. This type of thing is why we should not allow sentient beings other than humans to exist. We have no way of knowing how their brains (or brain substitute) would work.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

    For the past three days, we watched The Day the Earth Stood Still. The old, black and white version, too (eek!) Before I get into all that, I wanted to mention how annoying it was that I didn’t know what “klaatu barada nikto” meant! Since I have Science Fiction first hour I had to wait nine hours until I could look it up. Nine! Turns out there’s no real meaning. Crap. Some magazine did some kind of alien translation and found that the phrase meant “Stop barbarism (I have) death.” And then there is a free translation that says “I die, repair me, do not retaliate.” What the heck was that first one! The latter definitely makes more sense. Problem solved!

ANYWAY. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I thought it would be awful, to be honest. Despite the black and white coloring, it was very entertaining to watch. One thing I found interesting was how frightened everyone was by the spaceship and Klaatu and Gort. Nowadays people would be scared, no doubt, but would be having thoughts more along the lines of “I knew it!” and “Government conspiracy!” Technology isn’t the same creepy, alien monster it once was…we really have no limits to what new technology will come out. Going from TVs being the coolest item out there to this impenetrable spaceship would be mind-blowing. Now, it would just be cool…not surprising or incomprehensible.  So I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes Sci Fi movies; I think they’d get a kick outta it.

The Atomic Cafe

            In class the past week we watched Atomic Café. One component of the documentary that I noticed was a mass paranoia that reached the citizens. Nuclear warfare is one of the scariest destructions that can happen to our world considering it can bring us to our end. This level of fright reminded me of how it was on September 1^st, 2001. There was a tidal wave of emotion: fear, confusion, loss, pain, frustration, panic, etc. Children couldn’t fully understand the implication of what nuclear bombs would do, just like they didn’t understand why planes would purposefully crash into our buildings. Those who could understand were scared witless. Could it happen again? How many did we lose? Do we fight back? There was so much to take in that we were clueless as to how to respond.

            On a lighter topic, one thing I found interesting was the “Duck and Cover” PSA that was played during that time. It is basically the same slogan we have now for tornado in school. If a tornado warning goes off during school, you would hide under your desk with your hands clasped around your neck –same as the “Duck and Cover” video. It is pretty ridiculous that thinking hands protecting your neck while in fetal position would save you from a nuclear attack. You’d be blown to smithereens in a second. Anyways, it is pretty ironic that nuclear bombs and tornadoes use the same defense mechanism.