NationStates Jolt Archive

One of the best science-fiction movies of the nineteen-nineties was Gattaca, a world in which genetically-manipulated supermen had formed an extremely exclusive upperclass, depicts the struggles of Vincent Freeman to break through this ceiling through lies and deceit, to work for the Space Agency of the Future: Gattaca.

While we are not to that point yet, the technologies used in the film to identify individuals and their genetics by their employers are reaching the point where their utilization may occur to detect individuals with inborn health traits, and the potential for discrimination based off of these traits exists. The US Senate has recently passed legislation that would block the use of genetic tests to do so, and is unique, in that it is designed to "...prevent discrimination before it has taken hold." I wholeheartedly support this sort of legislation, and I feel that it is the only appropriate way to handle the matter.

What are your thoughts?



I'm readying a poll for launch!

Artikel: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7366264.stm

The concept of Gattaca always reminded me of Eugenics Meets Logan's Run.

This has to be a good pre-emptive measure with the scientific community still pressing onwards towards genetic engineering and cloning..

If we can now order custom ets, how long until some bright spark does it with humans.. being able to breed a human with no genetic dispositions and enginerd in such a way as to be, for example super fit.

It is a very worrying prospect in the long term future.

This has to be a good pre-emptive measure with the scientific community still pressing onwards towards genetic engineering and cloning..

If we can now order custom ets, how long until some bright spark does it with humans.. being able to breed a human with no genetic dispositions and enginerd in such a way as to be, for example super fit.

It is a very worrying prospect in the long term future.

what are you talking about it is a great thing in the future.

what are you talking about it is a great thing in the future.

I'm not a Christian so its nothing to do with playing god that worrys me... but, removing genetic traits to prevent ill health in the future will almost certainly lead to the downfall of mankind because if you can beat illness, the bodys immune system would probably, over time become obsolete.. if that happens and a viral infection arrives... BAM.. there goes the human race!

Much like when the Europeans first met the Native Americans..

I'm not a Christian so its nothing to do with playing god that worrys me... but, removing genetic traits to prevent ill health in the future will almost certainly lead to the downfall of mankind because if you can beat illness, the bodys immune system would probably, over time become obsolete.. if that happens and a viral infection arrives... BAM.. there goes the human race!

Much like when the Europeans first met the Native Americans..

most of the illness your body's immune system targets are not genetic illnesses.

genetic illnesses are downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, and the like. those things that you have from birth and largely can not be cured.

most of the illness your body's immune system targets are not genetic illnesses.

genetic illnesses are downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, and the like. those things that you have from birth and largely can not be cured.

Surely if scientists carack human genetics to the extent where you can breed the perfect child you can breed them for immunities from certain ailments no?

ok, i'll shut up on that one then.. lost point as you hsve proven me wrong.

However, being able to have designer babies would have the potential to end up like Gattaca where normal natural born humans become a sub species to those genetically chosen hence this legislation being a good idea and genetic 'designer' babies being a bad idea.. There are already enough class differences in the world already.

I don't know though, if my stance on this would change, should I ever end up being the father of a child with a disability from birth. of course id love the child as much but I don't know where I would stand on genetic engineering.

Genetic discrimination wouldn't be a problem if everyone got the genetic enhancements. Think of it as accelerated evolution.

As far as work is concerned a person's phenotype seems a lot more important to me than his genotype. With regards to breeding, the latter might be considered more important, but really, the phenotype indicates the fitness anyway, so again there's not much reason to look at the genes in themselves. (Except perhaps to weed out unfortunate recombinations with the partner's genes)

Genetic discrimination wouldn't be a problem if everyone got the genetic enhancements.

Is that a realistic option? I assume that genetic engineering would be quite costly.
The fact of the matter is that people are already born at different levels and will already be chosen for jobs based on aptitude and intelligence- there IS an upper class, and it DOES depend, at least a little, on who your parents were. Your genes are a huge factor in whether or not you get ahead. The environment you're raised in is another huge factor.

Having never seen Gattaca, I don't know what kind of environment the super-people get. But take this example: it stands to reason that an intelligent woman can rise to power in today's world, get a lot of money, and, by virtue of genetics, have smart kids. Being a smart woman, this mother will raise her kids to succeed (and since she's such a smart lady, it seems likely that she would select someone with similar traits to pass on- in other words, the kids have a smart father, too).

By having genes more geared to success, by being raised by smarter people in a more privileged environment, some kids already have an advantage, and genetic engineering is only the logical and inevitable conclusion of this current system.

Unfortunately, many many stupid people rise to positions of wealth and prominence these days, too. They start business empires and pass them on to their stupid, spoiled kids. As time goes on, each generation becomes a little stupider and more spoiled than the last. With genetic engineering to increase intelligence and minimize genetic defects, at least the heirs to these business empires will not be as stupid as they tend to be now, and will steer our world in better directions.