Blog #5: The “Other” and Gattaca

Genetic Engineering has been one of the hottest ethical issues of the 21^st century. Many (including myself) say, that genetic research and technologies are the precursor to world control, enslavement and discrimination between regular human beings and genetically alerted -beings. Films and articles were published to shed light on this topic such as the movie “Gattaca,”(1997) and  an article titled “Man on the Moon,” written by George J. Annas. In both of these contexts, Genetics provides a dystopian environment, in which humans are discriminated based on their DNA makeup.

In the movie Gattaca, Vincent, the main character is a non-genetically modified human, born in a dystopian world where genetically modified technologies and humans, control most aspects of society.  The main character seeks to become one, despite all of the obstacles of averting the authorities; he was successful in achieving what every other bioengineered human could do.  In my opinion, this movie represents what the future may look like if such genetic applications were installed. Where the superior beings would take control and create a racial gap, so-to-speak. Annas also quotes this separation and inter-human discrimination “the genetically engineered ‘superior’ human, will almost certainly come to represent ‘the other.’”

In the Article “Man on the Moon,” Annas talks about the replication of human beings becoming “Products of our own manufacturer,” and that this would lead to the product improvement, disposal and replacement, as if they were toys in a toy factory. This treatment of other human beings would only lead to separation and rebellion. Whether the genetically modified beings would be victorious or not is unknown, but if they were, there would be enslavement and discrimination again, but this time with the tables turned.

Genetic experimentation has already been executed with the popular “Dolly” the cloned sheep experiment, conducted by Ian Wilmut, and has showed how real the situation has already become. Man debates sparked and ethical groups lashed out about future treatment of such cloned beings. In my personal view, I see in the future, humans cloning other animals for mass replication for either companies like McDonald’s or Burger King to produce artificial livestock for beef, or cloning other human beings for organ transfer and replacement. This situation has been portrayed in 2005 film “The Island.”

With genetic cloning, and biotechnology on the rise, it seems clear the possibilities of what the future can hold in store for the human race.