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Here's an essay I did for school. It's quite a long read, but I worked so hard, I figured why not post it?Discussions on the subject are highly encouraged, and so is feedback. Remember, everyone to their own opinion. Please do enjoy. Could Our Society Become Like The One in Gattaca? After Gattaca premiered in theaters in 1997, it left many wondering one thing: “Could our society end up like this”? This movie proposes a science-fiction perspective on many issues in a near-future where people’s social statuses would revolve around their DNA. This movie also shows what it would be like if people had the ability to genetically engineer babies to born perfectly. The answer to the question is most likely that it will not happen. In scientific principle, genetically engineering a human could not happen to the extent of Gattaca, while even in a practical sense it could not be something integrated into the social aspects of life and as something that people would choose to do. In principle, genetically engineering a human could not happen the way it is in Gattaca. The furthest humans have gone is with preimplantation genetic diagnosis; this is the ability to prevent disease before a child is born, and has yet to be implemented (Stanković). That fact that humanity is barely skimming the possibility of PGD, would mean that it could take possibly decades to successfully implement. The step further would be handcrafting humans before they are even born, which is what Gattaca proposed as the “near-future” back in 1997 (Gattaca). 18 years later, humans have not even integrated PGD into society, which means that it would take even longer to implement designer-babies. One might argue that Gattaca proposes just a future, and it is not restricted to any time period even if it did say “near” future (Gattaca). “Near” refers to foreseeable future, however (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). So, as humans have not factually attempted to predict or foreshadow what will happen past the 21st century, and as it has been proven that designer-babies will not be reality until at least multiple decades, in conclusion: designer babies as conceptualized in Gattaca are most likely not scientifically possible. The other issue is the practicality and possible integration into society of something like designer babies. The majority of Americans (over 80%) have stated that reproductive cloning or genetically engineering babies should be illegal (Nisbet, 8 ). Therefore, one can infer that society would not be accepting of selectively designing offspring on the DNA level before birth even happens; as it was portrayed otherwise in Gattaca. Another perspective to look at this from would be the cloning of animals. As the University of Utah puts it, “the success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3 percent, which means that for every 1000 tries, only one to 30 clones are made” (What are the Risks of Cloning?). This means that as animals have been tested on, it is extremely rare and unpredictable to have a successful genetically engineered product. The absolute highest it has been out of every 1000 has been 30 clones, which means that expecting 30 is having maximally high expectations. The opposition -- on the other hand – will say that because humans and animals have different brains and structures, it is not valid to connect the two (Schleifer). However, the American Medical Association says different: “Because of experience with animal clones, it is reasonable to conclude that future human cloning experiments will have the same high failure rates” (Human Cloning). From what is shown, one can derive that the methods of genetic engineering portrayed in Gattaca, would not work, and would not be accepted by society, thus proving that it would not be practical. To conclude, Gattaca as a work of science-fiction, has a very slim chance of becoming the reality in society for the generations of today, and the generations of the future. Scientifically speaking, it is not possible. Socially and in practice, it is not possible either. The scientific invention or discovery has not yet been confirmed with concrete support, but if there was a scientific possibility, the social factors would not allow it. Even if science said it can happen, there is no confirmation that humanity would. This does not nullify the fact that there will always be room for other innovations and discoveries in the future of science and technology. Works Cited Gattaca. Dir. Andrew Niccol. Perf. Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Jude Law. DVD. Columbia Pictures Industries, 1997. Stanković, Braitslov. "JOLT: Articles." JOLT: Articles. UCLA, 2005. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://www.lawtechjournal.com/articles/2005/03_050713_stankovic.php>. "foreseeable." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2015. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. "What Are the Risks of Cloning?" Learn.Genetics. University of Utah, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/cloningrisks/>. "Human Cloning." American Medical Association. American Medical Association, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-science/genetics-molecular-medicine/related-policy-topics/stem-cell-research/human-cloning.page>. Schleifer, Bradford G. "Human Mind vs. Animal Brain – Why So Different?" The Real Truth. The Real Truth, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://realtruth.org/articles/090806-002-science.html>. Nisbet, Matthew. Public Opinion About Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning. Washington D.C.: American University, 19 May 2014. PDF.
