20 September 2004

Gattacca is nearly here

Wired News: Quick Read on Your Genetics If you saw
the film Gattaca and thought that the routine genetic testing depicted there was too unlikely, think again. Though the comments in this article are all about the good that routine and easy genetic testic could bring, we should remember the Gattaca story and the temptations that eugenics brings to the powerful.

2 comments:

Stephen G said...

Thanks for the link. I often refer students (and others) to Gattaca as a starting point for getting them to think about Christian responses to technology, especially technology as our environment. Recently I used part of the film with a (non-student) group and then had them argue for one of the three main Christian responses to technology (liberator, oppressor, instrument) using the scenario in the film. Some good comments from them as they started to think beyond the "powerpoint in church" interaction with technology.

Andii said...

Glad to be of help and to make the connection with you: I really like Greenflame postings [and you'll have realised I pick them up quite often]. In a sense, I wonder whether the ease of genetic testing this could bring would lead to an extension of the kind of things we already see; pretty people get a better deal [can't now trace the research but saw it reported] and to those who have more will be given. Is there anyway that we can mitigate these potential negative effects: rather than trying to prevent this hapeening, we should recognise that the thing will happen and plan to make it happen the best way we can.

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