Shades of Gattaca
Science 05/18/2004 |More and more, I think that in the coming years, the movie Gattaca may be seen as far more prescient than it was recognized as at the time it came out. Today’s example, for instance:
A Nobel Prize winning scientist has called on the British government to introduce legislation to prevent discrimination on the basis of people’s genetic make-up, the Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.
[…] Medical advances and the sequencing of the human genome have led to concerns that genetic testing could be used by insurance companies and employers to discriminate against people with an increased risk of developing certain diseases.
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p>It’s only a matter of time before the “haves” and the “have-nots” are determined by what’s in their genes, I fear.
iTunes: “Highter State of Consciousness (Dex and Jonesey Radio Edit)” by Wink from the album Higher State of Consciousness (‘96 Remixes) (1996, 3:39).
[See also: Pet Dreams | Red vs. Blue | The same way in any country | Avi Rubin vs. Diebold | Metroblogging ]
3 Responses to “Shades of Gattaca”
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fpz
Gavriel
medhat abbas
Ryan Waddell
Sponge Bob
May 18th, 2004 at 8:13 am
thats pretty scary
May 19th, 2004 at 5:16 pm
“It’s only a matter of time before the “haves” and the “have-nots” are determined by what’s in their genes, I fear.”
They already are now, to a large extent. IQ is significantly genetic, and there are strong positive correlations between IQ and income.
May 20th, 2004 at 6:40 pm
The difference is, any child’s IQ being born today has their IQ from their parents. However, if that could be bought, why risk employing someone who wasn’t “perfect.” This would exclude anyone born genetically unaltered (potentially expensive). The result would be the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Oh wait, yeah, you’re right. Not much difference.