Genetic Engineering: A new topic? Maybe not.
Although research is now coming to light on genetic engineering and new technology such as Crispr 9, the truth is it has been on our radar for years. Science fiction has long commandeered the topic of Genetic engineering. And with Dystopian stories rising is pop culture, such as books like The Hunger Games, Uglies, and Divergent, this topic keeps coming up again and again. Without even knowing it, we are being instilled with the fear of becoming a society like this-- a society that controls the genes of it's people, and will do anything to protect it.
And while we may be far away from anything like this happening, it is still understandable to carry hesitation when faced with such realistic and terrifying outcomes. Some of the more famous and interesting ones i've come across (without spoilers, just in case!) in my research are:
Gattaca:
IMBD describes this movie as a society set in an ambiguous future, where "genetic engineering of humans is common and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class." This type of genetic testing can tell you what kind of temperament the person has, as well as the predicted age they will die. If your parents select the best traits before your birth, you are considered a 'valid' person, and are given the more exclusive jobs in the community. The main character, Vincent, dreams of going to space, and takes the place of a 'valid' person to do so. This story explores what rights people have despite their genes, and how far genetics go in shaping a person and predicting their future. The topic of this movie can be particularly influential because it is based around people not having rights to choose, and being discriminated against because of their 'imperfect' genetics, which is a right we all hold dear.
Brave New World
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is possibly one of the most famous dystopian books, and is a must read for anyone interested in this topic. In the book, society is split up into five different castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon. Each caste decides what kind of role you have in society (ex. Alphas are the highest in society). They are specifically formed for their caste, because rather than traditional reproduction, they are created in a lab, and are altered and exposed to different conditions before they are born. For example, the Epsilons are exposed to an extreme amount of alcohol while they are in the womb, to purposefully make them incompetent. This book is great because it explores the rights of free thought surrounding this topic of altering humans for a purpose, much like what could be done with genetic engineering.
Other Related Media:
- Captain America
- Deadpool
- Any of the X-men
- The Island
- The Divergent Series
- The Uglies Series
There are many, but i'm sure I don't have all of them here! I would be interested to hear comments on other movies/books/other-media that are related to this idea of Genetic engineering and designer babies.
Can we change our 'fate'?
All of these books and movies seem to have something in common: the human race takes something very powerful and goes in the completely wrong direction with it. A couple questions I had while reading and going through all of these were: Does it have to be this? Is there a way that this can be used purely for good, and not get out of control? If so, how? What sort of regulations should be put on this technology? Does the government have the right to keep this technology from the people who want to use it to 'design' their babies?
So far, I think i'm coming up with more questions than answers! ;) In the next post I hope to examine the notorious technology that is 'Crispr- 9' and look at some of the laws/regulations that have already been put into place.
Until next time!
Dani
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteI find your topic to be very interesting. I am familiar with some of these movies such as Captain America. I see you have pointed out people using genetic altering for not so good reason, but do you think we could have the potential to positively change the word by doing this? I know not everyone is "good", but maybe a majority of the people out there are. I'd also like to know if by using genetic altering to "design" a human, could we potentially get rid of mental illness and even physical illness? Break the cycle for hereditary sicknesses?
oooooh i think this a very interested topic and how you have connected it to movies that many people can be familiar with. i think it is kind of scary to think about genetically altering a human being to make them bigger faster stronger. i can only think of this being a good thing, when thinking healing, diseases or illnesses. aside from that, i am not trying to have some cyborgs take over this world. no thank you. im super excited to see where your research takes you with this topic.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found in your topic interesting, is if there was a possibility of man kind capable of designing babies, the effects that we could alter to change the future would be amazing, yet terrifying at the same time. Some things that you could add to your discussion would be to see what kind of changes we could implement and if it could benefit people, or as you mentioned if it could get out of control.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it could be years down the line, I agree that this technology will soon come upon us, but it could come with some serious issues almost creating another race with the "perfect" genes.
This is a very interesting take on the subject. Relating it to books and movies. Do you feel as a society we have already crossed some lines and are already creating designer babies? You hear in the media of people choosing the sex of the baby. I personally have a family member who is going through IVF as we speak. That couple already knows the sex of all the embryos and genetic makeup. They will choose the children that they want based off the information the doctor provided them. Would you consider this to be a form of designer babies? If so do you agree with people being able to choose their baby? Will society take it to far like in the movies?
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that genetic testing can tell us what kind of temperament a person has. You make a good point when you talk about imperfect genetics. I wonder if a majority of people would prefer to be imperfect or not. I think you have a very valid question that “does the government have the right to keep this technology form people who want to use it to ‘design’ their babies?”. This question makes me think. I don’t think our government has the right to keep anything or any form of technology from people.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your take on this blog post! I find the reference to this topic in dystopian novels especially interesting. You mention "Brave New World" which is one of my absolute favorite books of all time, and fits your subject to T.
ReplyDeleteI'm really pondering at how our future will play out as this becomes more of a possibility. You pose some very interesting questions as to regulation. I keep finding myself wondering who, if anyone, is qualified to make the decision as to where to draw the line with genetic modification.
I agree that this particular subject has been around long before it seemed it could ever be a possibility. I really appreciate that you demonstrated the saturation of this theory in pop culture from many different time periods. You really hooked me, can't wait to see more!
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ReplyDeleteI am also always trying to see the good in everyone and every situation. Usually if you look hard enough, you will find it. I have been thinking about this topic for a while now and it is very interesting. I want to challenge it though. Lets think about this for a minute. First off, if humanity could genetically alter and positively change the world by doing this that would be an amazing miracle. This worries me due to the fact that with science and the altering of things, their is potential for disaster. I understand that we as a whole would love to wipe out physical illness, mental illness, cancer and disease, but have you considered what would happen if any kind of illness or death besides that which came from natural causes or old age occurred. With every action their is a reaction. So what would it be to stopping any and all cancers, physical illness, mental illness, ect..? Maybe the outcome would be even more disastrous then what is already happening in the world today? Maybe the world would become over populated and in turn depleting our ozone layer and causing global warming to occur at mass speeds? Maybe due to not being sick ever, our immune systems have no defenses and some crazy virus outbreak happens and kills most the population on the planet? Think about it.... as scientist or even just humans, we think that sometimes we may know whats best when sometimes we cause ourselves, others and even our earth and atmosphere so much more harm then good. It may seem the examples I used are ludicrous, but they are really realistic if you stop and think about it. I just want to challenge this thinking and see if we can get anywhere with it. I love this topic and I can not wait to see where else it goes.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you find interesting about the response? I read your first entry. I think your topic is super inserting and I love it! In this post I the media part of your blog super interesting. I look forward to reading your next entry.
ReplyDeleteWhat would you add to this post? OR What questions does this post generate for you about the topic? This topic has me asking myself so many questions. After reading this post my question is making a designer baby healthy for the baby?
What do you agree OR disagree with and why? I honestly still am not sure how I feel about this topic just because I personally don't feel like it's safe enough to do.
You have some great example of what could possibly happen to tour society. I would hate to live in a world where humans are simply judged by their genetic structure. I think there is a fine line of helping and doing harm. I have a friend that got in vitro and her genes were not compatible with the baby, the doctor fixed it but made a comment that he was glad he could help a woman conceive but it was not his job to play God. I think this is important because we could have a build a baby shop where you pick certain features and traits. I think that takes away from the random beauty of humanity. You have som great questions and my favorite would be " Is there a way that this can be used purely for good, and not get out of control?" That is the question that could make or break genetic engineering.
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