`Jessica Valdez
ENG 101-0768
Dr. Luke Vaseileiou
Essay #1
Are genetically engineered
“superior” humans what are best for our future?
Imagine living in a world where they
will be two types of humankind the “God-children” and the genetically
engineered. Where your age of death and
all illness you will suffer from will be told to your parents at birth. How
smart you’ll be and the jobs you’ll qualify for will be determined by your
genes. Well that’s just how our future world is portrayed in the sci-fi
thriller Gattaca. In Gattaca from the
time you are born your future was already known and they were no way for you to
change it. Job interviews would consist of blood or urine samples to see if you
were “Valid” or “In-Valid”. They did not care about how smart you were or how
much that was your passion if you didn't genetically qualify you would not get
the Job. This future does not discriminate against gender or race there
discrimination was simply genetic. The “In-Valid” will be seen in that society
as “the other”. As seen many times before in history when a group views another
group as “the other” there is going to be conflict some have even led to
war.
“Though well-equipped, we know not
who we are or where we are going.”- The Man on the Moon by George J. Annas this
quote from the article is explaining that even though we can be well equipped
we still might not know where were going, how life is going to turn out. In the
movie Gattaca Eugene the real Jerome Morrow was genetically engineered yet
never won a gold medal and ended up in a wheelchair. Vincent on the other hand
was not genetically engineered yet he never gave up on his dream of one day
being able to be able to fly to outer space. Vincent
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was
the underclass of humans only good for menial jobs so for his dream to come
true it seemed almost impossible. Sounds like something heard before right
maybe in history or something told to you. In history you have seen something
like this cause major issues that even had led to war. It also causes issue in
the man make him feel like he's not enough have him constantly trying to prove
him and others wrong.
Christopher
Columbus had reached the 'new' world with the goal to convert 'savages' in to
Christians. In Columbus eyes the Indians were 'the other' and he and his people
were the superior. This is why their encounter resulted in their merciless
subjugation and genocidal destruction. Another perfect example Hitler and his
Nazis army they believed they were the 'superior' human. Jews, Gypsies, and
Slavs to the Nazi were 'inferior' people that they felt needed to be
eliminated. These so-called useless eaters were snatched out their homes and
forced to live in concentration camps where they would be treated as lab rats.
This had led to WWII and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights the most important human document to this date. Both these events
centuries apart all started with an idea that one was superior from another.
That all humans were better off being a certain way if not they shouldn't be
allowed to exist well at least co-exist with their type. Can you imagine a
world full of Christians trying to kill you if you do not convert or if Nazis
ruled world? I'm nowhere near being German or a Christian so me and people like
me would not survive. This is not no different than having genetically
engineered 'superior' humans if you’re not genetically engineered you won't
survive.
Most
of us want our children to have better lives than the ones we had. Having the
power to be able to make that happen to be able to make your child smarter, stronger,
happier or longer-
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lived seems perfect but it’s not. “But in pursing this
objective we lose the perspective”-pg234 The Man on the Moon by George J.
Annas we are so busy chasing perfect humans that we forget
what aiming for perfection can do to our society. We forget
the issues it has caused in the past that can again occur in the future. George
J. Annas makes another good point in his article “an earth-sized human zoo
in which every man, women, and child has all the “smart genes” that’s what we’re going to be. Even if well-equipped were
humans we still won’t know what to do with ourselves. Not only would our
“God-children” suffer from genetic discrimination the genetically engineered
humans who do not meet up to the standard of
perfection will suffer too .We would have to build international
criminal court to help channel and control our new found powers and to protect
basic human rights. They will be an oppressor and an oppressed.
“Humans
must inform science; science cannot inform (or define) humanity”-pg234. Let’s go back to the movie Gattaca now how Eugene
the Valid human didn't really amount to what his genetically engineered profile
said he could, but Vincent on the other hand the In-Valid surpassed his
profile. He flew into outer space and saved his genetically engineered brother’s
life twice, he cheated the whole system. He proved a
flaw which rises questions, how many other mistakes have been made? Something
like this might cause the ‘inferior’ people rebel against the “superior” humans.
That all along they the non-genetically engineered had been living in this
world that stopped them from doing what they wanted to do because they weren't genetically engineered. Since they weren't genetically engineered they did not
qualify no matter how hard they worked. There
can be no such thing as a perfect human because nothing is for sure including
science. There is one thing that is for sure though that when one group is
viewing another group as sub-human there’s going to conflict.
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Works
Cited
Schneider, Susan.
Science fiction and philosophy: from time travel to superintelligence.
Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
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