If you were having a baby today, your doctor would ask if you wanted to know the gender of your baby. But what if they ask, instead of if you want to know, but if you want to choose your baby’s gender? What if they ask if you want to choose its height, physical and mental ability, or even its life span? Would you alter what will be forged by ‘god’s hand’? This choice presents more than meets the eye. Having the choice doesn't just mean your child could have an advantage (or disadvantage) in life. It doesn't mean that humanity is becoming more ‘perfect’. Actually, it means the opposite. This choice can shape our world into a prejudicial mess. In the ‘not-too-distant future’, this choice is presented by the movie Gattaca, and many social issues arise, deteriorating society as a whole. Let’s say you were presented with such a choice for your baby, and leave it up to chance to decide. Your child is born, and you are told the ‘specifications’ for your newborn. It will grow yay tall, that big, this smart, and will die early of …show more content…
Vincent and his brother, Anton, always played a swimming game called ‘chicken’. The point was to swim as far out as you can before getting scared that you cannot make it back, and whoever went further won. Anton, with perfect genes, was expected to win. He actually had to win every time, or his perfect ego would be broken forever. Vincent on the other hand had always been expected to lose every time. Outside of the game, society never gave him a chance. Not even did he give himself a chance. But his brother had given him one every time they played chicken. One day, Vincent did the impossible and broke the status quo. He beat Anton, and thus giving himself a chance to become something bigger. He took it, and successfully accomplished that which was never meant to be possible for an ‘imperfect’ as
Many parents do in fact have desires related to their children that with sex selection could come to fruition, however using a child solely as an end seems unreasonable . Savulescu argues that if parents “love their child as an end itself” that any other desires, such as a father wanting a male child because he loves boys that play sports, that sex selection could facilitate would do no harm since it is ok for some of the “means” of having a child to be fulfilled.
When one thinks of a society of genetically advanced individuals at first glance it might seem like an advantage, but upon taking a closer look you can see the flaws in these perfect people. The world of Gattaca is superficial and judgmental; the only way to measure the worth of a person is by the wholesomeness of one's blood. They do not know for sure that someone will die or develop a heart condition all they have to work with is a percentage of the chance of it happening. This brands the world of Gattaca as an unfit and inferior world than our own. When a society discriminates against a group of people they lose valuable and productive members of society. In Gattaca the hardest working, most driven person was someone that they thought should
In his piece, “Human Dignity”, Francis Fukuyama explores the perception of human dignity in today's society. This perception is defined by what Fukuyama calls “Factor X”. This piece draws attention to how human dignity has been affected recently and its decline as we go into the future. Using the input given by the Dalai Lama in his piece, “Ethics and New Genetics”, the implementing of factor X and human dignity on future generations will be explored. Through the use of the pieces, “Human Dignity and Human Reproductive Cloning by Steven Malby, Genetic Testing and Its Implications: Human Genetics Researchers Grapple with Ethical Issues by Isaac Rabino, and Gender Differences in the Perception of Genetic Engineering Applied to Human Reproduction by Carol L. Napolitano and Oladele A. Ogunseitan, the decline on the amount of human dignity found in today's society as well as the regression in Factor X that can be found today compared to times past. Society's twist on ethics as a result of pop culture and an increase in genetic engineering has caused for the decline in the amount of dignity shown by the members of society and the regression of Factor X to take hold in today's society.
If people are told that they are not good enough, they start to believe they are not good enough. Vincent who is an invalid defies the odds and fools the system to reach his goal of going into space. He believes he is not defined by
The jury was locked in the room to deliberate because they don't want them to leave until they have come to a decision. If the jury was allowed to leave, they might just go when they want and not return. Also, the accused could try to come in to convince the jury that he is innocent.
Vincent’s flaws are seen as a restriction on him from the moment he is born. The audience sees this through the nurse’s proclamation that his “early fatal potential” is at “ninety seven percent probability.” The stigma attached to such a condition is shown when his father refuses to give Vincent. his own name, demonstrating effectively how his inferiority results in him being abandoned from the outset of his life. These events are indicative of the stigma attached to the notion of being an ‘INVALID’ in this “not too distant” future. However, what this synthetic and artificial world in Gattaca fails to account for is the strength of the human spirit, which relates to the concept of “...
I’m scrolling through the articles on Snapchat and find my way across one with an intriguing title, I instantly tap on it. I begin to scroll further down only to find myself going through extensive paragraphs of information and suddenly this article that seemed so interesting became a bore. In Nicholas G. Carr’s novel, The Shallows, he argues the internet is creating more problems to us humans than actual benefits. Our social skills are starting to lack and our interaction with technology is beginning to heighten. Humans contemplative skills are slowly fading away due to our reliance on the internet to solve our problems. Technology is inevitable by humans, seeing that individuals use it in their everyday lives. Unfortunately, this is a problem considering the use of high-tech gadgets decrease in one’s capacity for concentration, contemplation, and personal memory.
Darabot, Frank and Stephen King (1993) Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption: Screenplay. Netflix.com Viewed 4/7/14
Is it wrong to make a child deaf by design? How much leeway should parents have in selecting the characteristics of their child (when it comes to aspects of identity)? Should they have any? These are just a couple of difficult questions posed by Sandel. Presenting a similar case, Sandel discusses the case of an infertile couple seeking an egg donor. They sought a very specific type of donor, going as far as requesting an achieved SAT score. In both of these cases, the outcomes are still susceptible to a certain degree natural variation and uncertainty. Does this element of unpredictability add to the moral correctness of these cases?
One of the particular areas of interest is prenatal genetics. In this field, many new and outstanding innovations have been made. A mother and father can now check for a large array of disorders that could occur in their child; sexual preference has now been shifted from the hands of a higher being to that of someone with a Ph.D.; and in the near future, a couple will possibly be able to choose the physical features of their child, such as hair color, eye color, etc. Scientifically speaking, all of these new options that parents have is amazing. Not only can they have a healthy baby, but one that is going to be stronger, and better looking. Yet, ethically speaking, many people would dislike the “playing” of God. And when it becomes possible to create a perfect child, what will prevent us in society from doing so? The field of genetics in prenatal situations has become very advanced over the past few years, yet many of these advancements have given arise to unethical applications.
Imagine a parent walking into what looks like a conference room. A sheet of paper waits on a table with numerous questions many people wish they had control over. Options such as hair color, skin color, personality traits and other physical appearances are mapped out across the page. When the questions are filled out, a baby appears as he or she was described moments before. The baby is the picture of health, and looks perfect in every way. This scenario seems only to exist in a dream, however, the option to design a child has already become a reality in the near future. Parents may approach a similar scenario every day in the future as if choosing a child’s characteristics were a normal way of life. The use of genetic engineering should not give parents the choice to design their child because of the act of humans belittling and “playing” God, the ethics involved in interfering with human lives, and the dangers of manipulating human genes.
“In everyday life, men and women make decisions that affect the life and death of existing people. They decide whether to join the army; whether to donate blood, a kidney, or bone marrow to a child; whether to give money to Save the Children instead of buying a new sweater; whether to decline a life-saving blood transfusion; whether to drive a small fort on walls that may protect passengers in a crash but often kills those in less substantial vehicles” (Borgmann 23).
In this new technological society, eugenics, which is the concept of bettering one’s genes, has created a social prejudice against humans who come from a natural birth. Vincent is part of this lower class while his brother is genetically produced and favored by his own family. It is shown in every aspect of society, including the choosing of candidates for jobs. If you were natural birth, you had the menial jobs such as janitor but if you were a test tube baby, you could have a desk job with higher pay. Vincent, who tries to exert his free will, decides to pass this system by taking on a new identity of Jerome who is deemed as the perfect man. His hard work and determination leads him out of his confinement of social and physical expectations. For example, coming from a natural birth, it is already determined that he is weak and have significant heart problems. His brother on the other hand, has great physical abilities. As young kids, they played a game of who can go further out into the sea. After a certain amount of time, Vincent suddenly has this freedom of biological causation and wins the game against his brother. This proves that not only was he able to surpass the nature of his birth, but also his expectations. He is able to decide to take on a different path that he was
As the protagonist in the film, Vincent plays a significant role in emphasising the author’s ideas of the burden of perfection, most notably when in comparison to the character of Jerome. In a world where genetic perfection is the key to a successful life, the genetically superior Jerome is technically entitled to the opportunities
Abortion is an extremely controversial issue and one that is continually on the forefront of debates. Those who oppose the idea (Pro-lifers), thinks it is an act of woman playing “God” who live from who dies. Yet, whether an unborn baby constitutes a normal person is questionable; a pregnant woman, on the other hand, has the undeniable right to choose whether she wants to have a child or not. Therefore, the decision to have an abortion is the personal choice and responsibility of the woman, because prohibiting abortion impedes freedom of choice and endangers the physical and mental health of women.