Re: GATTACA

From: E. Shaun Russell (e_shaun@extropy.org)
Date: Tue Dec 26 2000 - 20:59:04 MST


Damien wrote:
>
>It was a feel-good crock, despite its nice production values and decent
>acting. It set back the whole public discussion precisely because people
>thought it was saying something sensible and humane rather than indulging
>in Frankensteinian overkill or Huxleyan satire - although that's pretty
>much just what it was doing, drat it.

Hmmm, that's rather interesting; I found _Gattaca_ to be an excellent
movie. For one thing, the movie never actually stated (or even, to my mind,
implied) the notion that genetic engineering was a "bad thing," but rather
persecuted the industry standards (and apparent governmental regulations)
which were ultimately tied to it. There are even points in the movie where
the fruits of genetic engineering are explicitly praised (such as the
ten-fingered piano player etc.).

The other reason I really enjoyed _Gattaca_ is that it glorified the drive
and ambition of an individual to go against alleged limits and ultimately
succeed. There is definitely a Randian flavor to _Gattaca_, and despite
being, as Damien eloquently states "a feel-good crock," at least it puts
something into the culture that promotes ample thought about some of these
subjects.

_____________________________________________________________
E. Shaun Russell Operations Officer, Extropy Institute
e_shaun@extropy.org http://www.extropy.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
    ~K i n e t i c i z e Y o u r P o t e n t i a l~



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:40 MDT