In class we have read the essay “The Man on the Moon” by George J. Annas. We also have watched the film Gattaca. The two works of media have both their similarities as well as their differences. The topic in comparison is genetic engineering and the view of “the other”.
A quote from the essay states: “The new ideal human, the genetically engineered ‘superior’ human, will almost certainly come to represent ‘the other.’ If history is a guide, either the normal humans will view the ‘better’ humans as the other and seek to control or destroy them, or vice versa” (236). In response to this hypothesis, I believe that it is true.
In the movie Gattaca, all of the people that were alive at the time were actually genetically engineered. Anyone who was not engineered would never actually be considered human. Therefore, those particular people who were not engineered were basically considered “the other”. They were to never be accepted in the current society.
In response to the quote; however, today’s society seems to have various values on what is considered “the other”. I agree that if there were a genetically engineered “superior” human, people would try to find a way to harness that power. Perhaps even control it.
In various other movies, I can’t really pinpoint which ones. (Primarily Science Fiction.) there were people who would try to harness and control the power of certain animals or certain people. The experiments ended in failure and people were killed in the process.
There is honestly no way that a person, or any other animal for the matter can be fully genetically engineered with out any long-term problems. The problems could be very little or extremely apparent. The human society that we have will result in trying to destroy them. There is no sense of equality, when everyone tries to make something “superior”.
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