Garrett George, CW, 4/3/2014

Intro Writing Assignment 1 - Prompt

The idea of what it means to be human occurs time and time again in publications
by modern and postmodernist philosophy where philosophers, in their respective fields of
thoughts, describe what being truly is. Conceptualizing such a question isnt possible as it is
for humans to understand why the earth revolves around the sun or how mixing A and B
creates C. In the last fifty years however, the ability for scientists and geneticists to
purposefully change the genetic make up for crops in order to survive in drought like
environments, Norman Borlaug in the 60s, has evolved to the point where we as humans
can determine the possibilities for genetic diseases as early as the first trimester. The
obvious next thought is almost science fiction in nature but brings up the question of
genetic manipulation in order to simply remove the genetic possibility of diseases such as
diabetes and heart disease. The film Gattaca asks this question in a society in which a
persons resume isnt of their choosing but is simply a DNA mapping test to determine their
best genes and whether or not they are suited for the job. Genetic discrepancies such as
hair and eye color create a facade that the society is diverse and that people are inherently
different. Regardless of societys perception the genetic differences are insignificant to the
point where the differences are simply variations in ordering of DNA sequences. On a
fundamental level, outside of the film, does genetic manipulation and this idea of a world
without disease lead towards a society where those that can afford treatment are seen
hierarchically above those that are natural born, as its called in Gattaca? Many
personality differences and moods are determined partially by genetics and the
environment we are exposed to; however, in a world where the genetic differences in
Garrett George, CW, 4/3/2014
people are becoming indistinguishable, will the idea of being human be different than that
of being in an early time.
The novel Brave New World illustrates a more drastic change to society where individuals
are genetically created to fight into a class system where they are psychologically
conditioned to be content and happy with their place in society. This path, though in
science fiction, is realistic enough to the point where they are analyzed and respected as
influential pieces of film and literature, respectively, for their ability to drive the idea of
how increasing impacts of genetic manipulation can have on a societal level and not strictly
the ability to prevent diseases before they show symptoms.

Intro Writing Assignment 1 - Poem