Blog # 5

In his essay “The Man on the Moon”, George J. Annas expresses his thoughts on genetic engineering. Annas writes that “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”.  History, movies, and other literature seem to prove this theory true.

Although, society would like to think that altering our genetics would assist in ameliorating the human race, history has shown that the human species will always find another to be inferior.  The stronger will take over the weak, and each generation will try to gain more and more control. And as soon as one tries to defend themselves, they become an ‘other.’ As long as the human race survives, there will probably always be discrimination due to religion, ethnicity, gender, culture, disabilities, heritage, physical attributes, mental capabilities, and etcetera; leading to one community declaring another more “inferior” community as the ‘other’.  For example, slave trading. Slave trading was a non-molecular altering form of the ‘superior’ human taking control over the normal humans.  Thus, causing the inferior group or normal humans to counteract and seek to destroy them.

The film Gattaca is another example of how the so called ‘better human’ will always find a way to create discrimination. Even when one is genetically altered to perfection, if you cannot live up to a ‘superiors’ potential, you are put in a type of controlled environment where the ‘better humans’ believe see fit to you disabilities. Vincent, the protagonist of Gattaca, was genetically altered yet still born with a heart condition. He dreamed of going to space since he was a child, but unfortunately due to his impairment, his dreams cannot be fulfilled and the ‘superior beings’ take control of his life and tell him where to work.

Both slavery and Gattaca are examples of the “ideal human” taking over and controlling or destroying the normal humans.