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Comment by cliveowen | Hacker News Reader

I know this might sound bad but I actually think the reality portrayed in Gattaca is not that bad. I mean, if you put aside the discrimination faced by that part of the population born the natural way, you have a society where almost everyone is healthy and will live longer than previously possible, and is of great contribution to the community. I think that's our future and it doesn't scare me that much, what actually scares me are the endless genetic mutations that result in a wide array of tumors and untreatable diseases.

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One of the problems is that it will create an environment where individuals are strongly encouraged and pressured into pursuing a particular type of career or avoid XYZ other activities. Reminds me of the stereotypical asian parent forcing their children to become lawyers or doctors, when the individual would much rather pursue sports, arts or something else entirely. One of the most critical aspects of success is motivation and desire to accomplish X. When everyone around you is saying you should do Y because of your genetic makeup it could lead to a lot more dissatisfied human beings.

This is an interesting avenue to explore - one thing is features that are general improvements (say, not having some deadly disease); but there are many features that would facilitate specialization - helping you in one way while hurting in another.

A mild example in Gattaca is the six-fingered pianist - which in essence means that 'being a pianist' has to be chosen by others before you are able to think and decide.

And there are obviously horrible possibilities of specialization, like deliberately creating conscience-less embryos for military needs or autism-squared embryos for specialized uses (as suggested in Frank Herbert's Dune, for example).

This is a great point, it would definitely reshape society as we know it, and maybe for the worse. We can only speculate, but I sure hope that if there'll be a way to pick the healthiest embryo and have a child that will live longer than otherwise possible, we won't let some prejudices and morality issues stand in our way to a better, healthier society.

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