I think I agree with the view that Gattaca will eventually happen. Although I think genetically engineering our children will be a great benefit to mankind, I fear that those who cannot afford to engineer their children will pay a heavy price, just like those less fortunate in Gattaca did. But one thing that I would like to interject is the importance of environment. There is still a lot of debate about this, but the environment that a child grows up in is very important to their future success. I would like to present myself as an example. I was born in Houston, Texas and my parents moved our family to Alaska because it was a better environment for children to grow up in. As a result, I didn't get into much trouble while growing up and experienced none of the problems that children in big cities experience with gangs and drugs and stuff like that. And as a result, I did well and school and will graduate with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering in December. If I had grown up in an unsafe or unstable environment, I don't see any way that I would be where I am today. But my main point is that parents will always try to do what is best for their children, and no one told my parents they were immoral for taking their children to Alaska to raise them when there were people that could not afford to do that. I think in the future genetic engineering of children will be viewed in much the same way as changing the children's environment.
Slashdot Mirror
I think I agree with the view that Gattaca will eventually happen. Although I think genetically engineering our children will be a great benefit to mankind, I fear that those who cannot afford to engineer their children will pay a heavy price, just like those less fortunate in Gattaca did. But one thing that I would like to interject is the importance of environment. There is still a lot of debate about this, but the environment that a child grows up in is very important to their future success. I would like to present myself as an example. I was born in Houston, Texas and my parents moved our family to Alaska because it was a better environment for children to grow up in. As a result, I didn't get into much trouble while growing up and experienced none of the problems that children in big cities experience with gangs and drugs and stuff like that. And as a result, I did well and school and will graduate with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering in December. If I had grown up in an unsafe or unstable environment, I don't see any way that I would be where I am today. But my main point is that parents will always try to do what is best for their children, and no one told my parents they were immoral for taking their children to Alaska to raise them when there were people that could not afford to do that. I think in the future genetic engineering of children will be viewed in much the same way as changing the children's environment.