This is one of the best sci-fi movies of all time - it really captures one essence of being a human being, that motivation and drive vastly outcompete better opportunity.

"You know, my son was never what they promised me he would be" gets me to tears every time.

"If the audience is supposed to accept that genetic determinism is true in Gattaca, then no amount of Vincent's hard work should make Vincent a hero. He's just a fraud. If the audience is not supposed to believe that in the world of Gattaca genetic determinism is true (that is, it's false), then it should be interpreted as a story of discrimination, and a story of the underdog's heroic hard work overcoming the negative effects of a corrupt, wrong, erroneously-discriminating society."

from http://www.ln.edu.hk/philoso/staff/sesardic/Gattaca.pdf

It's not that you cannot use Genetic information to accurately predict certain aspects of someone's future... It's that genetic information tells you nothing about human will, and human will can overcome a lot.

Why do you think that predispositions for human will are not genetically determinted?

Maybe, but that's not what they tested for in the movie.

They sort of touched on this point in the movie:

>No one exceeds their potential. If they did, it would mean we did not accurately gauge their potential in the first place.

They also say "There is no gene for success"

Human will can also be survivorship bias masquerading as exceptionalism.

Seems to me that genetic determinism doesn’t have to be “right” or “wrong”, but rather a sometimes-useful model that we other times do not allow to colour our views. I.e. we have weight classes and gender divides for sporting events (genetic determinism), but each person who meets a minimum threshold of competence (e.g. not in prison) gets an equal democratic vote.

What is the model being referenced where someone in prison is automatically incompetent to vote? Especially given the human legacy of the war on drugs in there for example, this seems like a really good example of letting one policy color our views of an unrelated one.

You think we're going to formalize our class system with genetics and biology but then somehow ignore that in all the realms where it's not relevant? Who decides when it is relevant.

To be fair, in most of the USA it's 'has been to prison' as voting rights are not restored in every state upon release. Some animals get reverted to the 'taxation without representation' model. Those inalienable rights are actually pretty alienable after all. Who knew?

People who don't benefit from good genes are already the underclass today

Not in the way commercial gene selection would enable. It would give more power to the rich to breed genetically superior humans, something that was previously up to chance, and a level playing field for everyone, regardless of social status. In a few generations, rich families would be untouchable genetically, producing a superior lineage and widening the social gap.

This is why it's critical that access to this technology is democratized and equally accessible to everyone.

It's crazy to me that we're already approaching Gattaca, and the discussion does not revolve entirely on how to prevent it.

Genetically superior humans are a net benefit to all of humanity. Inevitably they will interbreed with arbitrary other people occasionally and the technological advances also benefit everyone. Yes, it will stratify society - all of society is and has always been stratified. It is not a good indicator to inform whether or not you should do something.

> It's crazy to me that we're already approaching Gattaca, and the discussion does not revolve entirely on how to prevent it.

Because the movie has been engineered specifically to make you feel vindicated: Someone is said to be limited, they then overcome this limitation. It is the "american dream" in movie form. Another poster has said it higher up: If genetic determinism is real, the main character is a fraud. Viewed through that lens, it becomes an entirely different movie.

You just have to condition them appropriately, so that they happily accept their place. See Brave New World for the blueprints.

You might find that Brave New World is not quite the same cautionary tale against genetic enhancement that popular discourse would have you believe (it's more about totalitarianism):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22128854

You quote so much but I don't think you've read the book man.

Uh did you read brave new world? Lol.

> the long term consequences of this exact technology for society

> They don't get any say in the decision, but end up heavily penalized, barred from certain jobs for "safety" reasons, aren't desirable partners...

you realize gattaca was fiction, right? and also

https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Genetic-...