In high school, I remember watching the same film in both honors and AP Bio. GATTACA, a film starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, explores the potential issues and consequences of genetic engineering. In a futuristic society where genetic status has overridden more humanistic concerns, the rich and successful, eager to obtain physical and mental perfection, have taken to genetically engineering their off-spring. These lab-created babies are known as “Valids”, while those conceived in the normal, loving fashion are called “Invalids”, and are considered second-class citizens at best. The movie shows the main character’s journey as he goes through great lengths as a genetically inferior man and assumes the identity of a superior one to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.

Shiv’s table talk made me realize how much closer we are to making GATTACA a reality. With his mention of the revolutionary gene-editing tool called CRISPR, and how it can be used to develop gene-based medicines for genetic diseases, it seems that we are indeed closer to that reality. Furthermore, for the first time, recently, scientists have demonstrated that a controversial new kind of genetic engineering can rapidly spread a self-destructive genetic modification through an entire species, such as mosquitoes. The scientists used CRISPR to engineer special mosquitoes with a “gene drive”, which rapidly transmits a sterilizing mutation through other members of the mosquito species. These special mosquitos were created in the hopes of using them as a new weapon in the long, frustrating fight against malaria. However, there is a lot of controversy behind this method of eradicating malaria, as Shiv explained that it may seem as if humans are “playing god”. If modifying mosquitos brings so much controversy, I wonder what the public response to genetically modifying humans will be.