What struck me most about the movie “Gattaca” was the notion that society is leaning towards genetically defined discrimination, because I simply cannot imagine a world where we depend solely on what genetic code and machines, however mistaken they may be, tell us about a person. This idea alone undermines the impact that nurture has on people and what differentiates us from machines that can be programmed to do exactly what we want. As a species, we depend on motivation and emotion to drive us besides what we are physically capable of doing. The mere thought that hard work can get people further than natural talent seems to frequently escape the minds of many people. I would like to argue this movie from two perspectives: psychological abilities and physical abilities.

I read a book a few years back, titled “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell, that I relate to the topic of psychological ability. This book introduced me to the theory that genetics and IQ are merely benchmarks of people’s potential. As I recall, the book theorized that a higher IQ can make it easier for you to learn certain things, but after exceeding a certain threshold a higher IQ will provide no further benefit. This speaks for the effort that a person must exert to reach a certain potential. We are not born with innate ability to swim or read, we learn these traits the same way that we must learn other skills for what we wish to accomplish. While I personally believe that a large part of what we are capable of comes from emotional motivation and nurturing of interests as well as talents, I think there is validity to the argument that because genetically influenced traits may be mere thresholds, it is difficult to dictate what a person will be capable of accomplishing from a sequence of genes.

From a physical perspective, I think the movie overlooks the fact that a person born with the slightest chances of illness and disorder may fall into a pitfall of malnourishment or lack of self-care that will influence their capabilities. We don’t see olympic athletes that do not train hard every day or athletes that exclusively eat junk food and can keep up with physical demands. How we choose to take care of ourselves plays a significant role in what we can do. I believe that as long as there are educated people in the world that understand these complexities of the human mind and body, it is impossible to categorize people based on genetic code. Vincent beat the unlikeliest of odds by taking care of himself. He trained for his physical stamina. He studied to understand the logistics behind space travel. Nobody can predict with certainty what can or will happen under the correct conditions.