First off, the movie GATTACA was, by my standards average. Though it seemed hackneyed at times, and the acting seemed, as many have said before, “low-energy,” the premise was intriguing enough for me to keep wanting to watch the movie, all the way to the bitter, abrupt end.

I did not realize the impact the movie had on me, however, until I got launched into a debate with my friend over a text chat. I had mentioned that this selective genetic process could lead to self-augmentation, and, as an incurable cynic, I only foresaw disaster from this.

I believed that if people were able to make their offspring smarter, then this would incur a positive feedback loop (Oh boy, I do love me my positive feedback loops). People would begin to focus singularly on the pursuit of becoming smarter. Each generation would become an improvement on the previous, but, ever curious, we would continue to wonder what lay beyond our (enhanced) realm of understanding. Thus, we would focus on improving our intellect, perhaps obsessively. This stems from the assumption that people aren’t satisfied with knowing enough; people are only satisfied once they know everything. To know everything, of course, is impossible.

As people get smarter, then issues start to arise. People become suspicious of the unknown, and it is impossible to predict what a smarter person might do. Those who remain unaugmented in any way could become oppressed without even knowing it. Who knows what humanity might have to sacrifice in this ultimately obsessive pursuit of infinite intellect?

The transcendentalist counterargument is that it is better for humanity to expand our boundaries for the betterment of our race. What stars could we explore with augmented minds? What discoveries could we uncover, what breakthroughs could we achieve?

I don’t buy it. Maybe I’m just far to skeptical to believe it. But I do know that almost any resource-consuming positive feedback loop is destructive. If this is the way that humanity is going, well, I am most certainly quite worried.