Gattacca

Abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, Just War theory and other such hot topics.

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Blaggard
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Re: Gattacca

Post by Blaggard »

thedoc wrote:It may be that in enhancing one quality you diminish another or several. What are you willing to give up to get what you think you want. Would you be willing to not feel any emotion in order to live a long time?
That's actually already the premise for a sci fi plot that already happened. I can't remember the name of the film off the top of my head, but I'll get back to you when I do.

That said the having a baby thing, not sitting by the window thing has also already been done but not in film, and likewise I can't remember the name. It's so hard to be original these days, why if only there was a way to thin out creative people and just create drones, oh wait there already is, education until age 18. ;)

Sorry about the UK education is now a farce thing, I couldn't resist. :P

I think it's fairly evident that if you pick and choose what are good characteristics based on a flawed society, who then gets to choose, you are going to find that you chose things that leave the populace adversely affected. It's better to let things ride I think than risk a so called arbiter of what is good and what is bad, lead the way into darkness lead by a man/society who/which is blind. After all if this world is any example what people value and what they do not is far an away from what is better for us.
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: Gattacca

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

Stephen Hawking is hardly a specimen of human 'perfection'. Many of humankind's greatest minds had genetic 'flaws'. High IQ doesn't necessarily equate with high achievement. I would be willing to bet that many of humankind's greatest achievements were by those with only average or above average IQ. Not that I have any time for IQ tests. I think they are pseudoscience. We are a lot more complex than that. I think the film was about that too. The supposedly 'perfect' guy was deeply troubled and flawed. Excellent movie.
Blaggard
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Re: Gattacca

Post by Blaggard »

Richard Feynman, IQ 121, perhaps the most noticed physicist of the later 20th century. You don't need to search IQ, because IQ doesn't measure intelligence, the film does point that out and that's why it's such a nice little ethics of science piece; now presumably many philosophers see films as toiletry products that they wouldn't wipe their ass on, I don't know but I think that film if there is any film about an issue would be something you could really get to grips with vis a vis the genetic issues in science. As you say and as the film shows, Vincent IQ only above average, in the 120 range one might posit reaches the stars, it's not what you start with it's where you are headed, simple message which bears repeating...

It's not your usual dull film with coffee book philosophy like say The Matrix, although one could argue that does make some pretty decent points. It snap crackles and pops over the issues like A Clockwork Orange on over time.

Sadly if you have read this far you probably read the spoilers and I probably have ruined it for you, but meh watch it anyway, couldn't hurt there's less in the seeing of cake than there is in the eating of it.
Blaggard
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Re: Gattacca

Post by Blaggard »

thedoc wrote:A couple of episodes of Star Trek come to mind.

One in Next generation, an official wanted to disassemble Data so they could build more of him and send them places too dangerous for normal humans, his defense was that it would amount to slavery.

The other is from one of the movies, where someone offered to remove all personal pain through a Vulcan mind meld. Kirk refused, saying that his pain was what made him feel alive.
Yeah Star Trek did some pretty deep stuff, I must admit, very accessible to us laymen, probably why it kept you watching, it would always make you think.

Vis a vis, the thread in general and general threads (possibly should start a thread about that, but since they just charge in and talk shit at you there's probably little or no point). Hence I think most philosophers not Philosophers (see previous definitions of this) on this forum are far too busy being clever about having read philosophy to actually do something that meant they for once were not an expert on it or even something to just dive in on a subject for the sake of fun. I've noticed this, you post: I think Nietzsche was x, and you get a million and one opinions from a million and one people who have read Nietzsche. You post think about this film and it's implications, and it's not just films either, just about anything outside of their comfort zone is ignored by the weeblists, you get nothing from the usual suspects, their silence is always deafening on posts they can't answer because they know nothing about it; course it might be they haven't seen the film, but I doubt it, it's just they haven't read how to think about it by someone, and so have no idea how to tackle any issues. In fact you think about, or post any thread about anything the average philosopher hasn't read somewhere or at sometime about you get nothing.

It's like they are drones, just regurgitating better men than themselves, actual Philosophers who did something new, learned to see in colour. Gattica of course covers that. How can you get anything new from a dead text? It's like talking to a brick wall, a dead text isn't going to reply, it isn't going to disagree with your opinions. Meh I made that point already but it bears repeating, some people are just coasting. Philosophy to them it seems is just a game of who can repeat others thoughts like it matters, these days anything new is growing few and far between because they're all stuck in the past. This is not the game you should be playing. Probably explains why you are sitting on a forum trying to make it into a boot camp for the closed minded book worm, texts from the past only should apply, forward thinking is not our thing. ;)

Now that's a critic of the so called philosophers on here, try using so called philosophy to argue that is not all you do? Because I don't think you can unless you know the course material first or Gatticca for dumbies, or in fact any subject where it's not all spoon fed to you how you should think.

Prove me wrong, I would like that. :)

Now to say that means I would link it to the same sort of insular thinking that goes on in Gattica, there's a sort of in crowd thing, an alpha mentality going on. It's I think to philosophies detriment. I wouldn't worry too much the usual philosopher on this forum switched off the moment they read film. There's about as much chance of them reading this as there is them thinking for themselves.
Wyman
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Re: Gattacca

Post by Wyman »

I am not a big fan of sci fi, but I actually did like that movie, and the Matrix. My favorite sci-fi film is The Road Warrior. Although terrible acting and many cheesy spots, I think it portrays how anarchy would look if civilization collapsed. And the stunts are pre-cgi spectacular.
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: Gattacca

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

Wyman wrote:I am not a big fan of sci fi, but I actually did like that movie, and the Matrix. My favorite sci-fi film is The Road Warrior. Although terrible acting and many cheesy spots, I think it portrays how anarchy would look if civilization collapsed. And the stunts are pre-cgi spectacular.
I loved The Matrix. The Mad Max films are pretty good, especially the first. Australia makes excellent, unpretentious films.
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