### GATTACA Discussion Questions

Choose two discussion questions from below and think about how you feel about the issue being highlighted. Then answer both questions to the best of your ability. Feel free to use examples from your life, current events, the GATTACA movie, or any other popular media you have seen that deals with this topic. Answers must be at least 200 words each. Be ready to discuss your answers in class.

1. When Jerome's parents went to a genetics center for a second child, the geneticist stated, "I have taken the liberty of eradicating any potentially prejudicial conditions—premature baldness, myopia, alcoholism and addictive susceptibility, propensity for violence, and obesity." The father then asks, "We were wondering if we should leave some things to chance." To this, the geneticist responds, "You want to give your child the best possible start. Believe me, we have enough imperfection built-in already. Your child doesn't need any additional burdens." Would it be irresponsible for the father to want to leave something to chance?

2. During a scene in GATTACA, Vincent's parents visited a doctor who specialized in child conception to select for the best traits for his future brother. They hoped that his brother would have the best possible chances for a successful life. Some of the traits mentioned in GATTACA included intelligence, height, and any possibility of inheritable diseases. If you decide to have a child one day and are given the opportunity to select for special traits, would you do so? Why or why not?

3. The moral message of the movie is that we can rise above our genetic predispositions, with specific emphasis on our pre-determined physical abilities. The movie's message also applies to our ability to overcome pre-determined behavioral traits—an issue more typically involved in the philosophical debate about determinism (all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will). The prime example of this in the movie was the revelation that Director Josef committed the murder, even though his genetic profile indicated that he was completely non-violent. Which is a better refutation of determinism: Vincent living past 30, or Director Josef committing a murder?

4. The original screenplay concludes with the following coda: "In a few short years, scientists will have completed the Human Genome Project, the mapping of all the genes that make up a human being. After 4 billion years of evolution by the slow and clumsy method of natural selection, we have now evolved to the point where we can direct our own evolution. If only we had acquired this knowledge sooner, the following people would never have been born:" It continues listing famous people and their illnesses, such as Hawking who has Lou Gehrig's Disease. A version of this coda was in fact filmed but deleted from the final movie. How would this argument differ from the following: couples should have as many children as physically possible since limiting births would mean that we wouldn't bring into existence valuable people?