Life Imitates Gattaca

THE 1997 SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE GATTACA was among the most under-appreciated of the decade. A critical mixed bag and a bomb at the box office, the movie was Hollywood's first attempt to address what I think will be the ethical dilemma of the new century.

The movie depicts a not-too-distance future where the genetic selection of unborn children is widespread but not universal. Genetic selection is the process of harvesting thousands of eggs (a difficult and painful process) and thousands of sperm (easy and painless), then creating thousands of conceptions. Parents then pick the conception they like best and discard the rest.

In Gattaca, society is divided into the genetically selected and the unselected, with naturally conceived people forced into a legally mandated lower class.

Having a child is like shopping on Amazon.com. ("Honey, let's have a blonde rocket scientist with great teeth and a putt like Tiger Woods!")

In the movie, ubiquitous high-tech machines provide an instant printout of anyone's genetic makeup. Everyone knows if you're naturally born or genetically selected.

I think one reason audiences didn't appreciate Gattaca was that the DNA-reading technology seemed alien and far-fetched.

But now -- just five years later -- that kind of technology is emerging from the labs.

With the cracking of the human genome and the increasing use of DNA analytical tools, genetic testing technology is advancing fast. Researchers are in fact on the brink of developing low-cost machines that will provide personal DNA profiles "on demand." Just like in Gattaca.

In the past decade, simple Internet technologies transformed the way we work, learn and even think. How will the widespread availability of DNA readers change things?

Genetic selection will be a huge dilemma because it is both morally repellant and attractive.

It's repellant because it represents an unnatural manipulation of nature. We're messing with forces we don't fully understand, deciding in advance who is worthy of being born and who isn't. To many religious ethicists, a couple employing genetic selection is "choosing" not just abortion, but mass abortion -- the reproductive equivalent of a terrorist attack.

At the same time, genetic selection is morally attractive because it can prevent enormous suffering. Vastly fewer babies hardwired with painful, incurable diseases would be born. Besides, we're already violating nature by curing diseases, some will argue. The elimination of polio, for example, is both desirable and unnatural. With vaccines, antibiotics and other cures, we're essentially canceling out natural selection. Humans that previously would not have survived and reproduced are now doing so because of science and medical technology. That's good for individuals but bad for the gene pool.

In a sense, genetic selection re-introduces genetic survival of the "fittest," but without the devastating child mortality common just a hundred years ago.

It's inevitable that genetic selection will be widespread because -- ultimately -- parents are the ones who decide. Parents generally do whatever they can to bring healthy, well-adjusted, successful children into the world. The widespread existence of "above average" genetically selected people will put additional pressure on parents to use the technology so their own kids will have a chance to cope in a society dominated by brainy supermodels.

Genetic selection will create a Gattaca like "genetic divide" between the "haves" who can afford the procedure and the "have nots" without the means to custom-tailor their offspring. This divide will exist both within societies (between rich and poor in the industrialized world) and between them (between the industrialized and developing worlds).

You may have heard a story on NPR recently about a woman who genetically selected an unfertilized egg that did not carry genes for a rare form of early adulthood Alzheimer's. Without the procedure, the woman would have had a 50-50 chance of giving birth to a baby that would develop debilitating dementia by the age of 40. Because of the procedure, the baby was born without the hereditary disorder.

The technique used in that case is actually commonly employed to prevent diseases that are fatal to children, such as sickle cell anemia and muscular dystrophy. What was groundbreaking in the Alzheimer's case was the use of the technology to prevent an adult disease. But the door is open, ethically.

The technology is here and getting better, faster and cheaper. Now it's up to all of us to decide what to do with it.

I think that millions will choose to use genetic selection, and that the ethical, religious and scientific argument will rage like nothing we've ever seen.

Genetic selection gives "pro choice" a whole new meaning.
 

Unexplained Mysteries

A movie version of "The Fantastic Four" is scheduled for a 2003 release. The Internet Movie Database, which provides information on just about every movie you can think of, has a page with details about the upcoming film. Until recently, the page showed that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer would star as "Mr. Fantastic," a.k.a. Richard Reed. Unfortunately, the previously listed actors have been removed, but not before I snagged a copy of the page. Will Steve Ballmer star in "The Fantastic Four?" Microsoft isn't talking. Ironically, Mr. Ballmer would actually be very well cast in "The Fantastic Four," but perhaps as another character: 

Shameless Pitch for Money

The experts say ad-free content can't survive! I say the experts are wrong. Click here to support ad-free content and eliminate that nagging guilt. 

Proof You Can Buy Anything on the Web

If you've got animals coming into your yard at night, digging holes and getting into trash cans, you can fire up your browser and buy the solution for between $12 and $165 per bottle. 

If you're a hopeless geek -- and, if you're reading this newsletter, you probably are -- then perhaps you'll enjoy wearing T-shirts decorated with PC error messages! 

Now you can do "high-fives" all by yourself with this handy High-Five mechanical arm!

If your child is more interested in Psychology than battling mutants, you can buy a Sigmund Freud Action Figure from McPhee (the same people who brought you the PC Voodoo Doll, Laptop Buddha and Deluxe Nerd Glasses). 

Shameless Self-Promotion

 Craig Crossman's Computer America features Mike's List content on every show (and I join Craig live on the first broadcast Sunday of every month). You can hear Computer America on your local Business TalkRadio station or over the Internet each Sunday from 1pm to 3pm Silicon Valley Time. Don't miss Computer America!

Follow-Up

Last week I complained about cliche phrases and words worn out from overuse by technology writers -- and invited you to send me your favorites. You guys really came up with some good ones. Here's the best of the lot: 

"Much-ballyhooed" (Nobody says this out loud. Ever.) 

"Throw down the gauntlet" (Nobody uses the word "gauntlet" unless somebody is throwing one down.)

"Thin is in" (You'll never see this headline in famine-stricken regions.) 

"Cut the cord" (Forget the facts that people don't call network cables "cords" and that there's no cutting involved.) 

"No strings attached" (It's the knee-jerk headline you use if "Cut the cord" already appears in the issue.)

"Just the fax" (The estate of Jack Webb should get $1,000 every time someone uses this line.) 

"<blank> killer" (Example: Palm-killer) (Someone should kill this cliche.) 

"It's the <blank>, stupid!" (No, it's an overused phrase, stupid!)

"Empowered" (If I was empowered by technology, I'd use my power make Windows stop crashing.) 

"Redux" (Why don't you "re-do" your headline before publishing your magazine!)

"Architected" (This is just one of thousands of nouns that have been verbed by us tech writers...) 

Wacky Web Sites

If you'd like to see an emotion expressed by Eric, you can send him a request at the Eric Conveys An Emotion web site. He'll take a picture of himself expressing the emotion. 

Create a mini-me version of yourself using the Lego Mini-Mizer!

If your self-esteem is too high, visit the Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age web site. Simply enter your age, and the site will tell you about famous people  who, by the time they were your age, accomplished much more than you have. 

Bad Candy chronicles the world of sweets you don't want to eat. 

Can't afford an expensive exotic car? At least you can enjoy the misfortune of those who can. WreckedExotics.com displays a gallery of spectacularly expensive cars that have been totaled in horrible accidents. It's a rubbernecker's paradise. 

The Creative Vulgarian's Lexicon is packed with undefined insults in alphabetical order. 

 If you see a really crazy web site: Let me know! 

Last Week's Mystery Pic

No, it's not a digital pill, disposable cell phone or sonic butt scrubber as suggested by some readers. It's the Korg MM-1, the world's smallest metronome. The all-digital earpiece is less than two inches long and weighs just .2 oz, but keeps time like a full-size piano-top metronome. Congratulations to Alex Gerster for being first with the right answer!

 Have you seen an amazing, hard-to-identify picture? Let me know!

Mystery Pic o' the Week

What is it? Send YOUR guess to mysterypic@mikeslist.com. If you're first with the right answer, I'll print your name in the next issue of Mike's List!