I'm the type to sometimes feel overwhelmed by the bad things going on, but it's telling that Gattaca, in a terrible future, tells a hopeful story that despite the depths of a dark future you can still claim some victories.
I think Gattaca is also fascinating for its freshman part in Andrew Niccol's opening "trilogy" as writer (and mostly director). More people remember the sophomore work The Truman Show (in part perhaps because it was the film that Niccol didn't direct), and Simone is mostly forgettable but still worth mentioning in the way it sort of caps the "trilogy".
I think that bittersweet hopefulness and a sense of lightness (humor) in the dystopian darkness of that opening "trilogy" is partly what Niccol seems to have lost as his career has progressed from those first three efforts. It's possible to even blame Simone's critical failure for that, he leaned harder into the humor and got burnt at the box office and maybe over-corrected too hard back to even grimmer, more bland, and more action focused movies. Hard to blame someone doing what sells, but interesting to miss the weirdness and also the bittersweet hope of the opening salvo.
Down syndrome is caused by a chromosomal aberration that comes about during formation of an egg, not a mutation. It's not possible to detect it by screening the parents' DNA.
While I'm terrible at predicting the future, I find this hard to believe. I think screening your DNA is something maybe upper/middle class parents might do. I do not believe it is being done by those that cannot afford it.
I went through IVF and I can't make babies that have my particular mutation in them (even though it's not apparently disease causing and unknown to science) unless I sign a shit ton of paperwork.
So, we have to go with the Gattaca-y genomincally perfect embryos. Or conceive in the back of a car or something.
There are genetic screens for a few congenital disorders. A friend’s daughter was genetically screened for galactosemia and by catching it they almost certainly helped her have a normal life.
But since Gattaca was released, we’ve just continued to learn that it’s likely impossible to predict the full capability of a person from only DNA. There are too many variables in how genes are expressed, and the social context in which each person finds themselves.
That said, the real story of Gattaca is unjustified discrimination, and there are already plenty of technologies for that. So in that sense I think you’re right that it’s already among us. Just as it was in 1997… Gattaca is a pretty transparent allegory.
It's estimated that there won't be anyone with Down syndrome in a few decades.
Estimated by who? Perhaps in the places where parents have enough access to enough prenatal health care and/or enough disposable income for the test and the procedure. Or the places where legislatures aren't trying to make terminating a pregnancy under any circumstance murder. This will clearly come as a great surprise to you, but those conditions cover a very large percentage of humans.
So, no, from a practical standpoint genetic diseases probably aren't going to magically go away any time soon no matter what technology exists to identify them.
In this tough world, bringing in a child with Down syndrome is committing to their lifelong care and carefully planning who will take over the job of caring for them when you die. Don’t do it.
One of my favourite books, the haunting and poetic dystopian Riddley Walker has a particularly interesting relationship with its real-life Kent locations, as the (American) author Russell Hoban played in his beautiful language twisting with their names:
Sample passage imagining the post-apocalyptic development of rhymes and myths tied to the local area by the hero's folk:
It wer Ful of the Moon that nite. The rain littlt off the sky cleart and the moon come out. We put the boars head on the poal up on top of the gate house. His tusks glimmert and you cud see a dryd up trickl from the corners of his eyes like 1 las tear from each. Old Lorna Elswint our tel woman up there getting the tel of the head. Littl kids down be low playing Fools Circel 9wys. Singing:
Similar for me, Earth Abides takes place in Berkeley near where I used to live - giving details of a post apocalyptic Indian Rock Park and the all-revered University Library, that I knew decades later.
Probably because it's the opposite of dystopic but Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciences [0], Valencia, ESP is one of the most sci-fi locations I've ever set foot in. You'll recognize it from Marvel films it's the setting for Guardians of the Galaxy.
Whenever I visit Valencia we go there. My family calls it "the city of the future" (the Ciutat I mean). My daughter thinks one of the buildings looks like Darth Vader's helmet.
One of my favorite cities - went there on my honeymoon in 2019. The river-turned-park is beautiful and the whole old town area of the city is just full of "play". Check out this sweet playground that's actually a giant Gulliver laying down (https://www.lovevalencia.com/en/the-gulliver-park.html).
If anybody can swing a visit to Valencia - do it. I can't wait to go back some day.
I watched Robocop again this weekend after playing the game released last year. The PS5 version is a bit glitchy, but I really enjoyed it otherwise, watching the film again and it was surprising how faithful the video game was to the film.
I thought the film would show it's age more, but it actually still holds up quite well. Also brought back memories of music that sampled many of the lines and effects from the film.
Robocop is wonderful how it both faithfully embraces the hollywood action flick / stereotypical "fear of crime" (not sure how to say that) film ... and seems to satirize it all at the same time.
Robocop walking on water is both hilarious and fun.
Verhoeven managed that very well in Total Recall and Starship Troopers too - he really hit the right note. Right on the boundary of ludicrous and believable.
> stereotypical "fear of crime" (not sure how to say that) film
My pet theory is that a whole glut of those films and film-adaptations (i.e. Judge Dredd) can be correlated to a zeitgeist of worry from rising US violent crime graphs. (The crime-stats, in turn, are quite suggestive of massive lead-exposure on a delay.)
Interesting Bay Area trivia: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the book Blade Runner was adapted from, takes place in San Francisco. The Mission police station being a central place.
I would add Simon Fraser University in Vancouver BC. Its grey concrete architecture combined with Vancouver's grey skies has appeared in a host of scifi, mostly dystopian stuff such as the Underworld vampire movies. And of course X-files, which was pretty dystopian imho.
Readit News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn_gUcCO-gM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSNI13VpPOA
I'm the type to sometimes feel overwhelmed by the bad things going on, but it's telling that Gattaca, in a terrible future, tells a hopeful story that despite the depths of a dark future you can still claim some victories.
I think that bittersweet hopefulness and a sense of lightness (humor) in the dystopian darkness of that opening "trilogy" is partly what Niccol seems to have lost as his career has progressed from those first three efforts. It's possible to even blame Simone's critical failure for that, he leaned harder into the humor and got burnt at the box office and maybe over-corrected too hard back to even grimmer, more bland, and more action focused movies. Hard to blame someone doing what sells, but interesting to miss the weirdness and also the bittersweet hope of the opening salvo.
It's estimated that there won't be anyone with Down syndrome in a few decades.
So, we have to go with the Gattaca-y genomincally perfect embryos. Or conceive in the back of a car or something.
But since Gattaca was released, we’ve just continued to learn that it’s likely impossible to predict the full capability of a person from only DNA. There are too many variables in how genes are expressed, and the social context in which each person finds themselves.
That said, the real story of Gattaca is unjustified discrimination, and there are already plenty of technologies for that. So in that sense I think you’re right that it’s already among us. Just as it was in 1997… Gattaca is a pretty transparent allegory.
Estimated by who? Perhaps in the places where parents have enough access to enough prenatal health care and/or enough disposable income for the test and the procedure. Or the places where legislatures aren't trying to make terminating a pregnancy under any circumstance murder. This will clearly come as a great surprise to you, but those conditions cover a very large percentage of humans.
So, no, from a practical standpoint genetic diseases probably aren't going to magically go away any time soon no matter what technology exists to identify them.
Bollock Stoans - Bullockstone
Cambry - Canterbury
Do It Over - Dover
Horny Boy - Herne Bay
etc
http://www.errorbar.net/rw/Places
Sample passage imagining the post-apocalyptic development of rhymes and myths tied to the local area by the hero's folk:
It wer Ful of the Moon that nite. The rain littlt off the sky cleart and the moon come out. We put the boars head on the poal up on top of the gate house. His tusks glimmert and you cud see a dryd up trickl from the corners of his eyes like 1 las tear from each. Old Lorna Elswint our tel woman up there getting the tel of the head. Littl kids down be low playing Fools Circel 9wys. Singing:
Horny Boy rung Widders Bel
Stoal his Fathers Ham as wel
Bernt his Arse and Forkt a Stoan
Done It Over broak a boan
Out of Good Shoar vackt his wayt
Scratcht Sams Itch for No. 8
Gone to senter nex to see
Cambry coming 3 times 3
Sharna pax and get the poal
When the Ardship of Cambry comes out of the hoal
Read it here: https://riddley-walker.narod.ru/Book/RussellHoban-RiddleyWal...
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Arts_and_Sciences
If anybody can swing a visit to Valencia - do it. I can't wait to go back some day.
I thought the film would show it's age more, but it actually still holds up quite well. Also brought back memories of music that sampled many of the lines and effects from the film.
Robocop walking on water is both hilarious and fun.
Verhoeven managed that very well in Total Recall and Starship Troopers too - he really hit the right note. Right on the boundary of ludicrous and believable.
My pet theory is that a whole glut of those films and film-adaptations (i.e. Judge Dredd) can be correlated to a zeitgeist of worry from rising US violent crime graphs. (The crime-stats, in turn, are quite suggestive of massive lead-exposure on a delay.)
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bexhill-on-Sea
https://604now.com/simon-fraser-university-movies-filmed-at-...
The "Halls of Justice" and the underground parking at Melbourne Uni come to mind.
The first one is really quite a different type of movie.
and then like 5 years later it's raiders in football pads and spikes, lol.