Further thoughts on Gattaca

I have been wrestling with something since watching Gattaca through the eyes of a utopian class. We see this image of a world where people are not born equal, and that bothers us.... deeply. But should it? Should it really? I mean, we aren't born equal, are we?

Some people are smarter than others. Some people are stronger than others. Any trait we admire, some have more and some have less. Health, beauty, stamina, wit... on and on. Most people have things that they excel in to cover those weaknesses to some extent. Some people are really beautiful and really stupid. Others might be dazzlingly intelligent and not be in the best of physical health. We accept in general that people's good points somehow balance with their faults and everyone comes out roughly equal in the end... but that's just not true is it?

Look at the example that Gattaca gives us: Astronauts. Astronauts have to be scientists of the highest orders with IQs that make me feel as small as a mouse. But they also have to be in peak physical condition and go through hellish tests even then. Anti gravity training cuts out even the smartest and most physically fit people if they throw up. This is not a job people get easily now without crazy qualifications. So yeah, he had a heart defect. But this would prevent him from being an astronaut now too.


I don't think that its fair that he is stuck as a janitor either of course. With his intelligence and drive he could have made an excellent scientist or professor. But an astronaut? It seems irresponsible to me. In the throws of the movie, you want him to succeed  But what happens when he is orbiting Titan and he goes into cardiac arrest because his heart can't take it? All of his peers suddenly have to deal with his death and the work that he was meant to do. He is their NAVIGATOR.  How are they going to get home in an emergency if he is dead or incapacitated because he lied about his health? That's like men who sign up to become soldiers who lie about their health history. It's a bad idea, isn't it? ...isnt it?




Does this make me a horrible person? >.<

The Genetic Burden

Gattaca has a particularly strong resonance for me than for most. There are many things to be hated in this film- a whole new form of discrimination for one. We see people judged by their potential instead of their drive or their actual ability. Discrimination is detestable of course, and I believe the greatest failing of humanity as a whole. I don't want to talk about that today, though. What about the premise of this movie as a whole? The pursuit of genetic perfection?

On its surface, conceiving a child in this manner seems cold, doesn't it. Creating a few perfect zygote candidates in a vial and asking you to pick your kid. Down to the skin, hair and eye color. Edit them like a doctored photograph. But, this doesn't fill me with the dislike that it seems it should.

This may be too much information about me, more than you might really need to know... but I have five genetic disorders. At fourteen, I was an honors and AP student, a competitive athlete in two sports, and a recreational athlete in many others- a soccer goalie, a show jumper, a black diamond skiing adrenaline junkie. When I was fifteen, I couldn't get out of bed without help. They told me that I would never graduate high school, and that college was laughable. Participating in sports again was as far off a dream as going to the stars.

But I wouldn't take no for an answer. I graduated from high school writing papers in bed- I got into college with excellent SAT scores even though I could barely walk to the testing room. I worked hard, fighting an uphill battle against everyone's expectations improving my mind and my body over time. I can't have everything back. I don't compete anymore, but I play soccer for fun, and this spring, for the first time in five years, I will get back on the horse- literally.

That journey was unbelievably hard - but I don't regret it. My body is my own, and the journey I had to take made me who I am. It taught me the value of so many things, how to find joy everywhere and take nothing for granted. It taught me humility, and stubborn determination where it would have been easier to give in. But it is nothing I would wish on anyone, ever.

If I could create my children in a vial, to guarantee that the burden ends with me, I would feel happier and more secure about bringing a life into this world. And that shouldn't be just me. If we could be certain that every child born will have no down syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, seizure disorders, attention deficit disorders, or in fact any disorders of the mind or body wouldn't that be a better world? How much suffering could be spared by such an advancement?

And then the hazier problem - what if we could take violent dispositions out of people? Wouldn't that too be for the best? We see suffering everywhere these days. People found murdered in their homes, muggings and rapes, bombings, wars.... on and on. What if we only had children who turned from anger and violence and desired peace and prosperity instead? Could we at last achieve a global peace by fixing ourselves? Gattaca's genetic tampering obviously didn't completely succeed  the director was as modified as anyone else but he had a motive strong enough to over come his peaceful nature for ill. And yet, how many crimes could be prevented by people simply not wanting to commit them?

I'm not saying I want a world precisely like the one shown in Gattaca. I think a person's performance and 'inclination' should stand for itself. But what would be so bad about a world rid of genetic illnesses and predispositions for health problems? Wouldn't that world look better than this one now?

Finally a book I don't hate.... Surprisingly.

Okay, I'm going to say it. I'm actually enjoying 1984 both as a work of fiction and as a very real portrait of concerns for the future.

I didn't like the other dystopia we read primarily because I did not care for the premise fear. The fear of technology is rather repugnant to me, but i have already waxed on about that more than enough.


1984 presents a legitimate fear of mine and I believe of many people with regards to the future.It recognizes   that people.... Well, we kind of suck, don't we? We hate each other and start wars over petty things. You cant turn on the news without hearing  about a shooting, murder, kidnapping or military tragedy. Utopia doesn't exist because we aren't good enough to make it, not even close.

This novel describes a possible scenario, in which an incredibly evil, or at best a terribly misguided but deeply charismatic group of people convince others to submit to unspeakable things in the name of creating a better world. Now this is something that could actually happen and a real fear.

We've seen horror stories about cult leaders like this, haven't we? Passionate and charming,  they convince their followers of horrendous things and tell them they are happy, and they believe it. What if this happens on a massive scale? Couldn't it.... Hasn't it already dozens if not hundreds of times....Hitler of course comes to mind but haven't we been doing this as far back as recorded history can remember?  People who slaughtered others in the name of ending suffering and bringing about a new world.



This is the phrase that chills me to the bone:


A war to end all wars.

"Brave" my foot.

This novel gets my goat in a big, bad way. Bad grade or no, I just don't think I will ever finish this book. It grates on me like nails on a chalkboard.

Can't you just hear it? Doesn't it just peel the enamel from your teeth?

Yeah yeah yeah. I know its a dystopia  I know that it is sarcastic and supposed to be taken with a grain of salt and we are supposed to hate the things being said in this novel. It's a warning, its actually speaking out against these things. I get it. But I still hate it. 

My Mum is a bit old fashioned in some ways. She's pretty terrified of technology. Not because she doesn't know how to use it, but because she is always afraid of it being used against her. She hates using her credit card online, or really at all. She hears about spy drones and almost has a conniption fit. Don't even get me started on the time she found out her cellphone has a GPS locator in it. 

Don't get me wrong. I love my Mum, a lot. But we all have our quirks, don't we?

And it's not just her, or her age group or anything like that. I've seen this fear everywhere, from technological enthusiasts and troglodytes alike. Out right terror at the idea of technological advancement, of change. As though our cell phones will wake up and slaughter us in our sleep. Nonsense. 

When I see a new breakthrough in technology, I am filled with joy and hope - never fear. At worst, it makes me desperately sad to see technology abused as it is from time to time. Still, advances in robotics that kill people today become robots that preform surgery or keep hospitalized people with no family company tomorrow. Its the circle of technology. What is created for war is re-appropriated by the populace for peace. Hopefully someday, war won't be a part of the equation at all. 

When people hear about drones that you can fit in your pocket and guide with your tablet computer, they are usually scared. What if the government straps a poison dart or a gun to this thing and they can send a robot the size of a finch to kill anyone they want? What do I think? I think, what if you put heat sensors on there, and use it to locate people stuck under collapsed buildings in natural disasters? What if you could carry them food and water and medicine while the rescue teams worked? What if they make these little guys into taco or chocolate cake delivery machines for every day? How awesome would that be?! What if every child had one to watch it and make sure it was safe, and alert people of any problems? What if the elderly had ones that could monitor their vitals, and call for help if it was needed? Think of the freedom that could give them. I see endless good possibilities, where other people only see fear. 

Oooh! Yummy!

In technology, I see humanity's last great hope. Our world is becoming smaller by the day. Communications anywhere at all are instantaneous  Knowledge of every culture and individuals of those cultures are right at our fingertips 24/7. Even language barriers are beginning to collapse as translators get more and more sophisticated. We can see things, go places, talk to people in ways that would have been totally inconceivable when my parents were born. And when my children are born the world will look even more different again. And I am so excited to see it. The world is becoming integrated. The internet has bound nations together in their economies and government decisions, people are getting organized. This isn't scary! This is great! Its a whole lot harder to hate a group of people if you can see and talk to them, much less play games and laugh together. 

So why do I hate Brave New World? Because there isn't anything Brave about it. Its a book of a coward's fears. He saw the very first production lines and believed that it was the end of his world. Look at his crazy ideas: technology will make the world fall apart. Technology will destroy our values. Factory made children, promiscuity required not stifled, opportunity destroyed, mobility destroyed, caste systems and a complete society enslaved by themselves. BRAINWASHING! *Gasp*

Rubber Ducky... You're the one.... You make bath time lots of fun....

I'm pretty sure practically everything we have, or eat, or use is made on, or at least worked on production lines. The shoes on my feet, the burger on my plate. I look around and I don't see these things, do you? Human morality hasn't changed, for all that some people claim we are getting more randy. Read Chaucer an then tell me people didn't sleep around hundreds of years ago, before the production line was even a thought in the back of someone's head. I'm decently that I was born and raised by parents who loved  me and each other - and equally as sure that I want to have kids of my own someday in a similarly soppy, loving, happy home.

I can't wait to see what the future brings. I look forward to nanobot viruses that can cure cancer or genetic illnesses. I look forward to augmented reality software that lets you access the internet's entire knowledge with your brain. Self driving cars, 3D printers making human organs, bring it on! Technology has been bringing us together, and pretty soon I hope they make us those "People of Earth" things I have been talking about since the beginning of the semester. 

Not for the feint of heart (There's sex in this post! *gasp*)

^ You have been warned. 

So.... I feel the need to get real about something here.

There were many things in Herland that bothered me. It bugged me that the women there are nothing like women in reality. It bothered me more to think of a race of people with practically no faults and by extension missing many virtues. It bothered me even more that they had no passions beyond inclinations and motherly love, and that affection and intimacy between adults was unknown to them. But I draw the freaking line in the sand over SEX.

            Ok.... so they are bizarre asexual dual gender ex-women, but I just can't let them represent female kind. 

 As most posts of mine, this is 'something of great personal irritation to me' (which is totally becoming my battle cry here. *does Tarzan impression*). Frankly, I've never been able to accept that men and women are that different. Lets break it down though, just for me to be clear. In a physical sense, there are some differences. There are the obvious sexual organ differences. Men tend to be larger in limb and body frame then women. Women tend to have broader hips and are CAPABLE (not saying that they actually possess it) of greater flexibility and agility then men. Men on the other hand tend to have broader shoulders and are CAPABLE (re-previous statement) of greater muscular strength. Women have more estrogen, men have more testosterone. Women mature sooner than men in body and brains- but men catch up after a few years.

Do girlies have to like pink and flowers and sugar and spice and niceness? Nope

Do 'dudes' have to like cars and explosions and videogames with both those things in them? Nope.
.

Do WOMEN exist who like video games? You're reading the rant of one.

Do MEN exist who like a nice flower garden as much as the next girlie? Yeah, they are actually out there, and no, they don't have to be gay!

But what does that actually change about our intellectual lives? Or even our instinctual lives? Do we actually want different things out of life? Are our thought patterns really that different? Do we actually have different 'needs'? OOOORRR could it be all that  'society' nonsense that we keep perpetuating for no reason through out all our history just because some idiots had some nasty ideas way back when and convinced a bunch of people they were right?

No. Our minds are our own, each individual. Women are not tailor made to certain pursuits and neither are men. Everyone has their own gifts in different areas, man or woman. Some PEOPLE are better at science. Some PEOPLE are better at medicine. Some PEOPLE are excellent artists. Some PEOPLE are good with kids. Most PEOPLE like sex, a lot!

BREAKING NEWS: MEN AREN'T HALF SO HORNY AS THEY THINK THEY HAVE TO ACT, AND WOMEN ARE MUCH HORNIER THAN PEOPLE GENERALLY ARE COMFORTABLE ADMITTING.

And the best bit is that the sexual drive is exactly the same in both genders. It's our residual animal brains telling us to reproduce. Its not girls wanting to be moms and guys wanting to feel nice and then fall asleep. Men want sex because they want to be Daddies on a subconscious level. Get over it. I didn't write the biological imperative, I am just sayin' it. 

But here is the real kicker for me. Since time immemorial, we seem to have one view on sex- its shameful. There are lots of different ways to describe it- dirty being one. Even the people that get a real thrill of the idea of sex being dirty are only reveling in how 'wrong' it's supposed to be. But seriously people? Is it?

I hate the idea of sex always being 'dirty.' I equally hate the idea of sex being strictly for procreation ***hint hint, this might have been what set me off........ again.*** Between two people who truly love, trust, and care for each other, sex takes on a totally different roll. It is intimacy. It is comfort. An affirmation of shared emotion and passion. Of course there is also pleasure, and why not? What's really supposed to be so scary or so wrong about that? I take pleasure in eating a nice ice cream, but I don't blush and hide the fact that I enjoy it. 

I will say that 'free love' and 'casual sex' disgust me. But not for the usual reasons exactly. Not to be all judgey here, but it seems sacrilegious to me. Sexual intimacy without love seems to me something like praying at the alter of a god you don't believe in... or rather more like dumping a load of stinky garbage on it.At that point it ceases to be about sharing or giving pleasure and becomes about taking it at a cost to yourself. It may be that some people lose self respect. But it always seems to me that even if you are truly shameless that you still destroy most of your chances at it being special and wonderful if you ever do have a shot at sharing it with the right person.

 Maybe I was raised with all kinds of bizarre ideas, but I think of sex as something incredible. Mystical even. I think its pretty freaking bizarre for a MARRIED couple in LOVE to not desire that level of intimacy. Why would you not wish to share something like that? Something so fundamentally human? And why oh why oh why does a feminist writer have to make her perfect women baby wanting prudes? Of course, that is the real problem with them anyway, isnt it? They are essentially automatons. They want to make and raise babies, and then die to give them some space. Humans need love! Real stupid messy crazy passionate love that doesn't make sense to anyone but the lovers. 

Of course, Terry's violation of the trust in his relationship is perhaps the worst breach possible. I won't even begin to discuss that or I'll never stop writing long enough to publish this.

People say you have to love yourself before you can love anyone else, yes? But most people willfully refuse to know themselves or understand their real nature and prefer to squeeze themselves into narrow little boxes with labels on. This one says manly. This one says girly. This one says 'jock' and this one says 'nerd.' We are actually beautiful, messy, crazy things called HUMAN BEINGS. I am almost sick of hearing myself sing this song now, but WHY CAN'T WE ACCEPT WHO WE ARE AS INDIVIDUALS AND MOOOOOVEEEEE OOOOOON?!

How are we supposed to try to create a better world when we won't acknowledge our true natures? Women pretending to be 'hard to get' or 'on a pillar' or god knows what and men thinking that other men will judge them as sissypants if they don't go chasing after skirts like one male dog locked in a room with a dozen females in heat?

We are animals. We like sex. Accept it, pick your own personal moral code about it, and throw gender rules right out the window, because they are Grade A Bullshit. 

Harrumph: A Rant

Note: I expect this may make people angry. I don't mean to give offense, but I've just got to say what I've got to say. Please accept my apologies in advance if this offends your sensibilities. It is not meant to.



In my ideal world, negative connotations to personal realities will be gone.

You know, something of personal irritation to me is the line that we must learn our history or be doomed to repeat it. I'm certainly not for covering up dark history— but does it have to be shoved down our throats all the time? As an English student,  often have the agendas of various groups shoved down my throat. The plight of the African American. The evils of women's work. The hardship of industrial era immigrant workers. We keep educating ourselves and others about the seemingly yawning differences between us, and foster resentment and frustration in individuals that have often suffered very little or no real hardship as a result. Racism, classism and sexism still exists, but can we ever escape it when it is crafted into our very education?

There is a phenomenon happening that they often call counter racism or counter sexism. Which is totally ridiculous. Racism and sexism isn't a one way street. It does not just flow down hill like a river. It follows wherever irrational hatred grows, so much of it presumptuous and fictional.

In my utopia, such differences should be a personal matter. Can we not be proud of our femininity or masculinity without feelings of superiority, inferiority or self conciousness? Can went be comfortable within our own gender without making war on the other? Can we not be interested in our heredity and history without inventing the pains of our ancestors into our present? Can we ever manage to make no assumptions about what a person is or what they think or feel besides what they  do and say?

Can I be a woman without it being assumed that I have to fill or avoid traditional roles? Can I be Caucasian without assumptions being made about my liniage or the behavior of my forefathers? Can I be intelligent, well spoken and educated without people assuming I am a snob, a bitch, or having a predefined set of opinions and political views???? WELL WHY THE HECK NOT, WORLD?

Can we stop obsessing about past pain and difficulties and lay down our apparent need to defend ourselves from each other? Can we just be the people of Earth and MOVE ON ALREADY????

Expectations?

I admit some moments of frustration with this class from time to time. When I signed up for it, I made the mistake of assuming that the material would be confined to Utopian literature. The study of history and philosophy that came before really surprised me. I guess it shouldn't have, it is the logical place to begin- one should explore what Utopia is and how it began before actually diving in to More's Utopia with a head full of misconceptions.

I will say that I think Plato was a good place to begin. I do believe that a lot of the qualities that make a good city also make a good man, and it make sense to consider what is necessary in a society and then build into what a city wants to have in order to be happy.

The other readings and I aren't getting along very well. I really admit that I am not seeing the connections so well. I'd be more ready to describe Barney the annoying purple dinosaur as an attempt at Utopia than Augustine's City of God or the Rule of St. Benedict.


*sigh* wow. So my iPad just deleted the majority of my post for no reason and I can't get it back. Well, I'll try again.

For me, Utopias..... Utopiai?  need a few things. Maybe perfection isn't possible. We will try to let that one pass. However, I think they need a real society of people that interact, that the creation of this society benefits the majority of the people by creating a better life for them, and that it can be implemented on a large scale. Neither of these doctrines can possibly fill these requirements.

Augustine describes his city as a divine bond between people in myriad societies all around the world. He doesn't even call upon them to act in the same ways. He tells them to live well in their own society according to their rules,  traditions and mores so long as it does not interfere with their Christianity. That is not a society. That's a religion.

If you remove this concept from the religious dogma, you have only a subset of people who have general moral values in common. They don't even know of each other's existence. How can you be a Utopian society if you are not a society?

The Rule of Saint Benedict is a little closer, it is a society of people who live and work together. They have similar ideas, a clear structure and my god do they ever have rules. A lot of them are very nice rules. Love each other. Don't be mad at each other, and if you do have any arguments make sure they are settled by dinner time. Make sure everyone has their own voice and opinion, no matter how lowly. Be productive, only speak when you have something to say. Nice, right?

Even setting aside the more extreme rules, beating and so forth, this is not a utopia. The reality was rarely as good as the Rule, but even if we set aside accounts of monks who used their position to get money out of townsfolk and had illegitimate children all over the place, the Rule is still not a utopia.

The monastic life style is about removing oneself from the community- not helping it. In some ways it is exactly the opposite of a utopia because it does not affect the majority in a positive way, but is only meant to create yet another subset. They have general pretensions about helping the outside world when it happens to crawl though the door and beg for help. But the point of all of this is to build great big stone walls and hide on the inside. They want to escape the vice and unhappiness of the world outside, but that vice and misery is still out there, but it will find a way in.

If you took the Rule out of the monastery and applied it across the world to give everyone that structure and life style, it just wouldn't work. Setting aside the fact that the majority would not wish to obey, if it were universally accepted and adhered to, the human race would vanish in a single generation because the Rule is unreasonable. It outlaws sexuality and family. Their would be no more children, and very soon no more people.

I very strongly believe that utopia cannot be successful unless it is global. If cruelty and strife exists outside the society, it will find a way to corrupt it. It has to be something everyone buys into.

For King and Country: Nerd Rage!

   

     It is my considered opinion that the greatest opposition to Utopian life is conflict, and the greatest enemy of peace is humanity. 

     Countries. Perhaps the stupidest idea that any one ever came up with. Indeed, the human race might be radically closer to achieving our ages old goal of Utopian living if some ancient tribesman had kept his mouth shut about that bright idea. We'll call him.... Thog.

Here is where I send a silent plea to the Doctor to go back in time with a nice heavy rock.

     Still, maybe it isn't Thog's fault entirely. It seems to be human nature to NEED to belong. It's a nice sentiment on the surface. You first belong to a family. You love your Mommy and Daddy and you want them around- you love your siblings even if they make you mad. Then you go outside your family and you make some friends. Nice, right? You care about all of them, you want them to be happy and safe so that you can be happy and safe with them. We love and we care. How very nice :D It makes us all warm and cuddly on the inside. Lovely!

"I love you, you love me, we're a happy family...." *Shudders*

     But no matter how big this bubble of good will gets- there are always people who are the Other. The Others are threatening. They are scary. They have their own bubbles of people they care about- and they don't really care about your people very much. They want to have the best of everything, for themselves and for their own. The dark conclusion is that they will be perfectly happy to take from your people to make their own happier. And that's where fighting comes in.

     Through history, the bubble has grown. Family, friends, tribes, cultures, nations and finally countries. And the unhappiness is compounded. Patriotism, the next stupidest idea ever invented is created. 

USA! USA! USA! .......................... Nah. 

     For King and Country! Right? It's a great reason to kill each other in endless petty squabbles over chunks of land and trade rights. It's idiotic. Let's kill each other for tactical advantage based on what flag is flying over the dirt we are born on. Let's attack each other in bar fights for disrespecting each other's mighty empires of pointlessness. But in reality, is it truly pride in our patch of ground that motivates us to fight? Or is it all the money and the nice things it can bring us? We like money- even more so, we like having A LOT of money. We can care for ourselves and our own that way, right? We can buy them lots of things. We might delude ourselves into thinking that we can buy happiness and safety. Yeah, right. How is that working out for us?

"This planet has [...] a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy." 

                                                                                                     -Douglas Adams

      So now we have established what I think is the problem- which is the biggest step in considering the solution. How to get rid of countries then? That is a thoroughly tricky question. We all love them so much. They are so very established in our society, in our minds - in some way in our nature. It might be very stupid but we need that bubble so much. So I say, make the bubble bigger. Like, atmospheric size.

Ahh, our beautiful blue marble.

 We need to stop thinking of ourselves in restricting terms. Race, location, religion, it all needs to become incidental to us like the color of our eyes. We need to think of ourselves as Human- not American or whatever else you happen to be. 

    Unfortunately that's never going to happen freely. We will never give up our ties and ideas alone. We need there to be an Other. Peace won't come until the Other is somebody else. We need a common enemy or a common task to preform. Something that our survival as a race depends on. That is the only way that we will be able to think of ourselves as the same.  

Eww.... Probes. No thank you!

         So what now? Do we have to wait around for the aliens to attack so that we can have world peace and shared prosperity? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps the better answer is a common task. It might even be underway now. If we can advance technology far enough and fast enough, we might get to peace on our own. They say the world is shrinking and it's true. We can send about 50 different kinds of messages instantly across the globe, spreading ideas and making friends thousands of miles away- all from our nifty hand held devices. If our technology progresses far enough, it might eliminate want from our lives. Already we have three dimensional printers that can create essentially anything. How long before we have a printer in our house that can create anything we'd like? Food, clothes, jewels.... where is the value in these things anymore when every one has them ad infinitum? What will the benefit of war be when our economies and governments are so bound up together that damaging the infrastructure of one damages all? What will the point of separate government be when conflict comes to an end- when our interests are Earth's interests?

Is this what our gateway to Utopia will look like? Its this the vanguard of peace? Maybe. Maybe.