Episode: 25 GATTACA Special

XenoThesis

Michael and Richard discuss and analyse the film GATTACA, cinemtographically and in terms of the bioethical questions it raises.

Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:32 - Welcome to our special episode on GATTACA
00:55:00 - Why GATTACA? - Good hard sci-fi for biology
00:02:05 - The challenge of predicting the future in a science of complexity like biology
00:04:23 - Go Watch the Film if you have not already
00:05:20 - Info about the GATTACA release 24th oct 1997 [1]
00:06:45 - A somewhat dystopian biopunk film set in a world where genetic engineering is commonplace
00:07:45 - Non-state eugenics, ‘voluntarily’ by private persons wanting their offspring to have the best chances
00:09:55 - Cast [2]
00:10:50 - Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman met on set got married [3]
00:11:34 - Is that Hank? [4]
00:12:46 - Character Names, Vincent Freeman, Irene cassini, Eugene Morrow (GATTACA) [5]
00:15:28 - Awards [6]
00:15:50 - Poor box office performance [7]
00:17:20 - Pacing, Compelling
00:18:20 - Production design, spiral staircases [8]
00:19:25 - High modernist aesthetic [9] in locations and cinematography
00:19:40 - Marin County Civic centre [10], Frank lloyd wright [11]
00:21:42 - Clothing [8]
00:22:04 - Valids High culture, Invalids low culture [8]
00:23:30 - CLA building [12]
00:24:20 - Cars 1950-60 era bodywork with made to look/sound electric [13]
00:25:20 - Score - Michael Nyman [14]
00:26:52 - Cinematographer [15]
00:27:20 - Use of colour, Green symbolises nature and danger [16]
00:32:22 - If you still have not watched the movie this is where it gets spoiler heavy
00:33:28 - We ‘borrowed’ other people’s film appreciation skills for the previous section
00:35:00 - Setting / World [1]
00:36:20 - Genetic discrimination ‘Genoism’ illegal but widespread.
00:37:16 - Much more reproduction in now IVF, if you are not ‘god children’ / ‘faith births’
00:38:00 - Widespread access to embryo selection, genetic engineering an extra ($) [17]
00:38:45 - Real world law GINA (Genetic information non-discrimination act versions introduced in 1995 passed in 2008) [18]
00:40:15 - Data privacy Ancestry, 23 and me etc. legal work arounds [19, 20]
00:41:18 - We are skeptical that the american healthcare system won’t manage to genetically discriminate anyway
00:41:55 - Vincent - naturally conceived many genetic risk factors [21].
00:42:26 - Anton his younger brother who is genetically selected, and gets his father’s name.
00:43:38 - Anton is taller despite being younger
00:44:04 - They play chicken with who is the first to turn back when swimming out to sea.
00:44:50 - Favouritism, rivalry, expectations and the ambition of space travel
00:45:45 - Vincent wins at chicken for the first time and it changes everything
00:47:20 - Vincent leaves Home and has a janitorial job a GATTACA, can’t get past the genetic tests whenever he applies despite hard work
00:47:48 - Meets black market false identity broker pairs him with Jerome Eugene Morrow
00:48:20 - Drastic measures to take on Jerome’s identity
00:49:20 - Gets in at GATTACA, assigned to be navigator on a mission to Titan
00:50:00 - Inciting action: Murder of an administrator at GATTACA, Vincent’s eyelash found at the scene
00:50:30 - Love interest: Irene Cassini, Valid but with elevated risk of heart failure.
00:51:40 - Eugene deliberately walked in front of the car that paralysed him
00:51:40 - Pressure of expectation and failing to live up to it
00:52:38 - It hits you hard when you realise you are not best in your peer group anymore
00:55:10 - How are they handling genetic engineering in the olymics? not addressed in detail.
00:56:29 - No-holds-barred olymics with all the Drugs?
00:57:55 - Everyone with olymic ambitions trains hard, the genetically gifted who train hard lead the pack
00:58:05 - Trade-offs - you can’t be the optimal sprinter and marathon runner [22] at the same time and you could genetically optimise for either, consent issue
01:00:50 - Vincent evades detection and Anton is the detective on the case and the Killer is revealed
01:01:28 - Anton shows up to Vincent / Eugene’s house, Eugene has to climb the stairs, Irene keeps up the deception, saved by a call
01:03:05 - Why no elevator?
01:05:00 - Anton and Vincent play chicken once again
01:06:25 - Vincent offers Irene a hair Irene declines to sequence it
01:07:01 - Eugene shows vincent a lifetime supply of materials to impersonate him
01:07:20 - Vincent is ready to board the rocket when there is a final test for which he is not prepared
01:08:10 - The doctor knew all along and lets Vincent board
01:08:55 - As the rocket launches Eugene dons his medal and incinerates himself
01:09:35 - Eugene’s suicide
01:13:50 - Eugene gave Vincent a note with lock of hair to take with him to Titan
01:14:38 - knit picks
01:18:28 - The scene with the blood vial switch
01:19:20 - Quotations in the opening titles
01:19:44 - Ecclesiastes 7:13 [23]
01:19:56 - Willard Gaylin [24]
01:19:23 - The book of Ecclesiastes - not bad for the bible [23]
01:21:34 - Existentialism, the ephemeral nature of existence and lack of change
01:23:10 - Progress now occurs in the lifetime of an individual
01:24:00 - The archetypes of Eugene heir to the throne and Vincent the underdog
01:26:00 - Dystopia arises through the oversimplification of genetic quality to a single dimension
01:26:54 - Goodhart’s law [24]
01:28:00 - Real diversity, specialisation and complementation
01:29:57 - Promotion with a fake genetic engineering clinic ad
01:31:50 - Historical Context of eugenics
01:32:15 - The difference between the historical mistakes and the one GATTACA warns about
01:32:30 - History of Eugenics - Francis Galton [27]
01:33:10 - Applying animal breeding techniques to the human population
01:34:53 - What would you breed for in humans? For Galton: intelligence [28]
01:35:14 - Flynn effect - IQ increasing over time [29]
01:37:00 - Initially attributed to much explanatory power to genetics and not enough to environment
01:38:52 - The Eugenics society (Galon institute) [30]
01:39:20 - The positive vs negative eugenics split
01:40:55 - The failed ‘feebleminded persons control bill’ 1912 [31]
01:42:30 - Eugenics spreads to America and Germany
01:42:40 - Popularity with liberal and progressive thinkers [30]
01:43:38 - Bad science mixed with bad politics [32]
01:44:02 - Forced sterilisation persists in some places today, Uyghur Muslims in China [33]
01:44:28 - Eugenics records office 1910 [34]
01:45:00 - Forced sterilisations in the US continued to 1970s [35]
01:46:30 - Nazi Eugenics 1921 [36]
01:47:10 - pre-existing social darwinist attitudes in WWI era German military command [32]
01:47:43 - Sterilisation 1933 [37]
01:47:54 - Himmler ‘lebensborn’ 1935 [38]
01:48:07 - Racial impurity crimes 1936 [39]
01:48:26 - Action T4 250,000-300,000 killed 1939-1945 [40]
01:51:10 - The swing away from nature and towards nurture
01:51:52 - The slate is not as blank as many wanted to believe [41]
01:52:28 - As a generalisation it’s about 50:50 genetics and environment [42]
01:54:10 - The genetic engineering arms race
01:56:16 - GATTACA presents the nuanced dilemma not the caricature
01:56:54 - The ability to do good with modern genetic technologies
01:57:22 - Genetic screening: tay-sachs and Dor yesharim [43]
02:01:04 - Increasing prevalence of carrier and pre-natal genetic screening
02:02:00 - amniocentesis and the option of abortion [44]
02:03:34 - Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis [45]
02:05:40 - History of IVF
02:05:50 - Louise Joy Brown first IVF baby 1978, >5 million since. [46]
02:06:40 - Human fertilisation and embryology authority, >600 conditions screened [47]
02:08:10 - The regulatory hurdles for the first ‘3 parent child’ [48]
02:08:45 - Mitochondrial diseases and maternal inheritance [49]
02:11:00 - Had to travel to UK, New York and Mexico for different parts of the procedure [48]
02:13:00 - In real life the number of embryos you have to select from is quite limited [50]
02:13:18 - Splitting to more embryos to edit?
02:15:23 - Embryo breeding [51]
02:18:10 - Sequencing results in GATTACA - you don’t get a print out of the genome [52]
02:20:40 - Genetic test results
02:21:47 - Genome Browsers [53, 54]
02:24:18 - You can just go and have your date’s genome sequenced at a kiosk
02:25:30 - Data protection
02:25:48 - Genetic matchmaking - ‘The One’ [55]
02:27:10 - Gene therapy in adults [56]
02:27:34 - Somatic vs germline gene therapy: germline is heritable, somatic is not [56].
02:28:27 - Inefficiency of somatic gene therapy [56]
02:29:15 - Deleted Scene extra $5k for enhanced mathematical / musical ability [17]
02:30:45 - The 12 fingered pianist
02:31:48 - The illogic of genetically modified food regulations, irradiation vs targeted edits [48].
02:35:55 - Concern about regulations around genetic engineering in humans
02:37:06 - CRISPR cas9 2012 genetic cut and paste [57]
02:39:45 - First discovery of CRISPR sequences bacteria Francisco Mojica 1993 [58, 48]
02:41:15 - CRISPR found to be an Adaptive immunity system 2005 [58]
02:42:50 - Editing proof of principle Doudna and Charpentier 2012 [59, 60]
02:44:20 - Inactivating genes by cutting them and getting an imperfect repair [61, 62]
02:44:53 - Inserting new sequence with CRISPR [63]
02:46:36 - Very rapid adoption in research in wide use in <2 years
02:47:46 - The first CRISPR babies 2018, He Jiankui scandal [63, 48]
02:49:00 - He Jiankui made a poor choice of intervention
02:52:03 - Michael is angry
02:52:44 - Consequences for He Jiankui
02:54:02 - Reality is catching up to GATTACA’s launch cadence [64]
02:55:10 - Richard resisting going on a tangent noises
02:55:46 - Space remained the aspirational goal
02:56:04 - Suits in space
02:56:28 - A heart defect is a legitimate concern on a spaceflight
02:58:15 - Transhumanism [65]
02:58:48 - Relationship to the cyberpunk episode [66]
02:59:46 - Society became fixated on genetic determinism in GATTACA
03:01:30 - Public conversation on bioethics
03:03:20 - Much good can be done moral obligation to pursue it
03:03:51 - Increased capability is an unambiguous good
03:03:46 - Ethical challenges of Trade-offs and specialisation
03:05:21 - Risk of burdening children with specific expectations
03:10:00 - Speculations on future human enhancements
03:11:42 - We will be more diverse in biology
03:12:36 - Political challenges of this diversity
03:13:06 - Explore the possibilities whilst staying safe
03:14:20 - Concluding remarks
03:14:46 - Outro

References

• [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca
• [2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/
• [3] Ethan and Uma met on set and were married 1998-05, had two children https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Hawke#Personal_life
• [4] Dean Norris plays the cop Eugene asks for his badge number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Norris#Film
• [5] Vincent Freeman, vincent comes from the Latin Vincere which means to overcome. Irene Cassini - Giovanni Domenico Cassini (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Domenico_Cassini) - discovered four satelites of saturn, The Cassini mission (https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/) launched in 1997 to study saturn, landed the Huygens probe on titan, Cassini crashed into saturn in 2017 mission to titan a moon of saturn. Jerome Eugene Morrow - Eugene from the Greek εὐγενής (eugenēs), “noble”, literally “well-born”, from εὖ (eu), “well” and γένος (genos), “race, stock, kin” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_%28given_name%29 GATTACA - A,T,G,C the four nucleobases of DNA.
• [6] Awards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca#Accolades
• [7] Release https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca#Release
• [8] Gattaca featurette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft8Rfy1Tfzc
• [9] High Modernism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_modernism
• [10] Marin County Civic Centre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_County_Civic_Center
• [11] Frank Lloyd Wright https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright
• [12] The Classroom, Laboratory & Administration Building (CLA) building at California State Polytechnic University https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLA_Building
• [13] Citroën DS convertible https://www.imcdb.org/v003929.html
• [14] Score composed by Michael Nyman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Nyman#Works
• [15] Cinematogrpher Sławomir Idziak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir_Idziak
• [16] Use of colour http://film.byu.edu/aperture/?p=402
• [17] Deleted scenes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC9f9Rfawcg
• [18] GINA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrimination_Act
• [19] Data Privacy concerns https://www.businessinsider.com/privacy-security-risks-genetic-testing-23andme-ancestry-dna-2019-2?r=DE&IR=T
• [20] Evading 4th amendment protections with foreign governments https://www.giswatch.org/en/communications-surveillance/unmasking-five-eyes-global-surveillance-practices and private companies https://www.illinoislawreview.org/online/public-surveillance-through-private-eyes/
• [21] Vincent’s projected lifespan 30.2 years, with the following risks: neurological condition 60%, manic depression 42%, ADHD 89%, heart disorder 99%.
• [22] Genetics of marathon running https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6683622/
• [23] Ecclesiastes 7:13 NIV “consider god’s handiwork who can straighten what he hath mad crooked.” Very Bad Wizards episode on Ecclesiastes: https://www.verybadwizards.com/160 Differing translation: https://www.knowableword.com/2019/06/06/what-does-meaningless-vanity-futility-mean-in-ecclesiastes/
• [24] “I not only think we will tamper with mother nature, I think mother wants us to” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Gaylin
• [25] Goodhart’s law When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
• [26] Fake ad “Children Made to order” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/1463149639768-QINN1VAQ38ICSSLOXDW9/gattaca-ad-made-to-order?content-type=image%2Fpng
• [27] Francis Galton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton
• [28] Galton: Hereditary Genius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hereditary_Genius
• [29] Increasing IQ the Flynn effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
• [30] The Galton Institute https://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/, Eugenics Society Archive https://wellcomelibrary.org/collections/digital-collections/makers-of-modern-genetics/digitised-archives/eugenics-society/
• [31] Feebleminded persons control bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Deficiency_Act_1913
• [32] Andrew Marr on Darwin’s Dangerous Idea https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j58p1, https://piermarton.info/darwins-dangerous-idea/
• [33] Forced sterilisation of Uyghur muslims in China https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/04/muslim-minority-teacher-50-tells-of-forced-sterilisation-in-xinjiang-china
• [34] Eugenics Record Office (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_Record_Office) founded 1910 by Charles Davenport (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Davenport) director Harry Laughlin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_H._Laughlin)
• [35] A History of Forced Sterilization in the United States https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/history-forced-sterilization-united-states-167762
• [36] Nazi eugenics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_eugenics Fritz Lentz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lenz, Eugen Fisher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Fischer
• [37] 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_for_the_Prevention_of_Hereditarily_Diseased_Offspring
• [38] Lebensborn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn
• [39] 1936 Nuremberg Laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Laws
• [40] Action T4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_T4
• [41] The Blank Slate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blank_Slate
• [42] Blueprint by Robert Plomin https://areomagazine.com/2020/09/02/the-nature-behind-human-potential-robert-plomins-blueprint/
• [43] Committee for Prevention of Jewish Genetic Diseases aka Dor Yeshorim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dor_Yeshorim
• [44] Amniocentesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amniocentesis
• [45] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preimplantation_genetic_diagnosis additionally https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/preimplantation-genetic-diagnosis
• [46] In vitro fertilisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilisation
• [47] Human fertilisation and embryology authority https://www.hfea.gov.uk/
• [48] Hacking the Code of Life by Nessa Carey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nessa_Carey#Hacking_the_Code_of_Life:_How_Gene_Editing_Will_Rewrite_Our_Futures_(2019)
• [49] Mitochondrial disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_disease
• [50] egg count https://extendfertility.com/your-fertility-3/egg-count/
• [51] Hacking Darwin by Jamie Metlz https://hackingdarwin.com/
• [52] Print out of the human genome at the Wellcome collection in London https://askabiologist.asu.edu/sites/default/files/resources/articles/genome_whats_a/Genome-bookcase.jpg
• [53] UCSC genome browser https://www.genome.ucsc.edu/
• [54] ensembl genome browser http://www.ensembl.org/index.html?redirect=no
• [55] Genetic match making https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_matchmaking, in fiction ‘the one’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_(TV_series)
• [56] Somatic gene therapy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_therapy#Somatic
• [57] CRISPR cas9 in gene editing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR
• [58] Discovery of CIRSPR Francisco Mojica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Mojica
• [59] Jennifer Doudna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Doudna
• [60] Emmanuelle Charpentier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuelle_Charpentier
• [61] Genome Editing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome_editing
• [62] Error in Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) for CRISPR mediated targeted mutagenesis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1934590919303510
• [63] He Jiankui https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Jiankui
• [64] Number of launches per year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_spaceflight
• [65] Transhumanism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism
• [66] Our Cyberpunk Special https://www.xenothesis.com/20_cyberpunk_special/

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Intro: L’Etoile danse (Pt. 1) by Meydan Outro: Long Way Home by Spinning Ratio