In this blog post, we’ll use the movie Gattaca to compare the essential differences between custom and natural humans, and explore the ethical and personal implications of both choices.
“Welcome to GATTACA” is the first line of the movie GATTACA, which depicts a futuristic society with highly advanced genetic engineering. In the movie, genetic analysis reveals the specific sequences and locations of various human traits in the DNA, which can then be selectively removed or retained. It is now possible to create customized humans by selectively inheriting only the best traits of the parents at the fertilized egg stage. Many people would not hesitate to endow their children with superior traits if they could afford it and there were no legal restrictions. This would naturally lead to a system of genetic status between naturally born and customized humans. Even among blood brothers, there is no exception.
Vincent, the protagonist of the movie, is a natural human being born from the natural conception of his parents. At birth, he is pronounced recessive, short-lived, and susceptible to various diseases by a nurse. This stigma is deeply embedded in Vincent’s life, proving his inadequacy wherever he goes and whatever he does. His brother, Anton, and Jerome, who lends him his genetic “identity,” are both customized humans with superior traits. Anton is superior to Vincent in every way, and they are treated as fitting human beings everywhere they go.
Vincent uses Jerome’s identity to sneak into GATTAC to fulfill his dream of becoming an astronaut, but he is the exception to the rule. As a result, the only people who are truly welcome in “Welcome to GATTACA” are the customized humans.
After watching the movie, I was naturally faced with the question: “If I had the choice to live as a customized human or a natural human, which would I choose?” Before answering this question, it’s important to focus on the intrinsic differences between what we’re comparing, i.e., when comparing a customized human to a natural human, we assume that all external factors such as physical abilities and genetic traits are the same, and only consider the difference between “customized” and “natural”. What is the difference between ‘custom’ and ‘natural’? Simply put, it’s the difference between artificially manipulated or not. If I were to compare the value of a customized human and a natural human based on this difference alone, I would give the natural human a higher value.
The reasons for this, from a personal perspective as a human being, are as follows.
First, I think that the artificiality and intentionality of the act of manipulation reduces the value of a customized human. A newly born natural human being goes through a series of processes in which a sperm and an egg are fertilized to create a fertilized egg, from which cell division occurs, tissues and organs are formed, and eventually an individual is completed. During this process, the genetic information of the sperm and egg is mixed and expressed in an irregular manner. Considering the hundreds of millions of sperm and one egg, and the inconsistent combination of different genetic traits, it is impossible for a natural human being with the same biological conditions to be born by chance. In other words, the human being called “I” is unique and has value as an independent individual. This is why, when discussing human dignity, the “inherent dignity” of a being is often the first thing that is mentioned.
However, in the case of customized humans, this inherent value is compromised by the act of manipulation. The manipulations that take place in the process of creating a customized human being have a specific intention, and they are done artificially. Even though the traits that people have at birth are the same, their essence is differentiated between ‘naturalness’ and ‘artificiality’. In order to determine the value of naturalness and artificiality, we need to focus on the difference between the two concepts. Naturalness refers to properties that are the result of natural forces, while artificiality refers to properties that are the result of human forces. Different people may think differently, but I believe that nature is more fundamental, more absolute, and more elevated because humans are part of the larger scheme of life. Just as we often feel the greatness and awe of nature, Vincent and Irene must have felt the limitations of man-made things in the face of natural beauty.
Second, I believe that natural humans are better than customized humans in terms of personal life happiness and satisfaction. This is easy to understand if you think about when you hit your limits. We all hit our limits at least once in our lives. Since natural and customized humans are born with the same conditions, we can assume that they will face their limits at the same point. The process of accepting and overcoming limitations is where we believe the difference between natural and customized humans lies. Natural humans don’t know if the limitations they face are truly their own, and there is room for more effort to overcome them. However, the moment a customized human encounters a limit, he or she is likely to believe that it cannot be overcome by further effort. This can vary depending on the individual, but in general, it is believed that custom humans are more likely to be pessimistic and not believe in their own potential than natural humans.
Now let’s consider the counterarguments to the above arguments. Those in favor of custom humans might argue that there is no intrinsic difference between natural humans and custom humans, so there is no choice to be made. However, this is not appropriate if the point of view of human value is only from birth. Genetic manipulation at the fertilized egg stage can be considered an individual life at this stage, as the act of manipulation itself is already aimed at producing a second generation with superior traits. Therefore, there is an ethical flaw in this process, and in this respect, there is a clear inborn difference between a customized human and a natural human.
