There’s a specter haunting genetics, and that’s Gattaca. The 1997 film comes up constantly whenever someone is doing something with genetics which might be pushing the envelope. But what world do we live in? We live in a world of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. More importantly, we live in the world of the Innocence Project. This enterprise is so well known that we don’t even blink an eye, but what they’re doing is applying genetics. This came to my mind because of the most recent case of two men exonerated of rape and murder (they were on death row). And if you think being railroaded like this only happens to low IQ and socially advantaged individuals, see the Michael Morton case. Think applied genetics is scary? Imagine a world without it!
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