The Matrix - due 11/27/07

In the world of The Matrix, people are no longer in family units, children are not born through their parents anymore, but grown from embryos artificially and mass produced. This is similar to the ideas in 1984 as well as Brave New World. This idea reminded me of the technological advances scientists are making today regarding artificial insemination and stem cell research. The article, "Brave New Genetic World," talks about these issues, and goes on to explain that the world is increasingly moving toward not only being able to produce offspring outside of the human body, but also genetically determining them. This idea is apparent in Brave New World, when the leaders are able to condition the embryos and eventually children to any intelligence level they want, and subsequently place people in societal classes. The article states, "We're now closer than ever to the prospect of genetically engineering our offspring, thanks to the human genome." If the technology continues, we will eventually be able to genetically engineer people to be exactly who we want them to be, without the help of human beings for conception, and create a world with genetically "perfect" or even, identical, human beings. This is a scary thought when we read literature such as Brave New World and 1984, and hopefully these abilities never fall into the wrong hands.

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0023.html