From: Chris Russo (extropy@russo.org)
Date: Wed Dec 27 2000 - 20:30:45 MST
Damien Broderick said some stuff:
>At the end, this goose does the equivalent of Homer
>Simpson plagiarizing his way into a job running a nuclear reactor. The
>clear implication to me is that the space mission will be dangerously
>compromised by his actions, just as badly as if someone with a major heart
>condition joined a polar expedition, but hey, why should *he* be left out
>of the fun?
You expected something else from Hollywood? :) I did wonder the same
thing, though. The doctor who knew about the problem could very well
be responsible for destroying a billion dollar mission and killing a
bunch of astronauts. Ah well, equality of outcome in action for you.
>This stupid plan turned out to work because his superior brother
>*unaccountably in terms of the agreed conditions* ran out of puff on the
>extended outward journey (even though he still had nearly enough reserves
>to get back to shore), and godhelpus was then towed in, coughing and
>gasping and drowning, by the feeble brother, who presumably Used the Force.
This was a bit of a stretch, but what movie doesn't have a stretch
here and there.
>Its drastic improvements *won't* be amenable to being bested
>by grit on the past of the old fashioned unmodified, any more than a guy
>with a megaphone and all the determination in the world can better be heard
>at cross-continental distances than one with a radio transmitter.
See, here's where I think you disliked something within the movie
that actually wasn't there - a cinematic straw man, if you will.
These GM human beings weren't supermen. They were just like the rest
of us, but with a few rough edges removed. A congenital heart defect
was remedied here, bad vision was corrected there. The users of this
technology were merely fixing a few human bugs and making innocuous
choices for the parents (like eye color), not creating super mutant
freaks.
Regards,
Chris Russo
--
"If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought
or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet
hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance
which does harm."
-- Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS, VI, 21
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