10 Films That Actually Got Biology Right
4. Bioethics And Genetic Engineering - Gattaca
It's extremely rare that a film gradually gets more meaningful over time, but Gattaca's definitely an exception. In its futuristic society, family clinics regularly use advanced DNA technology to ensure that planned babies have desirable traits. Well, that future is somewhat here now.
The relatively recent success of the CRISPR-Cas9 system for genomic editing means embryos can now be modified to contain the necessary genes needed for these "desirable traits". Gattaca predicted this by pretty much extrapolating what was already happening in 1997. With its assumption that every application of this genetically deterministic technology is fully accepted in everyday life, the film puts the rise of CRISPR technology in a completely new light. So, the Bioethical implications Gattaca explores are even more important, especially since researchers have been editing human embryos as early as 2015.
That's not the only thing Gattaca predicted, with characters in the film routinely getting someone's DNA sequence at a drop of a hat. Not only can we also do this now, but we even have an App for it! Gattaca's an excellent case of someone taking the current state of the field to its logical conclusion and working their way backwards, which is science-fiction at its best.