Why?
Why did I choose to write GERM LINE the screenplay and then adapt it into the novel, “Germ Line: Revolution”? It’s a question I’ve asked myself, and one that needed to be answered before I wrote the first word. Why write it?First and foremost it’s a cautionary tale. I don’t believe that we are that far away from the commercialized genetic manipulation of our species. And in case you’re wondering, yes, genetic manipulation is happening now. Here are a few of the more interesting examples:
• Cloning - One of the most controversial uses of genetic engineering has been cloning, or producing a genetically identical copy of an organism. While the ethics of cloning are hotly debated, the first ever sheep (named Dolly) was cloned in 1996 by scientists.
• Glow-in-the-dark cats - It sounds strange, but in 2007, scientists in South Korea altered the DNA of a kitty so that its fur would glow in the dark, and then cloned other cats from it, making the world’s first glowing cats. (This is probably something I would shoot if I saw it in the middle of the night slinking through my house.)
• Pesticide-resistant rapeseed plants - Rapeseed is a flowering plant used to make certain types of vegetable oil. Genetic engineering has allowed these plants to be resistant to certain types of pesticides, so that when the fields are treated to remove pests, the plants will remain unscathed.
• Cows that pass less gas - Methane is produced by cow flatulence, and the chemical is a huge contributor to global warming. (A myth if you live in Northwest Ohio.) Cows that fart less than average have been produced to fight the deleterious effects that cow flatulence can have on the environment.
• Plants that fight pollution - Poplar trees developed by scientists at the University of Washington can absorb polluted water through their roots and clean it before the water is released back into the air. The plants were many times more efficient at cleaning certain pollutants than regular poplars.
• Golden rice - Genetic modification is often used to make "healthier" foods, such as golden rice, which contains beta-carotene – the very same vitamin that makes carrots orange. The result is that people without access to many vitamins will get a healthy dose of vitamin A when the rice is consumed.
• Environmentally friendly pigs - Genetic modification has helped to create pigs that can digest phosphorous better, which decreases the pig’s phosphorous output. The result is that manure, which is often made from pig waste, is less destructive to the environment due to its lower phosphorous content.
• Faster-growing trees - Demand for wood can be met by trees that grow faster than average. Genetic engineering has produced trees that can ward off biological attacks, grow more quickly and strongly, and create better wood than trees that are not genetically modified.
• Bigger, longer-lasting tomatoes - When tomatoes are genetically engineered, they can be made bigger and more robust. These are engineered to produce tomatoes that can remain fresh for longer, can be shipped farther from where they are grown, and can be harvested all at the same time rather than harvesting only parts of a field at each harvest.
• Salmon that grow faster - Salmon do not produce growth hormones year-round, so scientists have looked toward genetic engineering and found a solution: a modification that allows salmon to grow twice as fast than those that are not engineered.
• Insecticide corn - Instead of spraying insecticide on plants, why not genetically engineer crops that kill pests on their own? Corn was developed through genetic engineering to produce a poison that kills insects. While this corn may also harm beneficial insects such as butterflies, supporters say that the pros outweigh the cons. (Yum.)
• The banana vaccine - Bananas were developed through genetic modification that offer vaccine against diseases such as cholera and hepatitis. Just like with a needle vaccine, people who eat them develop disease-combating antibodies that make them immune to a disease.
(Source: yourdictionary.com)
Of course there are many other applications such as the development of vaccines and drugs, the treatment of disease, and, as some of the examples above show, the diversification of domesticated animals and crops, and the modification of the ecosystem. You are already eating genetically manipulated food, and these are only the examples that are fairly common knowledge.
Most of this type of genetic manipulation seems benign, even helpful or advantageous, but what happens when it starts being used to eradicate abnormalities and behavioral tendencies among the population? What happens when society determines that certain attributes, behaviors or even looks are no longer socially acceptable?
Could food be engineered to cause impotence in anyone with a chronic illness gene? Could water be engineered to eradicate anyone with a communicable disease such as aids or syphilis? What if we simply decide that we just can't leave the genetic make-up of our unborn children to chance?
This isn’t something that would happen overnight or through a series of bills and laws. It would happen gradually, and it would begin where it would be least noticeable. Among the elite and within the secret halls of government research. According to some, the transformation has already begun.
in 1978 the book, “In His Image: The Cloning of Man” by David Rorvik was published, claiming that an anonymous billionaire had hired a team of doctors and scientists to have himself cloned. According to Rorvik, the cloning was a success. That story has been somewhat debunked but the author swears it is true. According to one source, human cloning was again achieved in 1997 by fusing a human skin cell with a cow egg stripped of its nucleus. This is the same process used to clone Dolly the sheep.
But cloning is just the beginning. After all, why make a duplicate of something that is inherently flawed? As a species, humans are weak. We’re emotional, frail, and prone to disease and distraction. And of course the biggest sin of all, we’re mortal. Not only that, the lifespans we do have are too short. The United States in particular and the world at large has become so ageist that anyone over the age of fifty is no longer considered relevant, and anyone over thirty-five is considered past their prime. That means that a relatively intelligent individual basically has thirteen years after they graduate from college to make their mark on the world before it’s too late.
So the desire, obviously, is to engineer a better human being. It likely begins with something simple such as increased endurance or heightened sensory awareness like better hearing and sharper eyesight. It would be most advantageous as well to engineer the body and it’s organs to break down more slowly.
We’ve all met individuals who don’t look their age; the beautiful woman in her late forties who looks thirty-five or the youthful thirty-something man who is actually fifty. They are usually proud that they look younger than their age, but it’s highly likely that they don’t advertise the fact when they’re job hunting or trying to fit in with a younger crowd. So if science were able to engineer a way for us to age more slowly, we’d all be on board with that.
Another “no-brainer” (pun intended) is increased intelligence. If we have limited shelf-life and a finite amount of time to make our mark then superior brain power would be just the ticket to getting us on our way. We could finish college in our teens and hit the job market or the creative carousel that much earlier. Our ideas would be brilliant and our creations amazing. Who wouldn’t opt in for that? Where do I sign up, you ask.
It’s also an established social fact that attractive people tend to be more successful and have better “luck” than those with “average” looks. So why wouldn’t we toss in symmetrical faces with high cheekbones, flawless skin, straight noses and full lips as long as we’re tweaking the gene pool. We know that obesity causes health risks and is a drain on resources, why wouldn’t we make certain that we become genetically disposed to slimness. In fact, wouldn’t it be much easier to navigate the world if everyone were the same height? We could all sit comfortably in coach, and you’d never bang your head because you were “too tall”. Plus, think of the savings to companies like Levis Strauss & Co. If they only needed to make one size of jeans for all of the adult males on the planet, their profit margin would sky rocket.
That’s not to say that everyone would look alike, of course that would be silly. Some people aren’t sexually attracted to blond hair and blue eyes. They may prefer a more exotic or asian appearance, or prefer a more caramelized skin tone. And visa-versa. Sexuality will remain important as long as it remains pleasurable and is necessary for procreation. Diversity should remain viable for a while. So add a big dick for the boys and a nice tight ass and perfect tits for the girls to the check list.
Now imagine a time in the not too distant future where a very successful young doctor and her equally successful investment banker husband decide that it’s time to have children. They’ve both hit thirty, are set financially, and her biological clock is ticking. She has connections to a researcher who has made incredible strides in genetic manipulation and has had success engineering babies for several other wealthy couples.
Money is no object and they want the full package, the deluxe, World-By-The-Balls package which includes enhanced brain power, (complete with laser focus, emotional control, enhanced creativity and reasoning,) model good looks, a powerful physique and extended longevity. They want a boy and a girl, and they want them to be born in March, (because statistically they stand a better chance of success if they’re born in that month.)
The process is amazing and works beyond their expectation. They’re babies are beautiful and smart and they’ve both learned to walk by their sixth month. He’s hung like a horse and she’s going to be a real heart breaker. They’re speaking in complete sentences by nine months and they’re potty trained and eating on their own at a year. Every time mom and dad come home from work, they’ve learned something new or done something amazing.
They hit their terrible two’s but neither child is a nuisance. They’ve passed their overly rambunctious, curious phase and now have most things figured out in their small world. They’re learning to read and are expanding that world. Within a few months, they’ve begun basic computer programming.
They seem perfect. And no one realizes that they’re not. The first time either one of them didn’t get their way, they didn’t even throw a tantrum. Instead, they plotted together, silently (because they’re able to pick up each other’s thought waves) to cause an incident that seemed entirely accidental. For her, it was causing her mother to trip and wrench her ankle as she left for work because she hadn’t allowed her daughter to watch a particular television show. For him, it was causing their nanny to have a flat tire because she wouldn’t let him have a snack before dinner.
By the time they’re six years old, they have deemed their parents and almost everyone around them to be irrelevant. They interact with them on a superficial level to avoid suspicion, perform brilliantly when trotted out for guests, and maintain a level of normalcy to most of the outside world. Since their parents work most of the time, they have no idea who these two beings really are. The nanny has some clue, but she has only been there a few months. She is the seventh since they were born. All the others have been fired for cause, mostly stealing. The twins, (they’re called that but are not actually formed from a split ovum,) have quite a stash of fine jewelry hidden. This has become their method of choice when a nanny becomes too suspicious or gets to know them too well. It’s an easy and completely efficient way to have them fired; the nanny’s are never confronted, simply dismissed and a new one is hired.
Also since their parents are hardly ever around and since the nanny’s rarely stick around for more than a year, the twins have no one to teach them basic morality. It’s unlikely that the lessons would be learned either, because the rules of humanity clearly don’t apply to these two. The only hope for any type of compassion is when they decide logically that it is in their best interest to be compassionate.
They commit their first murder when they are eight. They’ve been home schooled by a series of tutors, each finding the experience extremely frustrating and short termed. Their lessons are learned, absorbed really, and the tutors quickly become irrelevant. It was one of their last tutors before high school graduation that became their first victim. It was a physics experiment, really, because the twins were bored with the literature lesson. They had already read all the classics. The murder was planned in such a way as to be untraceable to them, they had rigged a small trebuchet with a round ice cube as the projectile. They calculated the trajectory and timing perfectly so when the tutor turned to address them, they launched the tiny missile. It lodged in his throat and he was unable to cough it out.
The twins watched him choke to death on the floor of their study room with clinical indifference. Once the tutor ceased flailing, they checked his pulse, disassembled the trebuchet, brought in a glass of ice water, applied the tutor's fingerprints and called 911. They sounded appropriately panicked to the emergency operator. EMTs arrived, their parents were called and the police did a cursory investigation. Death was ruled to be accidental choking.
The eight-year-olds graduated high school with honors and were immediately accepted into Stanford. Their parents decided to give the children a year off and they would take leaves of absences from work so they could all travel for several months. The parents are finally starting to worry about the children. The death, the constant turnover of nannies and the twins somewhat distant and condescending nature have started to cause the parents to wonder if their children are “normal”. They’ve been given the best of everything, why do they seem so “detached”?
The twins, realizing that their parents are starting to worry, “normalize” their behavior and life goes on.
They wait until they finally become of age to kill their parents because becoming wards of the state was never an option. They now have wealth, doctorate degrees, and substantial research grants in applied genetics at their disposal. They have learned to mimic “normal social behavior”, are incredibly attractive and can be amazingly charming. Their futures are very bright indeed.
They’ve also discovered that there are others like them, and find that those that aren’t like them to be tedious and dim witted.
Sound ridiculous? Far fetched? Impossible? Maybe. However simple eugenics is not a new concept and was practiced by several countries in the early 20th century. Fortunately the technology didn’t exist to take it to the next level. It does now. Also, we have an incredible capacity to do harm to ourselves knowingly and unknowingly. We have the amazing ability to plunge forward regardless of consequences in the pursuit of science, profit and upward mobility. Should the above scenario in any form ever play out in reality, you can be certain that it would spell the end of the human race as we know it. The dominant species always eradicates the inferior one.
Why did I write this? Because we need to think about it.
