Gattaca: accurate -- and prescient?

[toddz]

A recent piece in the Daily Galaxy recalls NASA JPL’s 2011 list of “most scientifically accurate science-fiction films ever made.”

I can’t find an original NASA source of this list, but Smithsonian Magazine corroborates.

I’m inclined to trust NASA’s scientific realism gauge. The interesting thing in the Daily Galaxy article is that it further suggests the top pick, 1997’s Gattaca, as “represent[ing] the future.”

They posit that the genetically-engineered society of Gattaca could be enabled by today’s scientific developments in gene-editing and embryo selection.

And Gattaca may be scientifically accurate—but how about socially and politically? How likely is it that Gattaca is the path we’re on… vs. certain other science-fictional social dystopias?

[scidata]

Definitely agree. A pretty, brilliant, elite class dripping with privilege.

Also, I think the purpose and design of the Gattaca base itself was bang on. Workmanlike exploration of the Solar System, with conventional rockets launched in a near-weekly cadence is where we’re headed. Not crazy warp drives and multi-century sleeper ships.

[toddz]

@toddz

Gattaca may be scientifically accurate—but how about socially and politically? How likely is it that Gattaca is the path we’re on… vs. certain other science-fictional social dystopias?

(What I’m hinting at here is that the world of Gattaca is predicated on continuing advances in genetic and medical science… and other than this article, I haven’t been seeing it cited as a prescient scenario in relation to current events.)