Conrad: Another argument against the allowance of eugenic desires to influence parenting is that it will lead to fundamental social inequalities. Allowing parental choice about the genetic makeup of a these parents' children may lead to the creation of a genetic “over class” which has unfair advantages over those whose parents did not or could not afford to endow them with the right biological dispositions and traits.

How about the clearly distinguished classes in Brave New World?  No freedom exists in this society of “over classes.”  Everyone in the same class is bred to think the same thoughts, hold the same beliefs.  This society even forbids its population to read the works of the freethinking authors of our time such as the innocent Shakespeare.  Although the plot of a classic science fiction novel, the consequences faced in the book should not be ruled out.  The Bokanovsky process was a major instrument of social stability in the novel, encouraging the tenets of Brave New World’s utopian society: Community, identification, stability. From their very creation in the lab using the Bokanovsky process and other such methods, the classes in the novel are already predetermined according to their desirable or undesirable genetic traits.  The Alpha class for instance can be compared to the ideal class in the movie Gattaca.  These individuals are physically, mentally, and virtually overall perfect due to the genetic legacies that the machines of genetic engineering have afforded them.  Epsilons on the complete opposite end of the spectrum must suffer through being the “peons” of the society.  Their genetic worth is almost nil in comparison to the other classes.  This predetermination creates a mindset that erases all human attributes of hope and freedom.  And as a society today that values personal freedom and liberties, should we not be disturbed by the possibilities that this novel demonstrates? When it comes to matters of human life and value, all possibilities should be considered, for once eugenic thinking becomes a pattern of living, it will be too late to reverse the damage eugenics may cause.

 

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