Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Reflection about the Gary Wolf Piece

As stated in class I really enjoyed this piece. Although I was unclear about its Arts and Entertainment value, I am really interested in pieces that deal with genetics or life span. This strongly reminded me of the 2005 film The Island. Released in July of 2005, the film deals with essentially a labatory of clones that were bought by upper class people. If you haven't seen it, I'm sorry I might spoil the film, but it relates to our class discussion. When Karyn mentioned that Kurtweil's "extending lifespan regimes" being crazy expensive, it just reminded me of the film. I feel like if Singularity does come to existance, it will only be affordable to the rich. The Island reflects on the new high tech ways to prolong their life. The clones in the film are essentially used for prolonging one's life. The clones are real people, but the people that "own" them don't know that they are actual humans and are unaware that scientists kill these clones to keep their owners alive. Okay, I hope that makes sense. To put it another way, say an owner of a clone needs a new heart, the clones are told they have been chosen in the lottery and get to go to "the island". "The island" is an operating table where they are killed and their heart is taken for their owner. Okay, so it indirectly relates to the Wolf article, but Kurtzweil reminded me of the film.

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