Seleção Artificial

An enlightening series on a subject that scares most people. Gene editing is the future. It is much debated and this is a nice introduction to both sides of said debate.

The series is about Genetic Engineering, Bio-Hacking and Bio-Hackers. I've always been interested in those hence I found this series to be extremely compelling, extremely spellbinding and absolutely fascinating. Once I started watch it, I just didn't want to stop.

The message of the series is basically that the discovery of CRISPR technology in 2013 now allows the Bio-Engineering of Humans and any organism on Earth, and actual, real-world applications of it is now rolling out. Also featured are two individuals with genetic diseases, one of which was cured.

It also tackled the controversial Gene Drive, which can be used also as a Weapon of Mass Destruction in that it can eradicate a species, starting with Mosquitos in Africa which is set to start implementation at the end of 2019.

And lastly, Designer Babies have started to be available in the Ukraine. I agree with what some of the individuals in the series said, the next generation will be more and more exposed to the technology of Genetic Engineering, and then the generation after that Designer Babies will become common.

A bit self-repetitive at times but all in all I think it's a good documentary. As for improvement, it would have been interesting to see more of the science behind genetic engineering and how it works. Also, I think there would have been room for more fruitful debate. However, not biased at all in my opinion and proves that there are more than two sides to an issue.

My husband and I rarely watch the same show with the same amount of joy or excitement. This show however, has grabbed us both in a way that we weren't expecting. It is so well made; the story is excellent, to the point where we'll hit the pause button and discuss our thoughts and beliefs before resuming the episode. This is a heartfelt documentary that everyone needs to watch. I hope this is the beginning of the fall for the pharmaceutical company's control on drug pricing. This show is so complex! The points being brought up are so important to shed light on, and I hope it sparks as much interest for you as it did for us. You need to watch this.

I went into this with cliched expectations for what a documentary on a topic such as this might look like. Boy was I wrong.

This is an excellent balanced documentary which shows you both sides of the argument and covers all of the complex ethical concerns for a subject such as this. The human stories are sensitively and beautifully woven throught and keep your attention till the very end - enough to want to binge watch this.

I came away from it with a lot of excitement for what the future may hold and also some misgivings .... I'm waiting for my son to be old enough to be able to show this to him. Absolutely unmissable.