Unnatural Selection

I finished watching all episodes in one set. Very very interesting. If in the beginning of the series I knew exactly what I think about genetic modifications, I wasn't so sure by the end of the last episode. Should we leave natural selection to mother nature or take it into our hands? Should we save and or cure every sick person? When we don't see them, know them, it is one thing, but we start thinking differently after we get to know them, like in these series. Does science exist for the sake of science itself? Seems so if no one can afford to use its discoveries and technologies. This applies not just to very rare genetic conditions, but to illnesses that affect thousands. Institutions of science seem concerned (in the series) almost exclusively with health and perfection of a physical body, leaving mental, psychological health out of equation. It is uncharted territory, but it is emotions that make us human. I was waiting to hear about The Gaia hypothesis, yet, no one has mentioned it. I think it is extremely important for every scientist to know, understand The Gaia principle which proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet BEFORE they start messing with genetic modification of all things alive. Be it a human, or a rat or a mosquito.

Quite interesting and thought provoking, but what's with the dog breeder dude? Those hounds of baskerville he had in pens looked both rabid and miserable. The dude is like half Ramsay Bolton and half Gandolph. It's worth a watch...

The first episode focused mostly on the scientific breakthroughs in gene editing in the past few years and where state of the medical and biohacking community is at, and it was fascinating. The next three episodes all really focused more on the ethical questions which, while important, I felt caused the series to begin to drag. I was personally more interested in the science around all of this and the documentary was lighter than what I was looking for in this area. This probably could have been condensed to two or three episodes and would have had better pacing.

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.

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.