Gattaca and the age of optimisation

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We're pausing our usual format over the summer to bring you Future Vision — a special series exploring the changing film and television industry.

Gattaca imagined a world where every aspect of human potential could be measured, optimised and ranked. Nearly 30 years later, that future feels uncomfortably familiar.

In this narrated exploration, writer Caspar Salmon revisits Andrew Niccol's 1997 science-fiction classic to ask whether Gattaca was really about genetics — or whether it foresaw today's culture of relentless self-improvement, biohacking, productivity and optimisation.

As AI, genetic testing and performance-enhancing technologies become part of everyday life, the film's central question feels more relevant than ever: what happens when the pursuit of perfection becomes society's defining value?

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