Clones and genetics
Designer children, clones and genetic sorting: the body as a product line.
4 pieces on Nearfi: 4 reviews. Across their 17 tracked predictions, 6 have arrived, 3 are arriving, 5 are near, 1 are far off and 2 went another way. The average P(n) is 65%. Closest to now: Stand on Zanzibar at 80%. Furthest: Moon at 53%.
- ARRIVED The world's population reaches about seven billion by 2010. Stand on Zanzibar · 2011
- ARRIVING Organs for transplant come from bodies raised specifically to supply them. Never Let Me Go
- ARRIVED Parents using IVF can choose between embryos ranked by their predicted genetic risk of common diseases. Gattaca · 2021
- ARRIVED The most powerful computers belong to a private corporation and sit at the centre of its business and its dealings with governments, as General Technics' Shalmaneser does. Stand on Zanzibar · 2024
- ARRIVING An AI system helps run a remote crewed station and serves as the crew's main companion, holding natural conversations and responding with apparent empathy. Moon
- ARRIVING Every newborn's genome is read at birth and used to predict their risk of disease. Gattaca · est. 2033
- NEAR Helium-3 is extracted from lunar regolith and shipped to Earth for sale to paying customers. Moon · est. 2033
- NEAR A permanent lunar surface base runs industrial operations, with most of the work done by automated machines and supervised by a very small human crew. Moon · est. 2040
- NEAR Human organs are grown inside other bodies for transplantation. Never Let Me Go · est. 2040
- NEAR Human beings are cloned and raised to adulthood. Never Let Me Go · est. 2070
The guide: Sci-Fi About Clones and Genetic Engineering: 4 Stories About Making and Sorting People →
Everything Lost Ends Up in Norfolk
Kazuo Ishiguro's novel about cloned organ donors is set in a past that never happened, and it's the most exact book we know about how people agree to be used.
Scroll Down to Zanzibar
John Brunner's 1968 doorstop is famous for guessing the headcount, the shootings and the man called Obomi, but its sharpest prediction is the way it makes you read.
The Company Keeps You
Duncan Jones's five-million-dollar debut got the mineral, the payroll and the machine right, and the machine is the only one who comes out of it well.
The Eyelash Always Testifies
Andrew Niccol's gorgeous, schematic debut guessed the technology almost exactly and cast the wrong villain. The gatekeeper turned out to be the parents.
More themes: AI and machine minds · Surveillance and scoring · Space · Climate and scarcity · Pandemics and collapse · Borders and migration · Grief and technology · Memory · Work