Life's Persistent Questions

Memories of Murder

That is the English title of a 2003 South Korean crime thriller, Salinui chueok. Excellent movie. Despite its lack of physical action and idiosyncratic Korean behaviors, the movie soon sucked me in and pushed me along for 2+ hours. It is really impossible for me to describe to anyone who has not seen it how the movie was able to capture me so thoroughly. The movie is based on a true story about a serial rapist-murderer in 1986 in Korea.

However, the point of this post is not about me trying to become a movie critic, but an interesting side note. It may be considered a spoiler despite my effort, so be warned. Apparently in 1986, forensic DNA testing was just becoming available. But not in Korea. So the Korean police had to send their DNA samples to the U.S. or Japan for testing. Now fast forward 19 years. The table has turned. South Korea has become the world leader in genetic cloning. The irony is not lost on me.

Now, Korea may never challenge the economic prowess of the U.S. However, it is clear that, with focus and determination by its policy makers, a country the size of state of Indiana can compete with the U.S. in specific areas of science and technology that have far-reaching consequence in the future of man-kind. Some in America could claim the ambiguous moral high ground of "a Culture of Life," or the pseudo-philosophical superiority of "Intelligent Designer" criticism of biological evolution. In the end, igorance is not bliss, and the U.S. should be wary of following the footsteps of the Catholic Church, which went from the Keeper of Knowledge during the middle ages to the Inquisitor of Galileo and Darwin.

posted by hedgehog @ 1:16 PM