silicon valley’s plan to make the “perfect baby”
kill switch
Kaleidoscope
4.7 • 635 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The 1997 science fiction film Gattaca depicts a dystopian future where genetic technology creates a two-tier society: people who were born with the “best” genes selected vs. people who were conceived naturally. This was a cautionary tale, showing us a future we don’t want. But now, Silicon Valley is heavily investing in making this technology real. Dexter talks to Amanda Gerut, West Coast editor at Fortune, about the rise of polygenic screening companies, the investment in gene editing of embryos, and how close we are to creating designer babies.
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Read + Watch:
- Amanda’s article, “Silicon Valley sets its sights on building the perfect baby” - https://fortune.com/2025/11/29/ivf-silicon-valley-billionaire-baby/
- WSJ's reporting, “Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.” - https://www.wsj.com/tech/biotech/genetically-engineered-babies-tech-billionaires-6779efc8
- kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:12.3 | Have you seen Gattaca? |
| 0:15.9 | I love that movie. |
| 0:17.1 | And I actually re-watched it when I was reporting this story. |
| 0:21.1 | Amanda Garrett is the West Coast editor of Fortune, and she recently wrote an article about |
| 0:25.3 | how Silicon Valley is investing in fertility technology to create the, quote, perfect baby. |
| 0:31.4 | This is a concept that's been around in science fiction for decades, and a good example of that |
| 0:35.9 | is in a movie from almost 30 years ago called Gattaca. |
| 0:40.0 | I mean, in so many conversations with people who are outside this industry, a lot of them, you know, would sort of refer to Gattaca. |
| 0:48.6 | Like a futuristic kind of, we're going to change your genes and make you super human amazing looking just like |
| 0:55.8 | Jude Law or Ouma-Therman. |
| 0:58.7 | If you haven't seen Gattaca, I don't know, pause the podcast and go watch it. |
| 1:04.0 | But also it came out in 1997. |
| 1:07.0 | Like, I don't know what to tell you. |
| 1:08.3 | Honestly, I kind of feel like we may be at a stage where |
| 1:11.3 | Gattaca is required reading or required watching just for understanding what's happening |
| 1:16.4 | right now. Yeah. If you need to catch up without giving you too many spoilers here, |
| 1:21.0 | Gattaca is a science fiction film that's set in a dystopian future in which there are two |
| 1:25.0 | tiers of people. At the top, you have valid people. |
| 1:28.8 | These are people who've been genetically selected to be the healthiest and most attractive possible. |
| 1:33.7 | And at the bottom, people who are conceived naturally. |
... |
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