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„‚I called it, and now Josie’s sick. Because of what I decided. You see how this feels for me.'“
Anmerkung:
„Mother“ has taken the risk to „lift“ Josie; in the process, Josie has become sick, just like her sister Sal before her.
That’s the final explanation of „what’s wrong in this universe“ – genetic engineering is to blame, in addition to machines replacing humans (father’s story). The chance of illness and even death is certainly a kind of punishment for ambition – daring to improve on humans, the Frankenstein story again. But then, there are more subtle problems: for instance, observing the kids at Jossie’s party earlier, one may wonder if the loss of empathy and kindness is also a by-product of „lifting“. Jossie seems to be kind to Klara most of the time, but maybe that is why she is ill, while the other kids are fine, being cruel and only superficially polite? Is something in Klara’s humanity (in the old-fashioned sense) fighting the changes in her body introduced by lifting, and this is killing her?
So being emphatic, being a friend would be outsourced to Artificial Friends in this world? I don’t think one would need to think of something in Klara fighting, maybe the gene editing simply didn’t work in her case completly, causing her sickness. – One the other hand, reflecting the kids behaviours at the party, I associated English private college kids from well heeled families encountering a public school boy (Rick), without any gene editing. Ok, maybe the degree of snobbishness and coldness is extreme, highlighted also by the argument about Danny’s hidden „pet object“ and being „soft“ (p. 79; he seems at least in need of some empathy, emotional support).
Well, the genetic engineering failure is certainly there, but wouldn’t it be more interesting if indeed the „health“ and „empathy“ for lifted kids would be divorced from each other – so, indeed, the only empathetic beings in the world to come would be AFs. And – I don’t want to given spoilers, but – there’s something coming at the very end of the story to support this idea…