Deep Thoughts on a Sunny Saturday

Lots of folks out enjoying the beautiful weather today and stopping into the book shop to chat. I've been enjoying the conversations and learning a lot. One of the things I just learned about is a series of books designed for teens. A teenager was in the store with her mother, looking for a trilogy called The Uglies. It consists of 3 books, "The Pretties", "The Uglies" & "The Specials", by Scott Westerfield.The series has an interesting premise - one I find a little disturbing.  The fantasy/sci fi books are about a world where everyone is beautiful - physically perfect - due to an operation they all have upon reaching 16.  One group of teens decides NOT to have the operation, creating the conflict. It's full of technological advances and lots of action, but I wonder. Is this our future? Are we as a society so narcissistic that we will someday leave our genetic differences behind, exchanging them for the predictability of conforming to a groupthink perception of "beauty"? Something to think about.