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Old 12-09-2018, 08:24 AM   #1
Astromancer
 
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default A new twist on the setting.

While watching this TED Talk on new Crisper technologies, I saw that this had interesting implications for THS.

Basically, the Crisper technology has been put into the cells of a mosquito. This means that every descendant of that mosquito will have the chosen trait or traits. The goal of the inventor was to alter mosquitos to be unable too spread malaria. One researcher is looking into eliminating Asian Carp in the Great Lakes by inserting a gene that causes the carp to only have male offspring. Which would eventually eliminate all female births and all reproduction of Asian Carp in the Great Lakes. The TED Talk also dealt with problems, limitations, and dangers, of the technology.

Since humans and any future parahumans would also reproduce sexually, this technology would mean that a high-grade parahuman could mate with a Genefixed human and have off=spring that would be of the same parahuman type as themselves. Sure the technology as it now stands isn't ready for something like that. Still, THS is set eighty-two years into the future and makes highly optimistic tech assumptions, so it would fit.

This could lead to several things. Terrorist biohackers could use the technology to sabotage the reproduction of nations and or change whole species in dramatic ways. Small groups of parahumans could make a grab for being the dominant population. Far more benign things are possible too. Plus memetic warriors could use the fact of the technology to spread hysteria and hate.

What do you guys think?
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Last edited by Astromancer; 12-23-2018 at 03:33 PM. Reason: fixed meaning-changing typo
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