12-31-2020, 01:17 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
Well first of all, genetically engineering everyone to be Attractive is just a waste of time. "When everyone is Attractive, nobody is Attractive". And that has something to with why such a universal genetic upgrade strikes me as faintly disturbing. Why bother genetically engineering everyone to be a bit larger? "Because we can" doesn't strike me as sufficient reason to screw with people's genetics. Unless there's a definable health benefit for the victims of your experimentation it would be a violation of modern bioethics to do it. Disease resistance and retarded aging seem like pretty reasonable targets for state financed gene-tampering to go after. Maybe "improved" intelligence or at least elimination of mental and physical handicaps. But trying to make all people "better" in every way than their ancestors...that can only be the product of a serious transhumanist ideology that would probably be more ambitious.
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12-31-2020, 01:41 PM | #22 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sweden, Stockholm
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
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With that said, attractiveness isn't truly relative, humans aren't wired like that. Especially a Taboo-trait for some traits which could lead to a very low appearance would be beneficial for stability, I think. Not sure where the "engineering everyone to be a bit larger" came from. Bioethics? I don't know what setting we're making this for, but the political climate could be on any side of the spectrum from "Biotech is evil and ungodly" to "Anyone who doesn't bio-upgrade is basically a regressive monkey", or hey: "Biotech brings us closer to the ideal society of God!" Quote:
Or perhaps it is actually slowly going there? I mean, this might be a biomod from just a few decades before a huge leap in Biotech where everyone turns into a super smart biotech-cyborg. ...or just before apocalypse due to the creation of a horrific Biotech super-parasite or whatever. Depends on where the GMs campaign takes place.
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12-31-2020, 01:45 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
Height and physical strength are social symbols in the USA, as taller and stronger people generally end up with better jobs and higher status, all of things held constant (a 1" difference in height equals an average of $800 more in annual income). Since ST+2 averages +5", that would result in an average of $4,000 more in annual income. In addition, taller and strong people are more likely to receive promotions and gain elected office, so the modified citizens would quickly displace unmodified people from positions of power (and this is before accounting for the other differences in capabilities).
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12-31-2020, 01:56 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
So ST increases would be the domain of paid upgrades by those who could afford it, not the kind of socialized-medicine prophylactic youre describing. Appearance would fall into the same category.
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12-31-2020, 02:10 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
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For trees to grow trunks is a waste of energy. If everyone in the forest is seventy feet tall everyone gets the same amount of sunlight and water as if we were all shrubs. But if everyone else stays a shrub I can kick donkey as even a ten-foot tree, whereas if everyone else makes their kids into ten-foot trees and I don’t my seedling gonna be overshadowed and die. A few rounds of competition and we are eighty feet tall and envying the Eucalyptus regnans. I’d just like to add that in discussions like this one (in general, not this subthread specifically) it is always a temptation to suppose that because character features are described in the game rules as coming without down sides, trade-offs, and costs they must be imagined as not having any. That’s biologically implausible. “Obvious advantages” such as leanness, tall stature, muscularity, pale coloration, and high intelligence may come at costs that will be much less significant in the parahuman future than they were in the ancestral environment of our evolution. But advantages are likely to have at least metabolic and health costs in any plausible reality.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 12-31-2020 at 03:41 PM. |
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12-31-2020, 02:14 PM | #26 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
They can be actually achieved by raising children with adequate protein and vitamins in their diet, free from infectious diseases (vaccinate!), free from environmental toxins (such as lead), and free from sustained or excessive stress. Also comes with increased intelligence and impulse control!
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 12-31-2020 at 03:43 PM. |
12-31-2020, 02:23 PM | #27 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
Why would anyone spend money on a 0 CP corporate upgrade when they could get their children a 100 CP government upgrade? In addition, if a government is subsidizing the purchase, they would likely require comparable capabilities for any subsidized purchase. I could even see consumers suing the corporation for malpractice if their upgrades were uncompetitive with the basic government template.
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12-31-2020, 02:42 PM | #28 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: One Mile Up
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
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I'm sorry, Citizen 1.0, but if you're considering litigation we are not allowed to continue this discussion under the advisement of our legal department. Have a Graceful Day! |
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12-31-2020, 03:06 PM | #29 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
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Second, please point out where in the real world medical options are described in absolute character-point costs.
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12-31-2020, 03:12 PM | #30 | |||
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Universal Genetic Upgrade [Bio-Tech]
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