12-17-2021, 08:10 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Fashions in Bio modification
What it says on the tin. Given the ease of relatively profound modifications, some people would get fashionable bio mods. We've been told in cannon that fashionable couples take turns being pregnant. So changes that we would see as profound are a simple matter of fashion in this world.
So what fashions would you put in the setting? What minor fashions and what avant guard insanity fashions? Myself, from both my reading of the setting and certain trends among the deeply fashionable, I think many people would become androgynes to some level or other. Having it be no biggie for a guy to be pregnant (it's a running gag in the books) strongly supports this.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 12-17-2021 at 08:15 PM. |
12-18-2021, 11:02 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
Given that cosmetic viruses in the setting can freely change skin, hair, or eye color, on a whim, and unlike tattoos, can be changed just as freely, I expect that games with color would be common. Humans don't have the kind of skin color patterns some reptiles and mammals do. For example the stripes on tigers are on their skin as well as their fur. I could see patterns like tiger or zebra stripes becoming fashionable. If someone reads Parfazal, then they'll become aware of his brother who is marked like a magpie (the medieval German author was unaware of what the child of a European and an African might look like).
Given the weirdness of the setting, hypertrichosis could be fashionable. We have furries now. Picture what happens when they can have fur for real. Some will even modify parts of their bodies to fit their chosen animal. A "satyr" might grow horns and swap his feet for hooves. A tiger might get fangs and swap out his eyes for eyes with slits like a cat. As any of it can be reversed, few would really care.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 12-18-2021 at 03:34 PM. |
12-18-2021, 12:34 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
There used to be a fellow in the San Diego area who had had himself modified to have a catlike appearance; for example, he had prosthetic vibrissae. I used to see him at conventions. I don't know where he would have gotten the work done, as I would think surgeons in California would get in trouble professionally for such procedures. But it seems that at least prosthetic versions are available already.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
12-18-2021, 03:33 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
Quote:
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
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12-19-2021, 03:20 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
If I recall correctly, one of the main characters in Alasdair Reynolds's Chasm City sports zebra stripes early in the book and then abandons them. And I'm pretty sure that one of the Ultras in his Revelation Space has a cosmetic hole in their chest.
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12-19-2021, 07:52 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
The chest hole is a perfect example of a fashionable look that is physically bad for you. I remember a Sci Fi novel were the lead character had his eyes modified to see deep into the infrared and ultraviolet. The new wavelengths simply confuse the visual centers of his brain and make the world look like a crude attempt at an impressionist painting. He switched back to his normal vision. There were characters in the book who went temporarily blind because they burned out their retinas with fashionable attempts at Super Vision.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
12-19-2021, 08:18 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
Self-harm doesn’t seem to have been much of a deterrent for all sort of fashions historically or in today’s world, so I doubt that would be a concern in the future. Perhaps the cavalier attitude toward the possible detrimental effect is part of what makes a fashion appealing.
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12-19-2021, 09:10 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
Quote:
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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12-20-2021, 06:34 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
Here’s an idea that stems from an amusing conversation I took part in back in art school: what if the appeal of symmetry lost? That would likely produce a culture in which body builders specialized in just one arm for instance, producing people who had a resemblance to fiddler crabs.
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12-20-2021, 09:41 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Fashions in Bio modification
Quote:
The book " The Unfashionable Human Body" would probably fascinate you and Bill. When you aren't wincing in pain.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 12-20-2021 at 09:49 AM. |
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