Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW
A eugenics program backed up by real science (and with more practical goals than the mostly racist ones of the early 20th century) could modify the human species more quickly than the conventional natural selection method of shooting DNA at anything that survives to maturity.
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Especially if you are starting with a small selected population to begin with and then genetically screen them and remove potential colonist with genetic taboo traits that you don't want in your colony. A colony that founded by people who want to create an artists utopia might screen out people who are deaf or who are color blind. They might also only allow among the initial colonist people who have in gurps terms acute senses as they want to create a colony where people "can appreciate the nuances of the art".
Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW
And be promptly wiped out by the virus nobody thought to retain resistance to 700 years ago. Or by reproductive freedom fighters.
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To be honest I suspect that without easy FTL or frequent travel between colonies that this is going to be a major concern for them all compared to Earth. Smaller initial populations and even if they are not purposely trying to genetically screen/breed on that colony they are going to have much smaller over all gene pool compared to earth considering that only x number of people traveled to that colony and started it. Add in the fact that they are not likely to have brought every Terran animal/disease with them...
They will probably be healthier overall than a regular Terran due to less disease exposure, but have lower levels of disease resistance overall as fewer of them each generation are continuously exposed to new Earth diseases/Pandemics without regular contact.