Generation ships and aging.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Yes, with 2 caveats.

The first is that genius is unpredictable. Experimental science would be difficult on a genship, theoretical, mathematical work, on the other hand, could be done. If a genius happened to appear among the population of the genship, he could certain do groundbreaking work. But testing his work might need to wait until generations after arrival.

The other caveat is that there is a chance (probability unquantifiable) that the very location of the genship might enable them to make observations or discover phenomena not obvious to planet-bound or star-bound observers.

Or that they have access to information no one else has and/or are willing to conduct experiments no one else will for reasons of safety or ethics.

My setting that started resulted in this thread is about a colonization attempt by a very long range thinking species. But certain specifics of the destination planet turn out to be slightly different than initially known leading to increased genetic enegineering of the prospective colonists to pre-adapt.
(The planet is a bit more massive with higher gravity than initially thought. Just enough to mess with "the plans".)

While the home planet becomes more set in its ways and risk averse, the ship populace stays ideologically pro-self modification. This leads to more aggressive experimentation on related species.