this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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One of the recent laws in Trek that gets looked at a bit, is the genetic engineering ban within the Federation. It appears to have been passed as a direct result of Earth's Eugenics Wars, to prevent a repeat, and seems to have been grandfathered into Federation law, owing to the hand Earth had in its creation.

But we also see that doing so came with major downsides. The pre-24th century version of the law applied a complete ban on any genetic modification of any kind, and a good faith attempt to keep to that resulted in the complete extinction of the Illyrians.

In Enterprise, Phlox specifically attributes the whole issue with the Eugenics Wars to humans going overboard with the idea of genetic engineering, as they are wont to do, trying to improve/perfect the human species, rather than using it for the more sensible goal of eliminating/curing genetic diseases.

Strange New Worlds raises the question of whether it was right for Earth to enshrine their own disasters with genetic engineering in Federation law like that, particularly given that a fair few aliens didn't have a problematic history with genetic engineering, and some, like the Illyrians, and the Denobulans, used it rather liberally, to no ill-effects.

At the same time, people being augmented with vast powers in Trek seems to inevitably go poorly. Gary Mitchell, Khan Noonien-Singh, and Charlie X all became megalomaniacs because of the vast amount of power that they were able to access, although both Gary and Charlie received their powers through external intervention, and it is unclear whether Khan was the exception to the rule, having been born with that power, and knowing how to use it properly. Similarly, the Klingon attempt at replicating the human augment programme was infamous, resulting in the loss of their famous forehead ridges, and threatening the species with extinction.

Was the Federation right to implement Earth's ban on genetic engineering, or is it an issue that seems mostly human/earth-centric, and them impressing the results of their mistakes on the Federation itself?

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[–] Jaytreeman@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

It's just eugenics.
Hot take: the philosophy behind eugenics isn't bad.
Real life take: it's impossible to implement without increasing inequality

So yes, I think the federation was right to do that. One of the things they show is that all these cultures are different, but the individual is largely the same. Humans aren't much different from Vulcans, Klingons or ferengi.

But that's also why this is good sci-fi. Because it's supposed to make us think about issues that aren't black and white.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 year ago

What did the other founding species think of genetic manipulation? Humanity had a good reason to ban it, but there were three other species who could have protested this but didn't. It also isn't like they didn't have any clout; Vulcans were able to enshrine the Prime Directive into Federation law.

I get the feeling that the three other founding species didn't care enough about genetic manipulation to care about the blanket ban.

[–] Stamets@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago

Personally, I'd argue that it wasn't the correct decision. Banning technology wholesale doesn't really do anything other than create a black market for that technology. Bashir and Una are both genetically engineered but had to go through some extremely sketchy circumstances due to it. There was always a chance that it would have gone poorly for both of them. Bashir from modifications done that don't work and Una from just outright being imprisoned, exiled, or potentially killed by people who harbor hatred for those who are genetically engineered. With the blackmarket modifications come blackmarket consequences. People who can't control themselves and only give more credence to the people in-universe who say that genetic engineering is abhorrent.

So much good could be done with genetic engineering but the focus is only ever given to all the negatives that have come about from it. Vulcans should logically see this, at the very least, but there was seemingly no pushback inside of the Federation over it. My assumption (in universe) is that the humans forced the subject. It was too soon after the Eugenics Wars for Humanity to even consider the idea of genetic modification being used for anything. It was way too sensitive. I can honestly see it becoming a potential deal-breaker for Earth as well. Considering the benefits that came from co-operation, foregoing genetic engineering probably just seemed like a worthy trade off.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

It's definitely one of those things that always seemed kinda weird for such an advanced society, like we right now haven't even actually banned nuclear fission or even atom bombs, it's just vaguely stigmatized and regulated.

And atom bombs aren't part of bodily autonomy..

[–] DaSaw@midwest.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is the ban on genetic modification a Federation thing, or is it just a Starfleet thing? They may not be the same thing.

[–] LufyCZ@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

Think I remember hearing that some Ilyrians chose to undo their modifications in order to be able to integrate with the Federation.

And that when a planet with modified Ilyrians joined the Federation, those, who were augmented became second class citizens who were look down upon, so my bet is on a full on Federation ban.