So suddenly Starfleet doesn’t just outlaw making genetic modifications, it straight up makes people WITH genetic modifications illegal.
I wouldn’t say suddenly, that was what was made clear in DS9 as well. Bashir was going to have to go to whatever asylum they put the crazy augments he met in.
Honestly, it’s ludicrous to take the position that because of one war on one planet centuries before it was formed, all genetic modification in the Federation is illegal. “Oh, you carry the sickle cell gene? Nope, we’re not modifying your DNA. Enjoy the anaemia.”
Why the hell would the other founding members agree to that anyway? If anything, considering their whole purity thing, you would think Andorians would be in favor of it.
I think in-canon there are exceptions for medical treatment, although writers seem to forget about that depending on what metaphor they’re trying to put on top of augments. Not that it’s particularly consistent anyway, early in TNG there is a whole federation colony of genetically altered psychic rapidly aging children with infectious progeria and nobody seems particularly outraged by this.
And yeah, it doesn’t work in DS9, either, but that’s why you shouldn’t be trying to make a prequel to DS9 where you debate that specific issue in court. It just doesn’t work to give the episode a feel good ending to then leave the issue unresolved for centuries for nerdy lore reasons.
I wouldn’t say suddenly, that was what was made clear in DS9 as well. Bashir was going to have to go to whatever asylum they put the crazy augments he met in.
Honestly, it’s ludicrous to take the position that because of one war on one planet centuries before it was formed, all genetic modification in the Federation is illegal. “Oh, you carry the sickle cell gene? Nope, we’re not modifying your DNA. Enjoy the anaemia.”
Why the hell would the other founding members agree to that anyway? If anything, considering their whole purity thing, you would think Andorians would be in favor of it.
I think in-canon there are exceptions for medical treatment, although writers seem to forget about that depending on what metaphor they’re trying to put on top of augments. Not that it’s particularly consistent anyway, early in TNG there is a whole federation colony of genetically altered psychic rapidly aging children with infectious progeria and nobody seems particularly outraged by this.
And yeah, it doesn’t work in DS9, either, but that’s why you shouldn’t be trying to make a prequel to DS9 where you debate that specific issue in court. It just doesn’t work to give the episode a feel good ending to then leave the issue unresolved for centuries for nerdy lore reasons.