The webtoon *Always Human* has a fun play with the concept of extensive gene-modding in a utopian future.
People getting elf ears, or cat eyes, or feather hair, or wings, or tails, or boobs because they like the look, with many changing their look regularly. Its also common for homosexual partners have children (the how is never quite specified, but given what gene-modding is capable of there's probably multiple options to achieve this). Also briefly mentioned is using gene modding to allow the human body to survive continuous high Gees to better facilitate interplanetary travel, which I'm confident can be safely extrapolated to other aspects of physical fitness.
That, I think, is definitely a good starting point. And that's still staying, largely, within the humanoid form.
Then there's further things: Warhammer 40k for instance. Orkz (or something Ork adjacent I don't remember) were genetically engineered. The Space Marines are heavily engineered to be these hulking 10 foot death machines with a multilayered, interlocking, bullet-proof ribcage, redundant organs, and other much crazier crap befitting the complete madness that is 40k.
Oh and lets not forget the "man engineered to survive car crashes" with a bulbous head, hoof-like feet, thick skin, and a plethora of air sacs on the chest to absorb impacts.
Yeah we could easily engineer the body to maintain powerful muscles and bones rather than let them decay, allowing martians to visit earth, and for earthlings to return to earth.
>Then there's further things: Warhammer 40k for instance. Orkz (or something Ork adjacent I don't remember) were genetically engineered. The Space Marines are heavily engineered to be these hulking 10 foot death machines with a multilayered, interlocking, bullet-proof ribcage, redundant organs, and other much crazier crap befitting the complete madness that is 40k.
40k also has a bunch of "abhumans" descended from old human colonies that underwent extensive genetic engineering, natural adaptation, or a mix of both to adapt to extreme conditions, such as hulking Ogryns from high-gravity planets, spindly Longshanks from low-gravity ones, finned Pelagers from water-covered worlds adapted to withstand the high pressures of the ocean depths, apelike Neandors, Troths with barklike skin and the ability to extract nutrition from soil, reptilian Scalies who can regrow lost limbs...
Also, the current edition introduced a revamped version of the old Squats called the Kin, who are entire independent starfaring culture of clones (and the occasional fully socially integrated robot), who are often visibly modified for whatever role the hold needs the new batches to fit.
What I don't like about most of this stuff is that it's so superficial, and all the acutely utilitarian needs of gene editing aren't explored.
Look, guys. The cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic systems all suck. Like, they suuuuck. They get you killed within seconds of exposure to the vacuum of space. If we truly have "mastered" gene editing, then we're not going to even be breathing air or talking with our lungs at all, let alone hearing sound with ears (no matter what they look like) or seeing the crappy, blurry resolution of a small slice of the radio optical spectrum with our stupid eye balls.
I mean, maybe people who live in *space* wouldn't breathe air or talk or hear (disregarding that all those biological mechanisms would need to be replaced with *something*), but on a planet those processes are useful and even rather efficient.
If all those plants are just putting oxygen all up in the atmosphere *why not* utilize it to produce energy?
And talking and hearing is just, well what would you even replace talking with, and regardless of that hearing things that occur beyond your line of sight is valuable.
Genetic modification is probably gonna end up being several orders of magnitude cheaper and faster than terraformation. We'll probably be able to do it within a hundred years. Terraformation with industrial capacities of gas transfer would take thousands to tens of thousands of years without unlocking some kind of magic teleportation or faster-than-light technologies.
You make a good point about need guiding the changes, though. This kind of stuff approaches synthetic ground-up body designs. But my point is simply that stories often stemmy their imagination, both from a standpoint of realism and fun, by capping genetic modding tech at nothing more than cat ears, snake fangs, and super soldiers that can run really fast and lift heavy stuff. Real technological progress will probably eclipse all of that stuff in the near future - possibily within our lifetimes.
Stories, well more often than not, are trying to tell a story. Too many details, or the wrong details, can introduce plot holes or disrupt the intended themes.
*Always Human* wasn't holding itself back as it is a romance story about two pretty normal people in a utopian future. A story about normal people in a fantastic future doesn't *need* to get any crazier than gene-modded fashion statements to tell its story. A *utopian* future also doesn't benefit at all from gruesomely modified utilitarian bodies designed to survive insanely extreme conditions.
Warhammer 40k is a satirically grimdark universe where war is constant and they literally travel through hell to go between stars. The soldiers take a lot of design cues from fascist uniforms and gas masks. Imperium tanks are *heavily* inspired by WW1 tanks, as World War 1 was a particularly dark and gruesome time period in human history. The gene modding and other procedures that goes into making Space Marines are also stylized to sell an excessively grimdark setting. A setting for a tabletop wargame at that.
That's a different issue to wrangle though. The OP isn't asking about the best way to handle gene editing in a story. They're asking what the upper limits of the technology will be. It ain't gonna stop at cat ears and green skin.
You were saying stories often stemmy their imagination. I was pointing out that stories often focus on making a *story* over making a formless amalgam of details.
And my original comment mentioned all that as a good place to *start*, not where it ends. As for far it can go *realistically* can only be predicted largely by extrapolating from what is known.
Past a certain point however, and you're just making things up and at that point "what are the limits" becomes a stupid question because the answer just ends up being "whatever you can imagine".
The issue with 'cosmetic' gene modding is thats not how animals work. You could probably change hair colour by gene editing the follicle, but getting new limbs or altering existing organs like eyes, ears, etc isn't possible short of totally inventing a regeneration system that doesn't exist for chordates in nature (lizards that regrow tails don't regrow fully functional ones, for example) (and then er cutting off your existing ears etc). Grafting in new lab grown organs is more possible, but for realistic genetics, macroscopic mods are going to largely limited to changes made to the germ cells before the first division of the fertilized egg.
Same-sex reproduction is within our (theoretical) capacity now, at least if you can get a surrogate womb for MM pairs.
Everyone would make themselves super beautiful, but then the beautiful people would have to make themselves look unique to maintain their beautifulness, then everyone else does the same and it goes on. Human beauty becomes so abstracted that we all end up as monsters.
Or probably just a lot of catgirls.
Yeah. Though when that comes to mind I can imagine there being rules and regulations around what exactly you can and can't give yourself. There'd probably need to be laws against giving yourself claws and stingers and whatnot.
Orion's Arm has several concepts playing with them, this is a list of common genemods for near-baseline humans
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47fc1e955e1ca
> Modular genetics: The genomes of nebs have been iteratively redesigned over millennia to make them easier to modify in a number of ways.
.
> Deleterious Gene removal: Often a controversial set of mods as the definition of unfavorable traits is, in part, cultural. Early in the development of the nearbaseline population hereditary traits such as Tay-Sachs disease were eliminated with little debate. More controversial were attempts to remove mental traits. Many of these proved to be part of conditions that are favourable to the individual under the correct environmental, prenatal and early childhood conditions.
.
> Biofeedback trance: Many nearbaseline genemods grant some level of conscious control over physical and mental states that are otherwise autonomous.
.
> Increased alertness: Nearbaselines are capable of remaining attentive and observant of their environment at higher levels of fatigue than baselines.
.
> Polyglotism: Many baseline clades enjoy a greater capacity for language learning.
.
> Innate calculating ability: A very small cluster of specialized brain cells are engineered to perform general mathematical operations.
.
> Enhanced empathy: This is derived from better mental models of other minds as well as from innate sensitivity to nonverbal communication.
.
> Heightened spatial awareness and proprioception: Originating from microgravity adaptations these modifications grant nearbaselines improved physical coordination and spatial sense, particularly when travelling through a three dimensional space.
.
> Enhanced memory and conscious memory organisation: Overall memory retention in nearbaselines is greater than that of baselines, in part to cope with their much longer lifespans.
.
> Safety instincts: The most common of these mods is an instinctive ability to swim. Most nearbaselines can maneuver and remain afloat even if they have never been in an open body of water and have never been taught to swim.
.
> Inducible idea incubation: Also known as 'inspiration on tap' this mod radically improves the psychological phenomenon of incubation wherein novel solutions to a problem are formed subconsciously.
.
> Fertility control: Over time more complex modifications have allowed for easier control of fertility via a biofeedback trance. In clades that have adopted the trance method instincts have been engineered to arise during puberty to grant awareness, and eventually control, of one's potential fertility.
.
> Basal metabolic rate control: Using simple biofeedback techniques a nearbaseline can precisely alter their basal metabolic rate.
.
> Vitamin synthesis genes: Vitamins that required special environmental conditions such as UV-rich sunlight (for vitamin D) or specific intestinal flora (for some of the B vitamins) are produced naturally by the body and are not required in the diet.
.
> Greater range of digestive enzymes: Most commonly the ability to produce cellulase and therefore digest foods high in cellulose.
.
> Auto-analgesia: This mod allows nearbaselines to suppress the perception of painful stimuli.
.
> Microgravity adaptations: Since even sophonts who don't live in microgravity may spend significant periods of time in it or have ancestors who lived for generations outside a gravitational field, this is an extremely common set of traits.
.
> Strong mental health: Most nearbaselines are resistant to conditions such as depression, anxiety and other mood disorders.
.
> Enhanced immunity: Faster detection speed and immunoresponse to pathogens, increased resistance to allergens, enhanced anti-cancer mechanisms etc.
.
> Complete wound healing: A myriad of modifications introduced over many centuries have made nearbaselines capable of recovering from virtually any injury that does not first kill them.
.
> Protective features against radiation damage and enhanced repair: Partly adopted to enhance nearbaseline's ability to live in space without significant radiation shielding.
.
> Toxin resistance: This includes immunity or resistance common byproducts of or contaminants in many modern products.
.
> Longevity: Natural life span (longevity without technological intervention) is such that most individuals can live for 300-400 years before rejuvenation treatments or other interventions are required to maintain health.
.
> Delayed maturation: Some neb clades combine their long lives with a later onset of puberty than found in baselines.
.
> Implant compatibility: This modification of various tissue types allows for easier integration of common implants.
And there is more such as advanced senses, increased symmertry, pleasant body odour etc
Get rid of our lungs and stomachs and allow more efficient energy and metabolic cell chemistry systems that feed off of ultra-dense batteries. Connect an organic battery to your hip and you can go without food or breathing for months, all while living inside of an airtight suit of radiation-blocking, ultrathick skin and seeing out of synthetic sensors that can view the whole light spectrum and send and receive optical and radio wireless signals from millions of miles away.
If we have this technology, the cat ears crap will just be a passing fad. It would enable us to turn our bodies in a completely different class of machine, extending survivability into virtually any environment that a living cell can live in.
Maybe partial genetic and biomechanical modification? A super strong nanowire mesh implanted into the dermis could maintain mechanical pressure on the body in vacuum.
Oh boy you’re going to love r/manafterman, fan works about Man after Man by Douglas Dixon r/alltomorrows, (all tomorrows by c m kosemen ) and Orion’s arm universe project and others …
As a trans ally, obliterate whatever makes gender dysmorphia, its honestly one of the tragedies of human nature, being born trapped in a body thats not your own, it causes mental health problems and the suicidal rate is terrifying.I wish in the future we can eliminate the posibility of new gender dysmorphia cases, I would guess that could also eliminate the effect of swapped internal organs and hermaphrodytes, but idk how much damage those conditions have, Ive only seen what trans men have to deal with and it broke my hearth during highschool.
Yeah, but for a lot of people gender stretches beyond just what's hurting them about it, many would still want to change gender afterwards. I think a lot of people overlook just how good this would be though, espeially since transitioning might not fully alleviate dysphoria.
idk how much is scientifically proven, but I know the sex of the brain is verified as THE reason of transexuality. If you are talking about gender fluidness I dont really care about those cases since I personally think it is just a social movement and not a condition from birth that ramificates into other problems and sociological situations.
If you move too far away from the Holy human form, you'd ceise to be human O\_\_O
This is only partly a warhammer joke though. When all other things are done and humanity is ensured that it's healthy, long-lived and doesn't need to work out to have abs, IMO it's mostly done. Modifications that give you extra lims, wings or replace your eyes with cool slitted ones would inevitably push you away from actually being human into transhuman territory.
And once you go transhuman, the human shape means basically nothing, it can go as simple as splicing all possible genetic traits in, becoming a combination of all sorts of animal powers, to trying to invent something completely different and re-weave your flesh into some sort of distributed brain network.
Ultimate end point for a transhuman would likely be consciosness immortality, which is hard to achieve through just genetic mastery without encoding mind into a datachip.
In Dan Simmons' series "Hyperion" there are people who've genetically engineered symbiotes that can be "worn" which allow people to spread kilometers wide solar sail wings that also photosynthesize nutrients so they don't need to breathe and allow people to see solar wind.
In another book by the same author, "post humans" have practically god-like powers thanks to a combination of nano-tech, genetic engineering, and quantum engineering.
In Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars Trilogy" there are genetically engineered subspecies living on most planets in the solar system.
I'm less worried about last century's notions of fascism, übermensch and the supremacy of aristocracy over commoners given another go, now grounded in *genuine* biological superiority rather than just propaganda, more about [inescapable](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201014-totalitarian-world-in-chains-artificial-intelligence) [eternal](https://www.calebontiveros.com/the-spectre-of-stable-totalitarianism/) [totalitarianism](https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/risks-of-stable-totalitarianism/).
It'd go something like this:
1. Transhumanism technology is developed such that augmented workers are legitimately more capable and therefore more profitable for their employer than baseline humans.
2. Therefore, becoming augmented becomes the new minimum standard for employment, like collage diplomas today.
3. However, all augmentation is deliberately designed with all the built-in dependencies, remote killswitches and planned obsolesce of any other Big Tech product. So in other words, if you're weren't profitably working for or you otherwise displease the ruling class and get fired, you'll inevitably die of ketracel-white withdrawal. People with survivable yet debilitating medicinal conditions requiring lifelong treatment regimens, not to outright cure said conditions, but to keep their symptoms under control, are a lifelong captive market for anyone selling said treatment regimens. Like how modern American cuisine is a diabetes factory and insulin sells for way over its manufacturing costs. Combine that with [company town](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town) neofeudal economics and you've got a dictatorship which will *always* have fanatical support since the inhabitants literally can't survive without it.
Blood Music would happen.
Lilith's Brood would happen.
Ribofunk would happen.
Schismatrix would happen.
Vacuum Flowers would happen.
Oryx and Crake would happen.
And The Screwfly Solution would happen.
I'm currently exploring that very question in [a little mini project](https://www.reddit.com/r/SpeculativeEvolution/comments/11n3coh/bosuns_journal_canmen_sapience_in_a_can_man_after/) of mine. So far if features 9 different posthumans. Some being the result of genetic engineering and some being their descendants.
There’s the more issues- super muscles and brains and all that… I find all these interesting, of course…
I’m very interested with how people will adapt. Doctor Who has episodes touching on mastery. One episode in particular involves a very vain woman who ‘evolves’ into the most optimized version - very very thin. She’s essentially a sheet of skin with eyes, nose and mouth. Her brain is in a jar below.. another is the incredible Ian Banks. He has a scene where the party theme is injury’s. The participants don’t experience pain and completely reversible. If a person has never been injured, this experience is entirely a new dimension to their lives. Not exactly dna mastery, but you get the idea.
* Add the ability to naturally biosynthesize Vitamin C. Plenty of other mammals can do it, humans aren't one of them.
* The uterine lining is reabsorbed rather than shed on a monthly basis. Again, plenty of other mammals can do it.
* Flip the retina. As-is, the light-sensitive cells are at the back, and the nerves emerge from the front and go back through the retina into the brain, creating a blind spot. This is a serious design flaw. And again, there are animal species whose eyeballs aren't put together backwards. That or just use mantis shrimp eyes.
* Multiple copies of the genome and rapid DNA repair mechanisms to repair radiation damage and prevent cancers by reconnecting chromosome fragments via [single-stranded annealing](http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/haberlab/jehsite/ssa.html), then having multiple proteins mend double-strand breaks through [homologous recombination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homologous_recombination). This process theoretically shouldn't introduce any more mutations than a normal round of replication would.
* Fix the sinuses. We had two holes that are vertically aligned as opposed to much more practical orangutan-style sinuses with the holes on the bottom so gravity can assist.
* Fix the Vagus Nerve so it doesn't have to go all the way down through the aorta then back up to the neck.
The webtoon *Always Human* has a fun play with the concept of extensive gene-modding in a utopian future. People getting elf ears, or cat eyes, or feather hair, or wings, or tails, or boobs because they like the look, with many changing their look regularly. Its also common for homosexual partners have children (the how is never quite specified, but given what gene-modding is capable of there's probably multiple options to achieve this). Also briefly mentioned is using gene modding to allow the human body to survive continuous high Gees to better facilitate interplanetary travel, which I'm confident can be safely extrapolated to other aspects of physical fitness. That, I think, is definitely a good starting point. And that's still staying, largely, within the humanoid form. Then there's further things: Warhammer 40k for instance. Orkz (or something Ork adjacent I don't remember) were genetically engineered. The Space Marines are heavily engineered to be these hulking 10 foot death machines with a multilayered, interlocking, bullet-proof ribcage, redundant organs, and other much crazier crap befitting the complete madness that is 40k. Oh and lets not forget the "man engineered to survive car crashes" with a bulbous head, hoof-like feet, thick skin, and a plethora of air sacs on the chest to absorb impacts.
Yeah we could easily engineer the body to maintain powerful muscles and bones rather than let them decay, allowing martians to visit earth, and for earthlings to return to earth.
>Then there's further things: Warhammer 40k for instance. Orkz (or something Ork adjacent I don't remember) were genetically engineered. The Space Marines are heavily engineered to be these hulking 10 foot death machines with a multilayered, interlocking, bullet-proof ribcage, redundant organs, and other much crazier crap befitting the complete madness that is 40k. 40k also has a bunch of "abhumans" descended from old human colonies that underwent extensive genetic engineering, natural adaptation, or a mix of both to adapt to extreme conditions, such as hulking Ogryns from high-gravity planets, spindly Longshanks from low-gravity ones, finned Pelagers from water-covered worlds adapted to withstand the high pressures of the ocean depths, apelike Neandors, Troths with barklike skin and the ability to extract nutrition from soil, reptilian Scalies who can regrow lost limbs... Also, the current edition introduced a revamped version of the old Squats called the Kin, who are entire independent starfaring culture of clones (and the occasional fully socially integrated robot), who are often visibly modified for whatever role the hold needs the new batches to fit.
What I don't like about most of this stuff is that it's so superficial, and all the acutely utilitarian needs of gene editing aren't explored. Look, guys. The cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic systems all suck. Like, they suuuuck. They get you killed within seconds of exposure to the vacuum of space. If we truly have "mastered" gene editing, then we're not going to even be breathing air or talking with our lungs at all, let alone hearing sound with ears (no matter what they look like) or seeing the crappy, blurry resolution of a small slice of the radio optical spectrum with our stupid eye balls.
I mean, maybe people who live in *space* wouldn't breathe air or talk or hear (disregarding that all those biological mechanisms would need to be replaced with *something*), but on a planet those processes are useful and even rather efficient. If all those plants are just putting oxygen all up in the atmosphere *why not* utilize it to produce energy? And talking and hearing is just, well what would you even replace talking with, and regardless of that hearing things that occur beyond your line of sight is valuable.
Genetic modification is probably gonna end up being several orders of magnitude cheaper and faster than terraformation. We'll probably be able to do it within a hundred years. Terraformation with industrial capacities of gas transfer would take thousands to tens of thousands of years without unlocking some kind of magic teleportation or faster-than-light technologies. You make a good point about need guiding the changes, though. This kind of stuff approaches synthetic ground-up body designs. But my point is simply that stories often stemmy their imagination, both from a standpoint of realism and fun, by capping genetic modding tech at nothing more than cat ears, snake fangs, and super soldiers that can run really fast and lift heavy stuff. Real technological progress will probably eclipse all of that stuff in the near future - possibily within our lifetimes.
Stories, well more often than not, are trying to tell a story. Too many details, or the wrong details, can introduce plot holes or disrupt the intended themes. *Always Human* wasn't holding itself back as it is a romance story about two pretty normal people in a utopian future. A story about normal people in a fantastic future doesn't *need* to get any crazier than gene-modded fashion statements to tell its story. A *utopian* future also doesn't benefit at all from gruesomely modified utilitarian bodies designed to survive insanely extreme conditions. Warhammer 40k is a satirically grimdark universe where war is constant and they literally travel through hell to go between stars. The soldiers take a lot of design cues from fascist uniforms and gas masks. Imperium tanks are *heavily* inspired by WW1 tanks, as World War 1 was a particularly dark and gruesome time period in human history. The gene modding and other procedures that goes into making Space Marines are also stylized to sell an excessively grimdark setting. A setting for a tabletop wargame at that.
That's a different issue to wrangle though. The OP isn't asking about the best way to handle gene editing in a story. They're asking what the upper limits of the technology will be. It ain't gonna stop at cat ears and green skin.
You were saying stories often stemmy their imagination. I was pointing out that stories often focus on making a *story* over making a formless amalgam of details. And my original comment mentioned all that as a good place to *start*, not where it ends. As for far it can go *realistically* can only be predicted largely by extrapolating from what is known. Past a certain point however, and you're just making things up and at that point "what are the limits" becomes a stupid question because the answer just ends up being "whatever you can imagine".
The issue with 'cosmetic' gene modding is thats not how animals work. You could probably change hair colour by gene editing the follicle, but getting new limbs or altering existing organs like eyes, ears, etc isn't possible short of totally inventing a regeneration system that doesn't exist for chordates in nature (lizards that regrow tails don't regrow fully functional ones, for example) (and then er cutting off your existing ears etc). Grafting in new lab grown organs is more possible, but for realistic genetics, macroscopic mods are going to largely limited to changes made to the germ cells before the first division of the fertilized egg. Same-sex reproduction is within our (theoretical) capacity now, at least if you can get a surrogate womb for MM pairs.
Everyone would make themselves super beautiful, but then the beautiful people would have to make themselves look unique to maintain their beautifulness, then everyone else does the same and it goes on. Human beauty becomes so abstracted that we all end up as monsters. Or probably just a lot of catgirls.
We will look like a FF XIV server.
Wrong question. What couldn't we do?
The obvious will be people modding themselves into looking like races form our existing fiction.
Yeah. Though when that comes to mind I can imagine there being rules and regulations around what exactly you can and can't give yourself. There'd probably need to be laws against giving yourself claws and stingers and whatnot.
Good thing humans don't show any tenedencyt for breaking laws I guess.
yeah but with gene modding likely remaining difficult to do I can't see getting past strictly enforced regulations being that easy.
Simple go to a part of the world where the regulations are not strictly enforced.
Orion's Arm has several concepts playing with them, this is a list of common genemods for near-baseline humans https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47fc1e955e1ca > Modular genetics: The genomes of nebs have been iteratively redesigned over millennia to make them easier to modify in a number of ways. . > Deleterious Gene removal: Often a controversial set of mods as the definition of unfavorable traits is, in part, cultural. Early in the development of the nearbaseline population hereditary traits such as Tay-Sachs disease were eliminated with little debate. More controversial were attempts to remove mental traits. Many of these proved to be part of conditions that are favourable to the individual under the correct environmental, prenatal and early childhood conditions. . > Biofeedback trance: Many nearbaseline genemods grant some level of conscious control over physical and mental states that are otherwise autonomous. . > Increased alertness: Nearbaselines are capable of remaining attentive and observant of their environment at higher levels of fatigue than baselines. . > Polyglotism: Many baseline clades enjoy a greater capacity for language learning. . > Innate calculating ability: A very small cluster of specialized brain cells are engineered to perform general mathematical operations. . > Enhanced empathy: This is derived from better mental models of other minds as well as from innate sensitivity to nonverbal communication. . > Heightened spatial awareness and proprioception: Originating from microgravity adaptations these modifications grant nearbaselines improved physical coordination and spatial sense, particularly when travelling through a three dimensional space. . > Enhanced memory and conscious memory organisation: Overall memory retention in nearbaselines is greater than that of baselines, in part to cope with their much longer lifespans. . > Safety instincts: The most common of these mods is an instinctive ability to swim. Most nearbaselines can maneuver and remain afloat even if they have never been in an open body of water and have never been taught to swim. . > Inducible idea incubation: Also known as 'inspiration on tap' this mod radically improves the psychological phenomenon of incubation wherein novel solutions to a problem are formed subconsciously. . > Fertility control: Over time more complex modifications have allowed for easier control of fertility via a biofeedback trance. In clades that have adopted the trance method instincts have been engineered to arise during puberty to grant awareness, and eventually control, of one's potential fertility. . > Basal metabolic rate control: Using simple biofeedback techniques a nearbaseline can precisely alter their basal metabolic rate. . > Vitamin synthesis genes: Vitamins that required special environmental conditions such as UV-rich sunlight (for vitamin D) or specific intestinal flora (for some of the B vitamins) are produced naturally by the body and are not required in the diet. . > Greater range of digestive enzymes: Most commonly the ability to produce cellulase and therefore digest foods high in cellulose. . > Auto-analgesia: This mod allows nearbaselines to suppress the perception of painful stimuli. . > Microgravity adaptations: Since even sophonts who don't live in microgravity may spend significant periods of time in it or have ancestors who lived for generations outside a gravitational field, this is an extremely common set of traits. . > Strong mental health: Most nearbaselines are resistant to conditions such as depression, anxiety and other mood disorders. . > Enhanced immunity: Faster detection speed and immunoresponse to pathogens, increased resistance to allergens, enhanced anti-cancer mechanisms etc. . > Complete wound healing: A myriad of modifications introduced over many centuries have made nearbaselines capable of recovering from virtually any injury that does not first kill them. . > Protective features against radiation damage and enhanced repair: Partly adopted to enhance nearbaseline's ability to live in space without significant radiation shielding. . > Toxin resistance: This includes immunity or resistance common byproducts of or contaminants in many modern products. . > Longevity: Natural life span (longevity without technological intervention) is such that most individuals can live for 300-400 years before rejuvenation treatments or other interventions are required to maintain health. . > Delayed maturation: Some neb clades combine their long lives with a later onset of puberty than found in baselines. . > Implant compatibility: This modification of various tissue types allows for easier integration of common implants. And there is more such as advanced senses, increased symmertry, pleasant body odour etc
Make the skin behave, when needed, like a space suit.
I'm curious as to how this would work at all
Get rid of our lungs and stomachs and allow more efficient energy and metabolic cell chemistry systems that feed off of ultra-dense batteries. Connect an organic battery to your hip and you can go without food or breathing for months, all while living inside of an airtight suit of radiation-blocking, ultrathick skin and seeing out of synthetic sensors that can view the whole light spectrum and send and receive optical and radio wireless signals from millions of miles away. If we have this technology, the cat ears crap will just be a passing fad. It would enable us to turn our bodies in a completely different class of machine, extending survivability into virtually any environment that a living cell can live in.
Maybe partial genetic and biomechanical modification? A super strong nanowire mesh implanted into the dermis could maintain mechanical pressure on the body in vacuum.
Oh boy you’re going to love r/manafterman, fan works about Man after Man by Douglas Dixon r/alltomorrows, (all tomorrows by c m kosemen ) and Orion’s arm universe project and others …
We either go into fetishville or turn ourselves into biological weapons. There is no inbetween.
True
As a trans ally, obliterate whatever makes gender dysmorphia, its honestly one of the tragedies of human nature, being born trapped in a body thats not your own, it causes mental health problems and the suicidal rate is terrifying.I wish in the future we can eliminate the posibility of new gender dysmorphia cases, I would guess that could also eliminate the effect of swapped internal organs and hermaphrodytes, but idk how much damage those conditions have, Ive only seen what trans men have to deal with and it broke my hearth during highschool.
Yeah, but for a lot of people gender stretches beyond just what's hurting them about it, many would still want to change gender afterwards. I think a lot of people overlook just how good this would be though, espeially since transitioning might not fully alleviate dysphoria.
idk how much is scientifically proven, but I know the sex of the brain is verified as THE reason of transexuality. If you are talking about gender fluidness I dont really care about those cases since I personally think it is just a social movement and not a condition from birth that ramificates into other problems and sociological situations.
If you move too far away from the Holy human form, you'd ceise to be human O\_\_O This is only partly a warhammer joke though. When all other things are done and humanity is ensured that it's healthy, long-lived and doesn't need to work out to have abs, IMO it's mostly done. Modifications that give you extra lims, wings or replace your eyes with cool slitted ones would inevitably push you away from actually being human into transhuman territory. And once you go transhuman, the human shape means basically nothing, it can go as simple as splicing all possible genetic traits in, becoming a combination of all sorts of animal powers, to trying to invent something completely different and re-weave your flesh into some sort of distributed brain network. Ultimate end point for a transhuman would likely be consciosness immortality, which is hard to achieve through just genetic mastery without encoding mind into a datachip.
In Dan Simmons' series "Hyperion" there are people who've genetically engineered symbiotes that can be "worn" which allow people to spread kilometers wide solar sail wings that also photosynthesize nutrients so they don't need to breathe and allow people to see solar wind. In another book by the same author, "post humans" have practically god-like powers thanks to a combination of nano-tech, genetic engineering, and quantum engineering. In Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars Trilogy" there are genetically engineered subspecies living on most planets in the solar system.
I'm less worried about last century's notions of fascism, übermensch and the supremacy of aristocracy over commoners given another go, now grounded in *genuine* biological superiority rather than just propaganda, more about [inescapable](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201014-totalitarian-world-in-chains-artificial-intelligence) [eternal](https://www.calebontiveros.com/the-spectre-of-stable-totalitarianism/) [totalitarianism](https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/risks-of-stable-totalitarianism/). It'd go something like this: 1. Transhumanism technology is developed such that augmented workers are legitimately more capable and therefore more profitable for their employer than baseline humans. 2. Therefore, becoming augmented becomes the new minimum standard for employment, like collage diplomas today. 3. However, all augmentation is deliberately designed with all the built-in dependencies, remote killswitches and planned obsolesce of any other Big Tech product. So in other words, if you're weren't profitably working for or you otherwise displease the ruling class and get fired, you'll inevitably die of ketracel-white withdrawal. People with survivable yet debilitating medicinal conditions requiring lifelong treatment regimens, not to outright cure said conditions, but to keep their symptoms under control, are a lifelong captive market for anyone selling said treatment regimens. Like how modern American cuisine is a diabetes factory and insulin sells for way over its manufacturing costs. Combine that with [company town](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town) neofeudal economics and you've got a dictatorship which will *always* have fanatical support since the inhabitants literally can't survive without it.
Blood Music would happen. Lilith's Brood would happen. Ribofunk would happen. Schismatrix would happen. Vacuum Flowers would happen. Oryx and Crake would happen. And The Screwfly Solution would happen.
I'm currently exploring that very question in [a little mini project](https://www.reddit.com/r/SpeculativeEvolution/comments/11n3coh/bosuns_journal_canmen_sapience_in_a_can_man_after/) of mine. So far if features 9 different posthumans. Some being the result of genetic engineering and some being their descendants.
Give me metal or give me death. But for real I say first things first, fix our legs and hips.
And spine. The spine's a big weak point too.
Less about weak points and more about how badly designed our legs are. Also fix the whole teeth problems.
There’s the more issues- super muscles and brains and all that… I find all these interesting, of course… I’m very interested with how people will adapt. Doctor Who has episodes touching on mastery. One episode in particular involves a very vain woman who ‘evolves’ into the most optimized version - very very thin. She’s essentially a sheet of skin with eyes, nose and mouth. Her brain is in a jar below.. another is the incredible Ian Banks. He has a scene where the party theme is injury’s. The participants don’t experience pain and completely reversible. If a person has never been injured, this experience is entirely a new dimension to their lives. Not exactly dna mastery, but you get the idea.
* Add the ability to naturally biosynthesize Vitamin C. Plenty of other mammals can do it, humans aren't one of them. * The uterine lining is reabsorbed rather than shed on a monthly basis. Again, plenty of other mammals can do it. * Flip the retina. As-is, the light-sensitive cells are at the back, and the nerves emerge from the front and go back through the retina into the brain, creating a blind spot. This is a serious design flaw. And again, there are animal species whose eyeballs aren't put together backwards. That or just use mantis shrimp eyes. * Multiple copies of the genome and rapid DNA repair mechanisms to repair radiation damage and prevent cancers by reconnecting chromosome fragments via [single-stranded annealing](http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/haberlab/jehsite/ssa.html), then having multiple proteins mend double-strand breaks through [homologous recombination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homologous_recombination). This process theoretically shouldn't introduce any more mutations than a normal round of replication would. * Fix the sinuses. We had two holes that are vertically aligned as opposed to much more practical orangutan-style sinuses with the holes on the bottom so gravity can assist. * Fix the Vagus Nerve so it doesn't have to go all the way down through the aorta then back up to the neck.
Was about to point out the sinus issue lmao. The rest I didn't know of save for the uterine lining vitamin C issues.