KHAAAAAAN
this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2024
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Idk sounds a bit fucked up to not erase some birth defects and disabilities if you have the means to do so. Don't have to bring eugenics into it if you can just give the mother a pill that will make it so that the kid won't have a fucked up leg or something. Hell, if eugenics is the worry, could let that baby be born with a fucked up leg and fix it later.
As someone with disabilities due to multiple genetic problems, If there was a way, when my mom was pregnant, to alter those genes, so I wouldn't have the BS, and they didn't, I would cut them out of my life.
That was basically everyone's parents but Bashir's.
Yeah at some point in future space tech it becomes a trolley problem where not curing genetic disabilities is as much of a non choice as pulling the lever.
The thing is, Star Trek was a show set in the far future trying to teach us morals about the present. And unfortunately for us, we don't have space communism so if the choice is between accommodating for birth defects and an ineffective, corruption-prone, dubiously safe eugenics program the choice is a lot easier. They have to communicate the morals of that on the show and it creates a hole in logic.
There's also a head cannon that the "eugenics wars" that they reference in the show has actually warped the morals of the society they're in for the worse as any discussion of pre-natal intervention is illogically taboo.
That's not head-canon. It's literally a plot point in DS9.
It's discovered that Julian was intellectually disabled as a child and his parents had him illegally genetically modified. He almost loses his commission and his father ends up being imprisoned over it.
I never saw LaForge as a "disabled person" at all. In my view he had superpowers. What puzzled me was why other characters didn't wear similar visors. I mean why would blindness be a prerequisite for getting the ability to see in infrared, ultraviolet, etc? Seems like everybody would want that. Especially if it could be ocular implants like he eventually had.
Someone with functioning eyesight wearing the VISOR would just get a mishmash of nonsensical information. Their real senses clash with what the VISOR is sending them. Coincedentally it's also the exact same reason for another side effect. Pain. Despite Geordi not being able to see, his eyes still sort of fought the VISOR and caused him constant pain. It also had the ability to be hacked which isn't a great option.
Easy technobabble fix - the visor suppresses the optical neurons, or it simply acts as a blindfold so the real eyes see only darkness. LaForge's pain was because the tech wasn't fully developed. I forget if he still had the pain with the prosthetic eyes. Hackability is another problem we probably won't have in the real future because of quantum encryption or whatever, but it's still a good plot device present-day people can relate to - no matter how unrealistically it's portrayed - click-click-click... "okay, I'm in!" LOL.
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His parents paid the price.
The iron price, or gold (pressed latinum)?
Why wouldn’t you cure things at birth if you already know how to? Like, you know the kid is going to be blind, and you could just give the mom a shot to change that, but you’re gonna choose to let the kid be born blind? I dunno, that’s kinda messed up.
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This is under the assumption that every single being being born anywhere is being gene tested and born at a hospital which is statistically impossible.
being being
Sometimes, I really hate the English language.
Oh damn, I haven't even noticed xD.
That whole sentence is unintentionally grammatically hilarious.
Why the hell would it be eugenics to cure disabilities. If you could turn me from a trans chick into a cisbabe, I'd be down. I mean on one hand periods will suck, but on the other, maybe my fucking hair will grow out!
I’m in the same position, but if I could choose between the best hearing aids the 24th century can offer or repairing my ears, then I’m going full Geordi. Much in the same way I know some trans women wouldn’t make the choice we would.
And that’s the thing, routinely Star Trek shows disabled characters having choices in how to approach their situation and making the choices they feel are right for them. Some people will take a 5% chance of negative consequences to get their legs back, and others will take a futuristic mobility aid instead.
We actually already see this in cochlear implants. They’re difficult; unpleasant, and would give you hearing you don’t otherwise have
Is over thinking tv shows a disability? Asking for a friend, obviously.
If me writing a 20 page essay about my favorite TV show and being a major contributor to the wiki counts as a disability, then I want a parking permit.
Granted on the premise that leaving the house should be rewarded.
I'm not a Trekkie, but I see this mentality a lot in fantasy settings. "Why would there be wheel chair users when a simple healing spell would cure it?" 🙄
Edit: in case it's confusing, I meant the idea that disabilities shouldn't exist in fantasy because of magic is annoying.
Maybe because healing spells don't work that way? Or maybe that type of spell requires some very rare and/or expensive ingredients. Like, it's magic. You can make up whatever rules for it that you want.
In case it's confusing, that's the opinion I have as well.
There's always the way to rationize that a medical problem can't be fixed because of individual traits - for example, in the Wrath of Khan, Kirk needs reading glasses because he's allergic to the drug they normally use to treat vision problems.
Yeah, whenever people can't think of things like this it's so unimaginative. Like, heaven forbid the magic be not that simple or something.
Here is my take, assuming:
- We have the ability to remove all birth anomalies
- It is safe and effective, i.e. not an experimental technique
- It is not controversial, i.e. curing sickle cell is just the done thing\
- Scanning tech is much better than today
Situation 1:
Woman learns she is pregnant, say week 6. Gets a routine scan on the embryo. She discovers it has a genetic disorder. That will cause it to not be able to breathe well, running and playing will not be an option for your baby, they will survive; sweet no brainer there; splice in the fix doc. Correction is spliced in the next week, monitoring for rest of normal pregnancy.
Situation 2:
Woman learns she is pregnant, say week 6. Gets a routine scan on the embryo. Doctor says, looks like there is a genetic defect, the audio nerve is not going to develop normally, your baby will hear badly at birth, and then over the next two years will go permanently deaf. Implants could fix this issue after birth, and living as a deaf person is not difficult. However we can ensure that the nerve develops normally and your baby will have perfectly normal hearing.
In situation 1, the obvious answer is to fix the issue, having life long breathing difficulties that could easily be avoided would be cruel.
In situation 2, in my opinion it would also be cruel to impose on a kid; hey we could have fixed your hearing in a safe and effective way, but we decided for you before you were born that you would be "special".
I get where people are coming from, but they are looking at it with 2024 eyes, not 2424 eyes. Why would you impose on a kid, who has no say in the matter, a disability? Because that is the choice you are making, you are imposing a disability on a child that does not need to be there.
We currently give women folate, to protect against neural tube defects; along with a bunch of other interventions. We are already "interfering" with the "natural" progress of pregnancy and birth, we are only going to get better at it.
And also the conflating of eugenics and fixing birth defects is completely off base. These are only related by the fact that breeding is involved; they have nothing in common beyond that. In the same way that my kitchen knives would make great stabbing weapons, but cooking and stabbing only really have the tools in common.
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