Augments

[Meste17]

Would it be possible to have legal Augments in the 25th century? Those who DO have superior strength, speed AND intelligence.....WITHOUT the complete asshole attitude?

[Tinadrin Chelnor]

Legally... IMO only if the Federation lift its ban. Although despite the ban, it seems a fair few people within the Federation go ahead and use the technology any way. And of course the laws of the Federation do not apply outside of it's territory.

[Graham Kennedy]

I wonder if that is a Federation ban, or an Earth ban...

[McAvoy]

Probably Federation wide though I suspect tb eye could be some limited exceptions for members.

[Vic]

Seems to me that the whole thing against gene manipilation was "the greater the ability, the greater the ambition". That being said, would an Augment raised in a TNG era culture gravitate towards tyranny like in Khan's era? Or would we get a whole generation of Bashirs (not that he is a true Augment)?

[Coalition]

Seems to me that the whole thing against gene manipilation was "the greater the ability, the greater the ambition". That being said, would an Augment raised in a TNG era culture gravitate towards tyranny like in Khan's era? Or would we get a whole generation of Bashirs (not that he is a true Augment)?

I'd argue a saying of "the greater the ability relative to the rest of society, the greater the ambition". The 'better' you are relative to the rest of society, the more likely you are to see them as tools in your path to greatness. Of course if you are already great, then who cares about the little people (Dr Manhattan). Still, having to hide your abilities helps you to fit in a bit, as you are forced to develop along the lines of social awareness rather than focusing on your abilities (Bashir).

We did have the one research institute that was studying immune systems and how to improve them in Unnatural Selection, so there is some research going on with genetic manipulation and improving oneself. Of course the effect of the airborne antibodies means there is still a lot of work to be done.

[McAvoy]

Well Bashir was unique with everyone else who got the treatments became unstable.

[Meste17]

Well still, would it be possible to create some kind of chip that, once implanted, would send electric pulses up to the brain to terminate the aggressive strains, at least temporarily? Dr. Soong WAS working on a way to fix the augment genome by manipulating the embryos DNA, to remove aggression and violent behavior. Isn't it at least possible to do that, eventually paving the way to a HUGE revolution that would let Augments (WITH their 500% strength and double the intelligence of normal human INTACT) to serve in Starfleet in the 25th century?

[Tinadrin Chelnor]

If you could remove the aggression and violent tendencies, there would likely be no need for an electro-pulse chip.

I'm not sure, but I would think too much meddling would diminish a persons abilities, if you make someone too docile would they still be able to be an effective starship commander, or would they be forced to remain in the lower ranks? And also it may become possible to create a "slave race" of augments. How far is too far? I think they'd be better off only using such technologies for minor improvements, like with Bashir.

[Nutso]

Would it be possible to have legal Augments in the 25th century? Those who DO have superior strength, speed AND intelligence.....WITHOUT the complete asshole attitude?

Who needs Augments when you can create holographic beings, like those out-of-date doctor holograms relegated to digging mines?

Need hardy warriors? Design your own warrior who can phase out of reality when fired upon and then re-materialize to fire upon thine enemy! Have Jem-Hadar of your own, but pleasant to look at.

[Tholian_Avenger]

Who needs Augments

Earth... at least since the Eugenic Wars. Can you imagine how heartbroken Khan's people must have felt, offering so much potential to the world only to have the peons turn on them and squander all that greatness in the Third World War?

Those who DO have superior strength, speed AND intelligence.....WITHOUT the complete asshole attitude?

No. You saw what happened with Dr. Bashir, he just sailed on through life actively trying to come out as first place loser.

The 'better' you are relative to the rest of society, the more likely you are to see them as tools in your path to greatness.

Like how that drunk convinced those hobo grad students up in Montana to weld a fusion power plant and gravity engines into an ICBM's upper stage? Just imagine the potential if Khan Noonien Singh was left to rule the Earth in accordance with his will.

[Teaos]

If your going to start making up chips that stop certain things, you go into the territory of just making super humans which is dramatically boring.

Also that seems to be going down the road to Borgville.

[McAvoy]

I wonder how this has anything to do with TNG though...

[Tholian_Avenger]

Also that seems to be going down the road to Borgville.

Or Bynarborough.

That is something that could have been nicely been explored, to see how a society, or segment of one straddles the cybernetic line between mere enhancement and one giant hivemind-grokfest.

[John Wain]

In my opinion TNG is a bit outdated in its way of thinking. Let us not forget it was a late 80s - early 90s show, and so much has changed since then in our understanding of genetics. We may be not much closer to creating super humans, but we do have a better idea of what it would take and how we should proceed.

I believe the 24th century will be way more advanced and futuristic than even TNG's wildest dreams.