Ieldra2 wrote...
Oops. I hope this misunderstanding isn't common. As Cordelia explains, it's only the "natural biotics" genecomplex that propagates itself and won't be diluted. All of Miranda's descendants will be natural biotics, but otherwise as diverse as usual.
I hope it is, maybe I'll feel less stupid.
That's it. Also, from a scientific viewpoint, behavioural traits should be extremely difficult to program reliably, because so much of that is influenced by your upbringing. To take an analogy from morality: you could conceivably program someone to care a great deal about fairness, but you won't be able to influence whether the individual would consider a flat tax rate or a progressive tax rate more fair.
Difficult, yes. But that's what fiction is for. If Elyvern had specifically written that Miranda is only pragmatic due to behavioral traits implanted by Eldfell, I'd accept it. I'd be much more interested by the ramifications that such a revelation would have on Miranda's character that in discussing if it's possible.
So what's the difference if the trait comes about accidentally? It's still not your choice. You are the slave of fate as you'd otherwise be the slave of another's intentions. You may question the morality of the engineering, but you, as the resulting individual, have the same choices in both scenarios.
All the difference in the world. If I am a certain way because I was fathered and raised by one couple instead of another then that is still me, my genes, my morals , my individuality. I might not like the way I am, but there's no point in getting angry about it.
But if I am a certain way because of genetic engineering, then my creator replaced what morals I could have had with his own. Even me writing this rigth now would be a consequence of that. I can't imagine a worse fate.
See above. Our value systems are the results of social interaction in our early years at least as much as genetic engineering. Miranda's very controlled upbringing is a much greater potential problem in that regard than her genetic engineering. Likely, you could genetically program a capacity for empathy or its lack, but whether that ever manifested as a distinct trait would be a result of upbringing.
Also, it's always Miranda's choices.
Good to know, honestly. Guess I won't have to request for the fanfic to be changed from "drama" into "horror"
Or lack of them. All too often, we don't have a choice about falling in love. Still every instance of our falling in love is ours. None of us know if we have any freedom at all. If Miranda's decisions are determined by her genes, so are everyone else's. That random chance is behind it in one case and human intention in the other doesn't make the least bit of difference to the freedom, or lack thereof, of the individual.
No but it will affect the way the individual looks at itself and it's actions. The individual can choose to do something and honestly believe that it was the right choice. But it will wonder if it chose that way because it wanted to do so or because the human who created this individual wanted it to choose like that and, under different cirscunstances, would it choose differently.
Modifié par MisterJB, 18 octobre 2011 - 09:26 .
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