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this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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For an episode whose argument hinged on genetic engineering being a cultural practice for the Ilyrians it is strange they never actually had anybody testify as to what significance it has in Ilyrian culture. Or how it is done and why.
If the genetic engineering is done to adapt to their inhospitable atmosphere why are they doing it to every child? They could just edit the germline once and be done with it.
Altogether it felt like the writers just got very attached to the idea of genetically modified individuals as a metaphor for real world marginalized groups that they lost track both of the in-universe practicalities of the metaphor and the real world implications for the metaphor. This was just outright sympathetic to eugenicists, an ideology that has led to the deaths of millions of marginalized people.
To be fair, the argument against augmentation was born purely out of fear of the repercussions it had on the Federation. Telling a society "I know you don't like it but we know better than you" generally doesn't go over well. I feel like they did the right thing by playing into the Federation bias and then flipping it.
@varda @ValueSubtracted Maybe I missed something but I thought the Ilyrians were all about augmentation, both genetic and technological. I think there’s a huge difference between taking something, making it better and the pursuit of a perfect race. I too would like to know more.
While I agree I am curious as to the why/how from an intellectual place, I don't think it bears relevance to the decision based on federation bias. Reminds me of a Canadian "barbaric practices" hotline that was created years ago in a misguided attempt to assimilate immigrants to Canadian culture. Could there be cultural practices inconsistent with federation values? Maybe. Is this one of them? Not in my opinion