Submitted by ThePikol t3_127j6s6 in Futurology
As we are slowly enetering the genes modification era I started to wonder, what if we could alter the melanin levels in our body? Telling our cells to produce more or less melanin seems rather easy (at least compared to other things).
So what would happen if that were true? Changing your eyes, hair and skin color would become part of the aesthetic medicine offer. Would that be a good or a bad thing? How would that affect racism?
Dr. Seuss was quite the deep thinker. He could set my brain on fire when I was little.
He could have been the best rapper in the known world if he had wanted to.
I know in a Larry Niven Sci Fi book, skin color was a fashion choice, and people would modify it to follow trends. Perhaps that is where we are heading as humans, at least the lucky wealthy ones.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. Right now it may seem like a sensitive topic, but I don't see why in the future it wouldn't be seen like dyeing your hair.
And for sure, first it will be available only for the rich, but as time goes it should be for everyone
Yes, I agree it should be accessible to everyone once the medicine is perfected. These cosmetic adaptations will eventually become less costly and accessible to most, and may help break down prejudices, as well allow people to live in the flesh they see themselves as internally.
Sounds like you are interested in Transhumanist ideas, perhaps? I find them fascinating, both as a potentially positive and negative force in society.
Don't know what that is, but is sounds interesting. Would like to learn more but I can't DM you :(
Hmm, looks like I can't dm you either for some reason.
Transhumanism is basically a school of thought that argues we should improve humanity through developing body modifying tech, for various reasons, including improving our intellectual capacity, extending lifespan and generally overcoming the limitations of human existence. It's very popular in science fiction.
Your idea of overcoming racism by making racial characteristics modifiable is a great example.
I can't DM anyone. Might be a reddit problem.
Yeah, it does sound nice. I'm all for body and genetics modifications if that means our life would be easier or people doing them would feel better as themselves.
And the poor ones will just come up with their own side effect causing version. And the cycle continues.
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I've also seen it in Sci-Fi a couple of times. It's a decent way of altering the preconceptions of racism. What color are you would have a lot less meaning in an era of changing colors.
I think the practical side is pretty cool too. Live at the equator, add more melanin. Live in the higher latitudes remove it.
Another practical version may even be more than fashion. I have read a Zebra's stripes are an effective way of reducing insect bites. I think melanin stripes would look awesome and I could just say it's to keep the mosquitoes away.
Could melanin be used like tattoos? I guess that would be hard to do just by gene modifications. Maybe localized genetic editing at the dermal layer by nanobots.
I guess now, I want cat eyes that can see in the dark, and melanin tiger stripes. Once genetic modifications become a normal reality, people will get pretty weird with it, I'm sure.
It would not affect racism at all, until it became as commonplace as plastic surgery is today. That is to say, not until it's common enough that most people have someone close to them that has used this kind of gene modification. Even then I expect you would still have quite a bit, as most people I've met who were racist, would never bother to find out what you were before gene therapy. They would just see skin color in the first place, and not bother beyond that. Maybe you would get a large number of black people trying to look more white. But that would only make racism worse, as those who did not undergo gene therapy would catch even more.
With today's mindset people would probably go towards the white more, that's true. But in the times, when that technology is available, I believe the choices would be more aesthetic and we would choose what we want and feel like inside
I'm not as confident as you in that fact. My faith in people is severely lacking. But it is certainly a possibility. That's why I said when it became commonplace.
These modifications on human embryos will start in china. Big eyes, bright skin, higher IQ. Then these modifications will conquer the world.
Oh yeah, I guess there are people who would alter their unborn kids... That's I'm against. In my post I was thinking more about adults. It should be personal decision
I am totally with you. But it will start with the genetic manipulation of embryos, what is easier. Maybe in China or Noth Korea or so.
you're acting like designer babies arent already a thing....
Is it a thing? What can you choose?
One of Greg Egan's short stories has skin-darkening common as a defense against skin cancer caused by a worsening atmospheric blockage of UV rays. It puts the white supremacists in a crisis, lol.
jfcarr t1_jeef86v wrote
But how would we be able to tell the Star Belly Sneetches from the Plain Belly Sneetches?