The purpose of this post is to examine the history of genetic modification in the Federation, prior to āStrange New Worldsā. Iāve tried to compile various references to genetic engineering, eugenics, cloning, and genetic resequencing within the Federation across all series, with quotes and additional context as needed. All examples are presented in real-world chronological order, to better examine how these ideas have evolved over the history of the franchise.
The first reference to eugenics I could find is in the Original Series episode, āThe Conscience of the Kingā. In that episode, they briefly described how Kodos was employing his own theories of eugenics when he enacted the massacre at Tarsus IV:
Spock: Kodos began to separate the colonists. Some would live, be rationed whatever food was left. The remainder would be immediately put to death. Apparently, he had his own theories of eugenics.
McCoy: Unfortunately, he wasnāt the first.
Spock: Perhaps not. But he was certainly among the most ruthless; to decide arbitrarily who would survive and who would not, using his own personal standards, and then to implement his decision without mercy. Children watching their parents die. Whole families destroyed. Over four thousand people. They died quickly, without pain, but they died. Relief arrived, but too late to prevent the executions.
The subject comes up again, of course, in āSpace Seedā, when Khan and his fellow prisoners are discovered:
McCoy: The Eugenics Wars.
Spock: Of course. Your attempt to improve the race through selective breeding.
A later statement from Kirk affirms the root cause of the Eugenics Wars:
Kirk: An improved breed of human. Thatās what the Eugenics War was all about.
Spock is the first to suggest that there was a fatal flaw in the engineering process:
Pock: In 1993, a group of these young supermen did seize power simultaneously in over forty nations.
Kirk: Well, they were hardly supermen. They were aggressive, arrogant. They began to battle among themselves.
Spock: Because the scientists overlooked one fact. Superior ability breeds superior ambition.
Kirk: Interesting, if true. They created a group of Alexanders, Napoleons.
Khan himself has some thoughts on his own abilities relative to the rest of humanity:
Khan: Captain, although your abilities intrigue me, you are quite honestly inferior. Mentally, physically. In fact, I am surprised how little improvement there has been in human evolution. Oh, there has been technical advancement, but, how little man himself has changed.
Little is said about genetic engineering for quite some time, until we get to The Next Generationās āUnnatural Selectionā. This one appears to be a bit of an outlier, given what we later learn about genetic enhancement, but it may be possible to reconcile it. When the Enterprise crew first meet Dr. Kingsley of the Darwin Genetic Research Station, she makes the nature of her research seem as innocuous as possible:
Kingsley: Our research here is limited to human genetics. I can assure you weāre not dealing with something that got away from us. We believe that we were infected by a supply ship that was here three days ago.
Later, she acknowledges that the children aboard the station are genetically enhanced, with an interesting caveat:
Kingsley: Our ultimate achievement. The oldest is twelve, and all are telekinetic. Watch.
Pulaski: Genetically engineered?
Kingsley: Not engineered, created. Perfect in every way. Their body structure, their musculature, their minds.
I find it very interesting that Kingsley draws this line between āengineeringā and ācreationā - this distinction seems to hold some relevance to her, but itās not explored in the episode itself. Could Federation law draw a distinction between genetic modification of living individuals and cloning?
This episode also gives us an example of a genetic medical treatment of sorts, when the transporters are modified to filter out the genetic changes Pulaski endured when she transported over to the Darwin station.
Another Next Generation episode, āUp the Long Ladderā, reveals some attitudes about cloning, specifically:
Riker: You want to clone us?
Granger: Yes.
Riker: No way, not me.
Granger: How can you possibly be harmed?>
Riker: Itās not a question of harm. One William Riker is unique, perhaps even special. But a hundred of him, a thousand of him diminishes me in ways I canāt even imagine.
Notably, when Riker and Pulaski are cloned without their knowledge or consent, Riker destroys the clones outright while they are still developing.
The episode also mentions āreplicative fading,ā a process by which errors creep into the chromosomes of clones across successive generations, until the clones are no longer viable.
In Deep Space Nineās āA Man Aloneā, Odo arrests Ibudan for murdering his own clone in an attempt to frame Odo for murder:
Odo: Killing your own clone is still murder.
Notably, Odo is likely referring to Bajoran law, not Federation law, in this case.
The Next Generationās āBloodlinesā contains an early reference to DNA resequencing, a term which will be used more frequently going forward. It is also another example of flawed genetic manipulation:
Picard: You know as well as I do, Bok, heās not my son. I know what youāve done. Miranda Vigo is his mother but I am not his father. You made it appear so because you resequenced his DNA. But your technique was flawed. He developed a neurological disorder. When my shipās Doctor investigated it, she discovered what you had done.
Later, Jason Vigo notes that he is responding well to an unspecified treatment provided by Doctor Crusher, and that the damage caused by the DNA resequencing may be completely reversed.
Federation law regarding genetic enhancements starts to come into focus in Deep Space Nineās āDoctor Bashir, I Presumeā:
OāBrien: Youāre not a fraud. I donāt care what enhancements your parents may have had done. Genetic recoding canāt give you ambition, or a personality, or compassion or any of the things that make a person truly human.
Bashir: Starfleet Medical wonāt see it that way. DNA resequencing for any reason other than repairing serious birth defects is illegal. Any genetically enhanced human being is barred from serving in Starfleet or practising medicine.
Later, Rear Admiral Bennett makes the case for these laws, echoing the sentiments of Spock in āSpace Seedā:
Bennett: Two hundred years ago we tried to improve the species through DNA resequencing, and what did we get for our trouble? The Eugenics Wars. For every Julian Bashir that can be created, thereās a Khan Singh waiting in the wings. A superhuman whose ambition and thirst for power have been enhanced along with his intellect. The law against genetic engineering provides a firewall against such men and itās my job to keep that firewall intact.
Itās interesting that ambition is something specifically cited by OāBrien that cannot be influenced by genetic resequencing, while Bennett says that it can.
In Voyagerās āThe Ravenā, the EMH uses genetic resequencing to neutralize Seven of Nineās nanoprobes. Borg nanoprobes are obviously not a birth defect, so it appears that other medical uses of resequencing are considered ethical and legal.
Deep Space Nineās āStatistical Probabilitiesā contains a number of conversations about the Federations laws surrounding genetic enhancement, and their effects.
Also in this episode, Bashir acknowledges that resequencing methods can be imperfect (perhaps particularly when it is forced to be done āundergroundā):
Thereās also a debate about the laws and regulations surrounding resequencing. For the first time, the possibility of a āgenetic arms raceā is raised - in fact, Odo (seemingly erroneously) claims that this is why the laws were enacted:
In āTears of the Prophetsā, thereās a brief scene which suggests Bashir has been providing Jadzia Dax with treatment designed to make her DNA more compatible with Worfās:
In āChrysalisā, there is another brief debate on the way the Federation has chosen to treat resequenced individuals:
Bashir has thoughts about his personal experience:
In Voyagerās āThe Fightā, Chakotay reveals that he received genetic treatment before birth. This is not presented as something that should be seen as controversial:
āLineageā also delves into the medical ethics of genetic resequencing, as Torres wrestles with some complex emotions regarding her pregnancy. First, the Doctor identifies an issue that can be addressed with routine genetic modification:
However, Torres later requests some modifications that the Doctor is unwilling to perform:
Torres brings her wishes to Captain Janeway, who refuses to order the Doctor to perform the procedure. Notably, Janeway does not cite Federation law, and discusses ethics instead:
Torres ends up tampering with the Doctorās program in an attempt to force him to do the procedure, and it does lead to him makng a medical case for it (albeit one based on falsified information):
In āImperfectionā, Icheb devises a genetic resequencing technique that will allow him to regulate his Borg implants without a cortical node, which he donates to Seven of Nine.
Enterprise delves into the Eugenics Wars in a number of season four episodes. The series also introduces a new term to describe enhanced individuals: augment. Of course, this series predates the Federation, so all references to the law are referring to Earth law, specifically. from the context, I think itās possible that later Federation law are at least slightly more permissive.
In āBorderlandā, the merits of genetic engineering are discussed several times. First, Archer has an exchange with Arik Soong:
Later, Phlox reveals that genetic engineering is fairly routine amongst his own people. Despite this, he seems generally supportive of Earthās laws surrounding augmentation:
Soong also tries to play to Archerās emotions:
In āCold Station 12ā, it seems Soongās argument got to Archer, although it has not changed his resolve:
In āThe Augmentsā, we return to the notion that violent behaviour is inherent to augmented individuals (or, at least, these remnants from the Eugenics Wars):
Later, Archer manages to quote words that Spock wonāt utter for decades, though it appears Spock had lifted that from someone else without attributing it properly:
Finally, Discovery acknowledges the laws surrounding DNA resequencing in āChoose Your Painā:
Of course, Stamets ends up augmenting himself with Ripperās DNA, which the Federation tolerates out of necessity.
This concludes my historical summary of the Federationās history with genetic modification. Obviously, Strange New Worlds has delved further into this, and I welcome commentary that ties those more recent episodes to this history.
My primary takeaways from this summary are:
The regulations surrounding genetic resequencing stem from Earth laws enacted following the Eugenics Wars. Itās possible that those Earth laws were stricter than the later Federation laws, as certain medical interventions appear to have not been permitted, while it seems that they may have been later.
In the Federation, genetic manipulation is permitted when there is a medical need, and possibly to enable cross-species reproduction.
Individuals who have received resequencing are prone to unintended side effects, which the Federation has had limited success in addressing.
Individuals who have received resequencing have also discussed being disrciminated against, both legally in the sense of being barred from certain professions, as well as socially.
Bravo!
Itās worth noting probably, that a major plot point of Prodigy also hinges on Federation genetic modification laws, although itās not clear what lead exactly to the Federation allowing Dax to proceed with his potential future admission to Starfleet, or where that plotline might end up going, were the series to get itās second season.
Youāre right - I thought about Dal, but ultimately decided to leave him out of the summary, since his contact with the Federation and its laws was minimal.
I got the impression it was pure Janeway nepotism
Obviously one of the people on the panel there she was trying to convince was very much a bigot towards augments, but of course, a Janeway endorsement is going to be a big point. But unless Prodigy (being slightly before Picard, right?) is nearing the breakdown of the anti-augment laws, I doubt theyāre going to be like āoh letās just let him in on Janewayās wordā. Of course, thereās the āasylumā bit, but even asking for asylum, that only gets Una her position back because she was already established as one of the best.
Part of her argument, was that heās a mishmash of 22 or 26 of the federation members speciesā¦ and possibly part of that being that heās not any particularly enhanced version of any of those.
Hopefully we will get that S2 ā¦ and if not, maybe the writers will at least tell us where they were going with it.
Another key takeaway from this that I hadnāt considered before:
Augments arenāt just banned from Starfleet. They canāt become doctors either. Speaking as a Jew my people know firsthand that one of the best ways to create an underclass is to restrict the occupations available to them. Are augments systematically kept out of skilled professions, denied the chance to better themselves and their fellow sapients? Very disturbing possiblity.
The conversations in āStatistical Probabilitiesā definitely suggest the restrictions extend beyond Starfleet and medicine.
Itās also likely that the stigma attached to being augmented could prevent someone from being hired into certain positions, even if there are no formal rules against it.
I want to push back on the conversation between Jack and Bashir in āStatistical Probabilitiesā a little bit given additional context from Strange New Worlds āAd Astra per Aspera.ā I donāt think itās fair to say that all augments are treated the same way. Itās unlikely I think, that even if Bashir were to have not lied to get into Starfleet he would have been prevented either by law or by policy of doing anything even remotely scientific - including medicine or other gene research.
However, I donāt think we can take Jack at his word that he would have been institutionalized in the same manner. If we believe that the genetically modified people we see from the Institute in Deep Space Nine werenāt driven mad by their perceived incarceration then we have to believe that side effects of the genetic modification process caused unexpected neurological abnormalities and personality disorders that we see typified by that group.
Dal, for instance, in Prodigy does not fear institutionalization in the Federation, but rather he fears he wonāt be let into Starfleet. Presumably he may also be precluded from other career choices that heās just not interested in, but I donāt think itās fair to say that being an augment is criminal as much as it is laws have created a system whereby modified people, especially modified humans, are treated as second class citizens. This might even extend to people who have DNA sequencing done for legitimate medical reasons like Chakotay. I like to imagine Chakotay and Una and Bashir having similar experiences even though their circumstances were unique. The human willingness to look past reason and into bigotry doesnāt go away, but itās focused on the genetically modified.
And it takes decades, centuries even, for the laws to change even a little bit and even longer for the people to accept those changes.
Well, that specific bit comes from āDoctor Bashir, I Presume,ā not āStatistical Probabilities,ā and heās talking to OāBrien, so I think we can assume heās not exaggeratingā¦however, OāBrienās response is interesting when you take Strange New Worlds into consideration:
So Bashir could be right, in that heās interpreting the laws as written, but you could also be right, in that itās possible no case has gone before the courts in quite some time, perhaps even since Unaās.
Whoa! Good catch. That timeline almost lines up exactly and itās very possible that OāBrien was referring to Una. It could also be that OāBrien is indicating that sentiments have maybe changed somewhat in 100 years, something that we are lead to expect from SNW. And indeed Bashir is allowed to stay in Starfleet without even having to find a technical loophole and Richardās punishment is considered harsh at 2 years. Given the future utopia that weāre dealing with and the historical significance of the crime I think what weāre seeing is that no one really does this anymore and so itās not really an issue.
I really hate that Prodigy was unrewened because a courtroom episode of Prodigy where Dal gets the right to serve in Starfleet and the Starfleet ban on genetic augments is lifted would be a pretty cool.