Did they break Federation law at Darwin Station?

[Ghel]

From an in-world perspective, perhaps the DS9 comments about genetic manipulation being banned were an exaggeration. Perhaps (like Federal vs states rights in the US), there is an overall ban on genetic manipulation in the Federation, but certain planets/territories allow it. The extent of manipulation allowed may also vary between planets depending upon their overall history with genetic manipulation.

We also don't necessarily know where Darwin Station was located. Was it inside the Federation, or outside in "international waters" so to speak.

From a real world perspective, it strikes me that both stories have different reasons for being. The Darwin Station story is about science untethered (or paraphrasing Jurassic Park terms, "They were so busy asking themselves if they could do something, they failed to ask if they should do something") Bashir's story seems more about the consequences of being ostracized or treated as "other" simply for who you are or for the "sins" of your parents. It is also perhaps an argument against overregulation of science--Bashir, a smart, funny, and personable doctor is the result of medical procedures banned in the UFP. Interestingly both are counter arguments that work as a push/pull to the other.

 

[Oddish]

Creating genetic super-kids just seems like a bad idea overall. Once there are enough of them, they might decide that the rest of humanity is "obsolete".

 

[Orphalesion]

Come to think of it...what about the Mariposans with their constant cloning as a means of reproduction?
Wouldn't that also be against the Federation's laws? Or is the Mariposan colony just not part of the Federation...and if so...might Darwin Station also be outside the Federation and that's how they can do what they do? The Federation seems pretty happy to let human colonies outside the Federation do what they want (as evidenced by Tasha's home of Planet Madmax)

 

[Oddish]

The Mariposians left Earth before the Federation even existed. So no, they weren't part of the Federation, or subject to its laws. And, I don't think the Federation expressly prohibits cloning, though it apparently doesn't consider killing a clone to be murder. Otherwise, he'd have wound up in New Zealand, and Data would have been first officer.

 

[UssGlenn]

though it apparently doesn't consider killing a clone to be murder

Clone murder is illegal at least on DS9, Odo arrests that guy for it (but that could be Bajoran law). In Riker's case the clone wasn't done cooking yet, so this could be a viability issue, much like abortion laws today.

 

[freethinker]

I remember that it's the episode where Pulaski's absolute certainty that everything would be fine almost doomed the entire crew of the Enterprise.

 

[Oddish]

I remember that it's the episode where Pulaski's absolute certainty that everything would be fine almost doomed the entire crew of the Enterprise.

True. I don't know if the aggressive immune bug would have penetrated the Enterprise's countermeasures, but it it good that Picard acted on the side of caution.

Given that the Enterprise had to nuke the Lantree, they probably had to torch their own shuttle as well.

 

[freethinker]

True. I don't know if the aggressive immune bug would have penetrated the Enterprise's countermeasures, but it it good that Picard acted on the side of caution.

Given that the Enterprise had to nuke the Lantree, they probably had to torch their own shuttle as well.

It's a small price to pay to not turn into Tutankhamun...

 

[freethinker]

Just to give an idea of what I am talking about:

 

[Oddish]

Yeah, that's about how the Lantree crew looked.

 

[Timo]

From a real world perspective, it strikes me that both stories have different reasons for being. The Darwin Station story is about science untethered; Bashir's story seems more about the consequences of being ostracized or treated as "other" simply for who you are or for the "sins" of your parents.

Also, Darwin is doctors researching medicine. "Dr Bashir, I Presume" is about civilians making shady deals with doctors to obtain products. It's natural for a government to regulate both - but also natural for the regulation in the first case to feature more oversight and regular reporting, and in the second case to involve more arrests and prison sentences...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Oddish]

I'm surprised that Darwin was allowed such free reign in how they developed their children's genome. They were undoubtedly well on their way to making the same mistakes as Khan Singh's creators, or Data's ancestor in "Enterprise"

 

[fireproof78]

I'm surprised that Darwin was allowed such free reign in how they developed their children's genome. They were undoubtedly well on their way to making the same mistakes as Khan Singh's creators, or Data's ancestor in "Enterprise"

The Federation seems to allow researchers a lot of freedom in pursuit of their goals.

 

[Oddish]

You'd think that after two epic disasters, they'd tell the Darwin folks that it might be prudent to leave this particular genie locked in its bottle.

 

[fireproof78]

You'd think that after two epic disasters, they'd tell the Darwin folks that it might be prudent to leave this particular genie locked in its bottle.

You would think that but it seems that few people actually listen when these things get said.

 

[Oddish]

Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

After the episode Cause and Effect, even data would slap you for making light of his pain.

 

[Oddish]

But Arik Soong would approve.

 

[Imaus]

The federation uses genetic technology to maintain a healthy human baseline population, though? I thought they did, at least. It's not that genetic research is outright banned, it's trying to make superhumans that is, and Darwin just seemed like they were going to make a new genemod to give to every human or to just experiment with the baseline to see what was acceptable. But stuff like sickle-cell, downs, more 'aggressive' (for a lack of a better term) forms of autism, and other stuff they would consider a hinderance are able to be 'fixed' by some sort of Federation Human Baseline Genetic therapy.

Bashir's problem wasn't that he was given genetic therapy to get to a 'normal' standard, if he had development problems, it's that he was vaulted into superior status.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The federation uses genetic technology to maintain a healthy human baseline population, though? I thought they did at least. It's not that genetic research isn't banned, it's trying to make superhumans that is, and Darwin just seemed like they were going to make a new genemod to give to every human or to just experiment with the baseline to see what was acceptable.

Bashir's problem wasn't that he was given genetic therapy to get to a 'normal' standard, if he had development problems, it's that he was vaulted into superior status.

Henry Archer had a genetic disease that turned him I nto a racist crazy yelling person.

Jonathan Archer has the same quirk in his DNA and one day he will be a racist crazy yelling person too.

Adrick Soong claimed he could fix that easily, and save John from 20 years of crazy.

It's zero tolerance.