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"Syndrome" Syndrome: or the Fallacy of "Special"
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 4992913" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Not at present it isn't. Eventually, we might have to make a rule about genetic enhancement, but I foresee that would be a very very difficult rule to enforce. The problem would be proving that given the extreme variability in human genetic code, that the genes of the person in question weren't that person's naturally. After all, presumably Usain Bolt has various genes which make him a naturally faster runner than I am. Now, if I take a baby and modify it with Usain Bolt's genes, so that it grows up to be a tremendous runner, that person may not even know about his own heritage.</p><p></p><p>Would it then be cheating for that person to run with what Usain Bolt has naturally? </p><p></p><p>Would it be cheating if my parents were both olympic sprinting champions? Is seletive breeding not genetic engineering of a sort?</p><p></p><p>What if I modified the child so that he had the best possible combination of human traits for running possible? How could you screen such a person and by such screening prove that they were unnatural?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Generally the rules for atheletic competition require that the competitor be human.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a growing and interesting issue. Until recently we created special categories of competion for handicapped individuals like amputees because we could not create parts which adequately replaced their missing limbs. However, as our knowledge of prosthetics increases, we risk the point where the prosthetic limb might be one day superior to the one it replaced either in specific sports or generally. At that point, we will probably place various limits on the sorts of prostethetics which are usuable in an open competition, for example, unpowered prosthetics only, or must be no less than a minimum weight, or whatever. It would then be much like we place limits on what a bat may be constructed from when we play baseball at the professional level. And at that point, if you used an illegal prosthetic in competition, then it would be cheating.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Generally the rules for atheletic competition require that the competitor be human. Presumably, if we encountered space aliens and we both enjoyed sports, we would likely invent an 'open competition' where members of both races could compete against each other. Very likely, one race would almost always or even always win the 100 yd dash, and the other would almost always or even always win the Marathon. If that were the case, we'd probably after a time get bored with competing in those categories and instead confine ourselves to inter-species competition that was interesting. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Depends on what you mean by 'normal'. Dash is a normal human. He just happens to be superfast. Or conversely, Usain Bolt is a not a normal human, because normal humans can't run like that.</p><p></p><p>And in any event, if you break an unwritten rule, it can hardly be argued that you are cheating. </p><p></p><p>Evidently, the people of Dash's world are unable to identify what makes a person 'super', else the Parr's would have known that Jack-Jack was a 'super'. And, since the people of Dash's world can't screen for super powers, they have no way of constructing a rule saying 'no supers allowed' except one that is based on performance - "No runners allowed that can run a 100m dash in faster than 9.3 seconds", for example. So, if that is the rule, what happens if someone does his best and then breaks the speed limit?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 4992913, member: 4937"] Not at present it isn't. Eventually, we might have to make a rule about genetic enhancement, but I foresee that would be a very very difficult rule to enforce. The problem would be proving that given the extreme variability in human genetic code, that the genes of the person in question weren't that person's naturally. After all, presumably Usain Bolt has various genes which make him a naturally faster runner than I am. Now, if I take a baby and modify it with Usain Bolt's genes, so that it grows up to be a tremendous runner, that person may not even know about his own heritage. Would it then be cheating for that person to run with what Usain Bolt has naturally? Would it be cheating if my parents were both olympic sprinting champions? Is seletive breeding not genetic engineering of a sort? What if I modified the child so that he had the best possible combination of human traits for running possible? How could you screen such a person and by such screening prove that they were unnatural? Generally the rules for atheletic competition require that the competitor be human. This is a growing and interesting issue. Until recently we created special categories of competion for handicapped individuals like amputees because we could not create parts which adequately replaced their missing limbs. However, as our knowledge of prosthetics increases, we risk the point where the prosthetic limb might be one day superior to the one it replaced either in specific sports or generally. At that point, we will probably place various limits on the sorts of prostethetics which are usuable in an open competition, for example, unpowered prosthetics only, or must be no less than a minimum weight, or whatever. It would then be much like we place limits on what a bat may be constructed from when we play baseball at the professional level. And at that point, if you used an illegal prosthetic in competition, then it would be cheating. Generally the rules for atheletic competition require that the competitor be human. Presumably, if we encountered space aliens and we both enjoyed sports, we would likely invent an 'open competition' where members of both races could compete against each other. Very likely, one race would almost always or even always win the 100 yd dash, and the other would almost always or even always win the Marathon. If that were the case, we'd probably after a time get bored with competing in those categories and instead confine ourselves to inter-species competition that was interesting. Depends on what you mean by 'normal'. Dash is a normal human. He just happens to be superfast. Or conversely, Usain Bolt is a not a normal human, because normal humans can't run like that. And in any event, if you break an unwritten rule, it can hardly be argued that you are cheating. Evidently, the people of Dash's world are unable to identify what makes a person 'super', else the Parr's would have known that Jack-Jack was a 'super'. And, since the people of Dash's world can't screen for super powers, they have no way of constructing a rule saying 'no supers allowed' except one that is based on performance - "No runners allowed that can run a 100m dash in faster than 9.3 seconds", for example. So, if that is the rule, what happens if someone does his best and then breaks the speed limit? [/QUOTE]
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