Do the genetic changes involved in the evolution cause new medical problems?

• I would argue that these two issues could be dealt with in stories and that we do not yet need to make an executive decision. Within a story, if a disease/evolutional genetic problem affects the "crew" than we can discuss those issues based on the story idea itself, and if the idea fits into the Universe or needs to be altered. Why close this off now? These points, IMO, are not as essential to the Universe as say, type of ship(s), FTL, and first departure date. -- CmAmidon - 22 Jun 2004

• I agree. These are listed for completeness. At some time someone will write a story and need some of this information. Maybe the character enters a room and sneezes. The author should put an entry under the "Have all diseases been cured?" topic that at least the common cold has not been cured or maybe it is allergies. But as you think of something (question or answer) put it down. -- DaveK - 23 Jun 2004

• This is a bit confusing. Either that or I'm thick. Do you mean that if a writer includes someone sneezing then the author needs to tell the others by putting a "no" after the common cold cure point? In my opinion its less important to ponder specifics like common cold, et, then to determine what sort of guided evolution there should be and how such a system will work. Will it be administered through the medical system? Is the medical system a class of doctors and nurses who's training will be passed on generation to generation, or will it be controlled by say an AI designed to oversee the guided evolution? I agree with CM that what we need to do is get down to the nitty gritty of what type of ship, what destination, and how long the ship travels rather then worry too much about colds and diseases. Once we know a destination we can determine what traits we want to select for, and plan accordingly. Illnesses can be left up to individual writers as long as they follow the general tech level/established rules of the universe. -- EmptyKube - 24 Jun 2004

• Empty, I agree with all of your statements except the last which confuses me. I don't know if your're saying that the individual writers do what they want or that they follow the rules. The importance of this has to do with the continuity of the story. If a hundred years into the flight someone writes a story in which the hero cures all disease then fifty years after that we have a story set in a hospital that was active the entire trip, the continuity for the reader will suffer. As you said let's make the big decisions first. -- DaveK - 25 Jun 2004

• I think this question is very much answered by our decision to allow each author to create their own ship. Therefore the only parameters that must be followed are the ones set at launch. This question is very much a story idea someone can investigate during the middle or latter stages of evolution. --Camidon 4/30/06