Message from @ebowden
Discord ID: 405926081808564252
Not a "nonsense mutation", just nonsense.
The idea was that similar to how we genetically modify things now it was introduced to the body piggybacked on a viral agent (which was my understanding of how that worked at the time). That works good for plants, but not as well on something as complex as a human.
Well, it works well when there are far fewer cells to get the genetic material in.
As in the case of embryos.
Due to an arbitrary tech roadblock I created you couldn't use these techniques to create new life from stratch. Only alter an already existing structure.
Right, that's why in the story they have essentially three variants basted on when the alterations were introduced.
Well, altering an extisting structure would be how any sensible person would do it anyway.
Yes, THAT bit I liked.
Then I got to the nonsensical malformations, and worse yet, your description of the mechanism that brought them about.
Well I can explain my line of reasoning, and you can tell me how I am wrong.
It's just a genome, it has no intelligence.
Well, yes. Of course.
There won't be a battle between the wild type and non-wild type parts.
It doesn't work like that.
Fair point.
So here's how my reasoning went.
So this tech, when the recrants stole it, was still in a very early stages. These stories take place not that far in the future. So the way it alters DNA is crude, slapdash. In some cases fragments of the human DNA are still left behind.
Now when I was saying the human DNA is reasserting itself I don't mean that as literally as I think you are taking it. I will get to that.
As I said the DNA alteration is done via a viral agent. One of the breakthroughs that makes this possible is the viral agent is self replicating in itself, and so once introduced into the body it is perpetual. It coexists wit the body theoretically symbiotically.
Wat
Both.
Ok I can see how this is confusing.
It isn't now.
Like I said not a biologist. Thanks for helping me sort this out.
I guess stricly speaking it might not.
So, how does this not spread and turn a shitload of people's babies into furries?
Also, the self-replicating stuff is not in the least bit necessary for when they modify embryos.
Another of the breakthroughs in my notes. While capale of replication the virus that is the foundation of all this tech is not capable of mutation. in the story it is specifically noted the team that cracked that nut got a nobel prize. It infects a cell, and alters that cell specifically. That cell continues to replicated like normal. The initial treatment is what could best be called "queen" viruses. A biological factory that consumes human waste products and produces the viruses proper. These seek out and infect existing cells and are everywhere in the body altering their shape and (to a lesser degree) this tech is, and I feel I need to emphasize. this, imperfect.
Wut
Mutation is just something that happens, not something you are "capable" of.
Unless you have something that is just meant to cause mutations, but that's different.
Wow, it's summer here and Rusty is shivering now he has his fur cut.
The "queens" create the cells that to the alterations on a regular schedule. They always create the same cells. Those cells, the ones that do the alteration, are not capable of replications.
wut
"A biological factory that consumes human waste products and produces the viruses proper."
More wut.
"These seek out and infect existing cells and are everywhere in the body altering their shape and (to a lesser degree) this tech is, and I feel I need to emphasize. this, imperfect."
Why would it be altering cell shape? Patterning is mostly done with patterns of cell growth and apoptosis.
Hilarious.