>>5312474Yes. Thank you for reminding me. This was originally supposed to be a part of Sinleq's Q&A with Larkin, but I completely forgot about it in a prior draft. He'd ask about designer babies, and Larkin would confirm they were a real thing.
Designer babies were very much a thing of the Old World. The same nanomachine/nanite technology used to cure Tom of his radiation sickness went into editing DNA/genes during the development of a fetus. Ethical debate aside, these were mostly 'harmless' edits such as preventing Down Syndrome, curing Sickle Cell, or preventing the heart disease on dad's side of the family from being passed on.
Of course, there were also the 'cosmetic' designer babies, or vanity projects. Parents who wanted their children to have certain eye colors, hair color, athletic predisposition, increased metabolism, and what not. Strict regulations were imposed upon the populace at large, and the ethics debate for those got locked in gridlock. Plenty of back-alley doctors, or doctors in certain countries with less restrictions and oversight, made a hefty business catering to unscrupulous parents.
And of course, there were conspiracy theories about the myriad world powers, the United Nations, and the Terran Union breeding super soldiers and artificial humans to colonize the solar system, but no concrete evidence ever came out.
The technology for creating designer babies, however, have long since been lost to the Cataclysm.
Sharp mind you got there, anon. I can't say more without spoiling stuff, but let's just say you're very, very warm. 