How did the feelings about gengineering come about? It's an incredibly useful technology with, yes, some potential for abuse, but almost...

I’ve been given a lot of prompts that explore the Squick Factor. Primarily because folks love the Augments and the Uplifts I’ve conjured for them.

And there’s always that one scum sucker who thinks that, this time, they’ll succeed in creating the Enlisted Man or the Perfect Servant or whatnot. It never ends well.

But there’s other things. Mankind did not beat the common cold. They tamed it, domesticated it, and turned it against other virii. The Cleaners get into places that non-autonomous robots just can’t reach [and if you have autonomous robots, the Cogniscent Rights Commission will be talking to you].

And then there’s Tukkatukka. A gengineered tuber that, grown large enough, has enough vitamins, nutrients and whatnot to feed entire families for days on end.

It’s not the technology. It’s the brains behind the hands that turn it to use.