Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Comments on How do you find a mate when everyone looks amazing?

Parent

How do you find a mate when everyone looks amazing?

+3
−3

We have modern humans found in a near future, first world country on Earth. The primary technological advancements are in the form of extremely cheap and fast genome sequencing ($10USD/genome) and in the inexpensive use of CRISPR gene manipulation to fix any and all defects. This gives everyone the capability to know what their genome contains and a means to make any changes to that genome.

Gene manipulation techniques become quickly and highly regulated. For the first few years after this treatment became available, only fixes to genes considered defective or disease causing are eligible for correction. Changes to appearance or musculature are not permitted. Those found to receive these treatments are punished by resetting to their previous state. Organization such as WHO and other NGOs have successfully made this treatment available to 99.9% of the world population. (Yeah, a miracle.) Now, the world is healthy and free of all genetic diseases. As children are born, they are tested and treated so no diseases are reintroduced into the gene pool.

Under considerable pressure from cosmetic surgeons and the populace in general, the regulatory body for gene treatments has permitted the genetic manipulation of appearance. As the treatment is ubiquitous across the world, anyone can manipulate their genes to alter their appearance to anything they please. Therapies that alter a person's brain or brain chemistry are forbidden (let's assume perfect enforcement).


Now, the implications of this kind of technology will touch practically every aspect of society. Every single one. I'm only interested in one particular aspect though, dating, specifically mate selection in cultures where individuals are able to choose their own mates. Arranged marriages are not up for consideration in this question.

When everyone can look like a Greek god (or the local physical ideal), how will mates be chosen if physical appearance is eliminated from the list, leaving material wealth, social status, smarts and emotional intangibles as the remaining criteria?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/21142. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

Post
+1
−0

I'm surprised no one said it yet: Pheromones! One of the things that make you attractive is pheromones!

This will pan out in two ways:

  • People will just find the "best" sequence and everyone will be the same.

  • People will start doing a ton more in-person, social dating.

The first is extremely unlikely, since each person's base receptors are different, so there probably isn't one best emission. So I feel we can disregard this possibly. I'm sure it will be attempted, but those people will get regarded the way people who wear AXE body spray are now "“ posers, and lame douchebags.

That leaves the in-person stuff. I think that what you will see is more of a group-date, casual encounter setting, people going to events where the atmosphere is quiet enough for people to talk with each other and flex their personality, since no body needs to flex their biceps anymore. You see some of this now in larger cities in the US (at least, maybe more places) where bars are set up to play board games and tabletop rpgs, comic stores have reserved space for tables and tournaments, stuff like that. Noisy nightclubs and seedy bars are designed to mask undesired physical traits, whereas in the new world, attractive is the norm.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/21160. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

1 comment thread

General comments (1 comment)
General comments
Mr Bumble‭ wrote about 3 years ago

Yesss. I was similarly surprised by the lack of smell here (as it were). You beat me to it.