There are so many things wrong with this stance I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, there is no U.S. anymore, not as a single entity, and as such no single constitution. There is, of course, a U.S. as five separate countries, all sharing the same military but different presidents. Not to get into too much of a history lesson but way back in 2065 the USA ceased being a single country and became five. Well, honestly it became more like the european union than one single country. The ideological differences between the five regions were so great that there wasn’t much to do but stop being friends. Now, two of the five agreed with each other but were on opposite sides of the coast so, in effect, became different entities. The tricky part comes in where the military is concerned. Even though no one could really agree to what to do with the genetic and computer revolution that came out of the Singularity Event, they could agree that no matter what, everyone else in the world still wanted to go to war.

And that brings us to the protesters. What are they protesting? Genetic manipulation resulting in unholy biological creations. The ability to manipulate the human genome was just unacceptable to a large portion of american society, both then and now. And just like then, there are millions of protesters decending on DC to complain about it. And I had to walk through it to work.

Don’t get me wrong, I support protesters and free speech and all that stuff. But really, it’s been nearly 300 years, isn’t this a dead subject? There are new races now for god’s sake, yes they used to be humans but every scientific body says they are a unique and seperate species from humans. What are you protesting? That you feel that all these people are some how evil and should be cleansed in a salem witch trial type setting is appalling. Yes, you are still a member of the US Union but really, can you ever let this subject drop?

I suppose you can’t and won’t. And it’s your right to not, honestly. The only scary thing is if you are right, there is a God, and he is pissed off at what the last 300 years have brought. But then again, he can’t flood the solar system, now can he?

The NFL has just approved, by a majority of the owners, to allow the altered percentage rate to be 7%. SEVEN?!? The percent range for sentient status is 5! So, what the NFL has just done is force players to alter their genome up to 7% divergence from original markers, as only originals are allowed to play currently, and thereby endangering there status as member of a sentient species!

Now, I suppose there is some dispute as to what this really means. Rich people are, and have always been, above the law. Sentient status is really only relevant for acquiring medical benefits, some legal questions, exact legal rights, etc etc. Of course, if you are altered beyond 10% you have to register, but that’s not what’s going on here. The NFL will never question that range I can assure you. Above 5% and below 10% you are still technically a member of your species just sub classified as an “altered”.

Still, why the NFL would raise this is a mystery to me. Ok, it’s honestly not. 7% altered’s are 2% stronger, faster, bigger or tougher than 5% altered’s. That means harder hits, faster runners, bigger linebackers, etc etc etc. All of that means better ratings and of course the owners want better ratings. Though this will mean that every player on every team will run out and get augmentations. That means every player on every team will have to surrender their full sentient citizen status for the lesser altered status. Is that really fair? They will have to do it because they just won’t be able to compete with anyone that is at 7%. It’s just not even a contest. A 2% change to the genome and body is a huge amount. Even 5% is a huge amount but honestly, harmless body sculpting is really not that big of a deal. I’ve seen people with 5% body sculpting before, they are incredible to look at.

I, of course, will still watch the NFL and root for the Skins, but i’ll still feel bad for the players. They take and take and take from these guys, force them to do things they probably shouldn’t be doing and for what? It was supposed to be just a game not an experiment in potential new species. Greed never dies, even in the 24th century it seems.