There's a fair amount of "transhumanist" tech and theory in the Whole Fenspace Catalog, and Noah didn't redact very much of it... (Noah's all right with a settlement or a faction heading for the Singularity, as long as he doesn't have to go along for the ride. He likes being human.)
A careful reading of the character template for the Scott-series androids indicates that they have been able to fork (and mix the forks!) since day 1, and shows exactly how they could do it. They don't do it by personal choice. The technique might or might not be usable by other AIs.
I (the writer) am comfortable with human genetic engineering being part of the setting - Leda Swansen-Scott is a genetic engineer with a good reason to at least examine her own gene sequence, after all. If we want something amazing to come out of the Vesta Institutes instead of from Boskonia, I'm fine with that.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
A careful reading of the character template for the Scott-series androids indicates that they have been able to fork (and mix the forks!) since day 1, and shows exactly how they could do it. They don't do it by personal choice. The technique might or might not be usable by other AIs.
I (the writer) am comfortable with human genetic engineering being part of the setting - Leda Swansen-Scott is a genetic engineer with a good reason to at least examine her own gene sequence, after all. If we want something amazing to come out of the Vesta Institutes instead of from Boskonia, I'm fine with that.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012