sunnyside wrote:In the Federation it seems they'll fix you using things they have if you're really messed up but not if you're just somewhat messed up. For example the VISOR supposedly lets Geordi see all sorts of extra stuff. Presumably they'd be popular with other engineers, but only he gets one.
There was a doctor assisting on Picards heart surgery that had one. Seeing as we only see two examples I'd guess that (despite what Geordi claims) this is a SF perk.
They're probably especially finiky with biological mods after the augment wars (and the return of Khan).
That was four hundred years previous to TNG, if RL human society is any judge it would have passed out of memory and probably out of the records as well. And how many people outside of SF would have known about Khan's return?
And there isn't anything they can really do if a mother wants to go on a bender, so FAS is a possibility. They also wouldn't do anything about purely genetic issues.
Maybe the Federation is populated by futuristic Calvinists.
As for Nature vs Nurture. I dunno. While you do get bisexuals who could go either way based on the culture they're in, it seems some people are just gay despite extreme efforts by parents and community to bring them up straight. I'm saying that it seems to be that you wind up on a spectrum of sexual orientation biologically and then can be nurtured from there to some degree.
I only have anecdotal evidence to go on unfortunately. The few bi's that I know basically all say that a major factor in their sexuality was that it was vigourisly opposed by their parents (sometimes violently) and that they felt the desire to try it out even more because of it. Then there's the various statements of feeling curious from a very young age (six or so) and expermenting then.
