Human

A young human girl leaning against a male skull.

## Overview

*For a refresher on homo sapiens, please consult the wiki article.*

Humanity. Once a mere observer of the stars, now an explorer and conqueror of them. Through the technological advancements necessary for thrusting humanity into space and its many star systems and cosmic anomalies, the concept of what is human has been challenged and altered in many societies. There are some universal truths as well; humans born today are more hardy, more capable, and intellectually superior to their kin of old.

## Biology

One of the most crucial developments in human evolution was the introduction of ethical gene modification for fetuses. Originally intended to allow humanity the opportunity of survival during the Climate Crisis of Earth, it had since grown into simply making humans better than they were.

By utilizing quantum computing and the latest in genetics technology, scientists gradually became more and more capable of determining what made humans vulnerable and what made them strong. Rather than utilizing radical eugenic policy like during the 60th century (1900s using the Gregorian Calendar), the Earth government took on a more therapeutic approach by instead correcting defects before a baby was even born. Developmental disorders and serious physical defects were progressively wiped out, where now a child having a developmental delay or defect is a direct result of generational abstaining from gene therapy or a remarkably rare error (0.0005% chance) in the later stages of womb development. In 7175 HE, there are less than a thousand recorded humans alive which have a severe disorder like Downs, autism, or sickle cell. There are less than five hundred recorded humans alive which were born with conditions like spina bifida and various limb deformation. The ideal human body and mind has become the extreme norm in civilized society when it comes to "at birth" metrics.

Due to strict regulation, human metabolism and growth has remained relatively untouched. Instead of ensuring that humans are of a certain size, gene therapy instead ensures that the human body is capable of sustaining itself properly if someone *does* grow to an abnormally large height. The average lifespan of someone who is near seven feet tall is identical to that of someone who is less than six feet tall. Disorders that cause dwarfism or gigantism were eliminated.

## Development

Although the gestation period of a fetus has remained the same, pregnancies are easier to go through now more than ever. It is safe for women up to the age of 60 to have children, with menopause also being delayed to the neighbourhood of 70 to 80 years of age. With supplements that are individually tuned to the needs of the fetus and mother, babies are equipped with the resources necessary to maximize their capacity for learning as a toddler and young child.

Humans in today's world aren't objectively more intelligent from a biological viewpoint than their peers from centuries past. Instead, human understanding of biology and its grasp on technology has given them control over the most important factors in establishing a child's potential in learning and fine motor control. Now, the true obstacle to human potential is access to proper education and their upbringing.

## Disease

Standard human diseases have been wiped out through improvements made to the human immune system. Whereas originally the human body needed exposure to strengthen its immune system, nowadays it is mostly handled by inoculations and gene therapy during fetal development. Common diseases like cancer and arthritis are nonexistent without external influence, and maladies like the cold have been wiped out.

However, the human body is still vulnerable to diseases and particles from other worlds and species, as well as artificial construct (like in a lab). While a cold born of human origin won't impact the average person, a disease that manages to cross from one species to another has catastrophic potential. Medical research is more important today than it was on pre-space Earth if only because of the threat of cross-species transmission. A human doesn't live in fear of human illnesses... they live in fear from the illness of their alien neighbour.

## Lifespan

Human lifespan is significantly extended and improved. Whereas in the 60th century a human might have lived to 100 and became physically incapable around the age of 70 to 75, humans can now live to nearly 150 years and only see severe degradation in their physical capabilities around the 140 year mark. The major obstacle that exists today preventing humanity from reaching biological immortality is a critical component of human consciousness; while the rest of the body can be artificially replicated and supported, the human brain is still an elusive beast. Experiments are regularly conducted to transfer a person's consciousness from their brain to a computer, but little ground has been made on sustaining a person's consciousness in a brain that isn't the one they started with.

## Credits

Image is used from the Natural History Museum website, found here.