Transhumanism

Transhumanism is one of the major themes of Starfall.

Even before the fall of earth, the line between technology and biology began to blur: as prosthetics and bioengineering improved, emerging technologies were used to enhance the human condition. Bioengineering sought solutions for disease, disability, and death.

Soon these technologies were no longer mere solutions to an ailment, but rather desirable upgrades to lack in human biology. Even before humanity left Earth, humanity adapted their biology to their surroundings - from small changes to retinal receptors to allow for low light vision to engineering infant cells to be resistant to certain strains of disease, humanity began to evolve in ways never before seen.

This leaves an ethical conundrum, as transhumanism dives into some dangerous territory: how much body modification can one undergo before one is no longer human? It is one thing to replace a lost arm, but a heart? A brain? What defines human? If you can perform surgery on your brain, programming it like a software, at what point do you stop?