Darwin Station was an explicitly Federation genetic research facility which was creating human children with telepathic and telekinetic powers, rapid physical maturation, and immensely powerful active immune systems (the last of which unwittingly killed the crew of a transport ship). This seems like precisely the sort of genetic engineering which has been banned in the Federation since it’s conception, in regulations which are repeatedly referenced in TNG, DS9, and VOY. And yet, nobody even hints at there being an ethical, legal, or regulatory issue with what these researchers are doing. Dr. Pulaski even says of one augment child, without any apparent concern, “We could be looking at the future of humanity.”
One would think that if one has a broad reaching policy against genetic augmentation principally motivated by the genetic wars, and by subsequent reinforcement of the idea that arbitrarily enhanced people are likely to be dangerously unstable, this sort of genetic program is exactly what that policy exists to prevent. And yet, there is it.
So, what happened here? Was this the product of a brief lull in Federation policy regarding genetic augmentation? A Federation research team going way off the rails, meeting an Enterprise crew feeling unusually liassez-faire about Federation law? Or something else?
I think the episode implies ethical issues, but stops well short of spelling them out. The fact that Kingsley concealed the childrens’ true natures for as long as she did suggests that their research was not on the up-and-up.
My best guess is that the station’s research, on paper, fell within Federation regulations, but their actual work did not. But that’s stretching pretty far, given that no one explicitly raises the issue.
My best guess is that you have to learn how to be a criminal in order to catch criminals.
A cop who investigates burglaries has to know what a lockpick looks like, and the bunco squad has to know about confidence games.
The directive was probably something like “figure out the genetic markers we’d have to look for to identify aberrant humans.” imho
The idea of deliberately creating otherwise illegal augmented people purely for the purpose of making it easier to systemically identify other augmented people is so brazenly unethical, I am at a loss for further comment.
It’s been a while since I watched this, but I believe they were toeing the line when it came to the ban. Like, they’re not looking to create a superior being or advance the human race, but more to study and eliminate particular disease and sickness.
Unfortunately, there was definitely more going on than that. The genetically modified children were telepaths who could move physical chess pieces with their minds.
This is one of those times, like the Klingons joining the Federation in TNG: “Samaritan Snare”, where the only explanation that makes sense is the Doylist one - that the writers didn’t know about the ban because it wouldn’t be established in lore until DS9.
The only Watsonian explanation I can come up with is that the Federation for whatever reason made an exception in this case. Or perhaps Darwin went beyond its remit by “creating” the children and despite that Picard and Pulaski chose to focus on the immediate problem of the aging disease and to deal with the illegalities later.
But the Doylist one is much simpler.
