If you could design your own body and hit a button and have it immediately implemented, would you keep your natural self or would you make changes?
We'll just all assume that every person who gets this would make themselves early twenties with flawless skin, perfect organs, appendages and functionality, and no excess weight.
My question is, would you change yourself from your genetic baseline, and if so, how?
No more garbage genetics please. EDS, pots, ADHD, probably autism (on the waiting list for testing), chronic stomach troubles, depression, anxiety, hormone imbalances, PCOS, chronic pain, inflammation, weak loose skin. All that can go fuck right off forever and die. Once my body actually worked, and looked like it wasn't cursed from the get go, I think I might actually like it. Mostly. Might like an androgynous unit for daily living and a feminine one for sexy times. Both thoroughly muscular of course. Gotta get that muscle tone. If we went for non human stuff on top of that, wings. Huge fuck off dragon wings. None of that Superman flying shit, I wanna FEEL the flight. Hell, I'd probably actually be able to enjoy doing any physical activity if my fucking body wasn't so, so breakable. Really I just wish I wasn't in so much pain.
I’d get rid of the daily headaches that started around 12, all the random aches and pains I’ve had since my early 20s, and give myself better dental/oral genes so I didn’t end up with a cavity every damned year.
But the thing is those are changes I’d make with CRISPR, too, if we knew enough about genes to actually implement them. I’d do it in a heartbeat.
The aesthetics aren’t that important, tho I wouldn’t mind having thicker hair. My mom got a nose job and told me I have her old nose, and even that I’d keep.
I’d keep my adhd/autism/personality/appearance stuff, just want the rogue pain/deterioration genes fixed.
better cable management for more efficient routing
A settings menu to enable things like "abundant food" mode, set body hair preferences, etc.
3 sets of teeth, make baby teeth last a little longer like my first one fell out when I was about 5 or 6, I'd start replacing them at like age 8, then the middle set would last until about 35 and then you get your last set.
Sperm valve with 2FA.
There's probably some upgrades we can make to the eyes.
Maybe some kind of heat pump system for urine, so if its very hot you can take a 150 degree piss and save some sweat, or if its very cold you can piss ice water to retain more heat.
build caliper functionality into my hands, so I can know the size of something just by holding it.
Ever since I saw Ghost in the Shell, I've wanted a full on robotic body. I'd have a few different ones to suit my mood, too. Assuming I could afford it, anyway. Which since it's a dystopian nightmare, means I probably wouldn't be able to get anything other than the shitty tank-like body and only if my insurance covered it. 😮💨
Ever since I knew the weakness of my flesh, it has disgusted me...
I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to — I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more, I could experience so much more, but I’m trapped in this absurd body.
I doubt I'd do anything major. Tweak my hair and eye color a bit. Predispose myself to a higher metabolism. Crab claw. Maybe add an inch, though I'm already pretty tall. Just simple confidence things, ya know?
I'd also want to get rid of my mental illnesses, and reset my weed tolerance. And, if possible, give myself an eye for art. I love to draw, but I sssuuucccckkkkk. And be smarter. Cause I have a severe case of the dumb.
I also would ask to not be asexual since it seems like everyone else is having a good time and I wanna be involved lol
Nightmares beyond human comprehension like something out of a video game character creator with lots of liberty but even weirder and then probably the default settings again.
I'd remove my personal need for sleep, making it completely voluntary. But I wouldn't tell anyone about it. I could use an extra eight hours of free time every day.
A past me would have 100% answered in the affirmative to change myself, but I've since then, I've gained some confidence and realized I'm not as horrifically ugly as I thought I was when I was younger. I just need to take care of myself. So other than the improvements you mentioned, I think I'd keep my natural self.
Actually, maybe make myself a little taller lol. That is a huge benefit both in personal lives and in business. So mostly natural self, but optimized and some increased height.
No body hair, straight hair, no scalp issues, and more feminine face.
If I can extend it to the brain, no family history of schizophrenia (I don't have it myself but it's the reason I intend to abstain from psychedelic drugs.)
I would flip my gender to female and ensure that my hair would match my Dad's hair color. Fix my chronic pain and IBS if I can, assuming those are genetic. Fix my singing voice. I ended up the shortest of my siblings, so double down on that and drop a few more inches off my height. I'm 5'8" now, so 5' even to 5'4" seem nice. My grandma's that height, so the code is in there somewhere.
I mean, is this easily repeatable? I can think of lots of things I would try out, but a much smaller number of viable options if it was a once in a lifetime thing.
My biggest wants are to have a body that at least works.
Gimme garunteed function out of my stupid organs, which is admittedly a given in the prompt but ***FUCK. ***
I'd honestly keep my probable autism, as I got exceptionally lucky and managed to find a career niche that effectively monetizes my neurodivergency (which is SUCH A FUCKED STATEMENT), but my ADHD is much more of an impediment to my personal and professional life- I'd turn that down considerably.
Past that, if I've got the opportunity-
I'm tired of my frail POS frame, and have a disposition towards giant dragon men. Give me durable scales, enormous muscles, and practical wings so I can help my friends, family, and I make reality match our dreams without fucking my skin up, needing a ton of help, or paying morbillions to just keep a vehicle OLDER THAN I AM insured.
Peak male performance is being able to fly groceries home and fix your friend's shit for them no matter HOW big the appliance is.
I'm gay as fuck and want the biggest dick physically sustainable, but I'd be willing to accept NO cock if meant meaningful independence and the ability to help others with major electroni-mechani-fluidi-cal infrastructure issues single-handedly and with ease. For now, I'm just going to have to pay out my ass for safe equipment or skilled labor that can do what I can't.
Modern society is a technological onion of such magnitude that human ability, physical or otherwise, is only able to maintain a vanishingly tiny amount of it, and the tools that enable one to cover a reasonable amount of it are only getting more expensive and obsfuscated. Fight the enshittification of the wheels that turn society by turning yourself into a horrifically sexy monster, preferably one descended from ideas that have been playing humanity since we discovered methods of writing our nightmares down.
If I choose to remain a woman: add 2 more inches to my height, lose the genetic stomach fat, improve ability to build muscles. Maybe less curlier hair.
If I choose to become a man: late 20s, dark wavy hair, 6'5, lean build but not skinny. Wanna be a target version of Michael Scofield, basically.
We'll just all assume that every person who gets this would make themselves early twenties
Nooope. Hard pass on that.
My question is, would you change yourself from your genetic baseline, and if so, how?
Really, only fix some funky hormonal stuff, I'd not even heal my bad ankle, even though it sometimes causes discomfort - it provides me with an extra sense that I didn't have before; barometric pressure.
It would be cool to have a "built-in" HUD with metrics about my body, sensory input, and a few other things that could be switched on or off at will.
The "gear" that I was born with has shaped my experiences in life so far. Any major change and I'd probably be someone different.
totally change stuff. remove the miopia. give me the ability to tan. anything else I could do what is clearly improvements. I would keep the overall look the same. like I would not change anything that could not do better practicality wise. I would not just change for looks.
Ignoring the obvious "change myself into a magical wolf man which ends up getting dissected by some government agency", probably just a tune up.
There's a lot of mostly minor and cosmetic stuff I'd fix. Removing the need for glasses. Fixing my teeth. Ridding myself of a genetic thing my chest does. Fixing that weird pop my toe does every one in a while. I'm not really interested in being mr muscle strongman who people think women flock to; it's just not me.
Mentally though, I'd like to see about removing my depression/anxiety stuff, although I'm not sure if that's allowed or not by the rules. That's honestly probably the biggest thing holding me back. I'd keep the autism though; being neurodivergent isn't a crime.
I would change. I've always loved character creation so I'd spend a good chunk of time designing just looks alone. Then, I'd focus on attributes and stats. What sort of person would I like to be? What do I want to be good at? What's the best build for the life I'm about to lead? Artist? Philanthropist? Genius? Smooth talker? Or a jack of all trades?
Would I have perks that I can implement? Perfect pitch? Ambidextrous? Perfect eyesight? Double jointed? Heterochromia? A dude with a big penis? A chick with a large set of boobs?
That's not to mention if I can include fictional things like super strength, the ability to fly, stretchiness, elf ears, cat ears, bunny ears, claws etc.
So, to answer the question, yeah I'd change myself
Well, aside from the obvious "make myself my fursona" bit...
I'd get rid of my ADHD, or at the very least get rid of its interaction with food and exercise. It's been such a burden, to the point where it's singlehandedly prevented me from taking up new hobbies (because I know I won't stick to them and can't afford to waste the money), kept me from focusing on new certs (because I suck at self-directed study), and it's the single biggest reason why I'm overweight. I fucking hate it. ADHD superpowers, my ass. This is a fucking debilitating disease, and even with medicine it still sucks.
From the genetic baseline, totally, if that'd fix my hair loss and dandruff, also a fuller beard. I'd probably give my hair slightly lighter brown color, too.
Heck yeah... I'd get better vision, better spine, ... there's a plethora of quality of life things that I think most people would be insane to pass up.
On another side, having a sweet of powers that effectively made me Batman levels of ability... How could anyone actually pass that up? Literally just a peak human... Yes please.
Can I use the button multiple times? If so, I have several experiments / experiences to do / have.
If it's a one time thing, I'd probably stick with the same genetics. I got pretty lucky, and I'd hate to make a change that I later felt negative about.
Lots of changes. Not much on the outside, but fix breakable/broken stuff, be more efficient, this kind of things. Not having to worry about your own body betraying you seems like a good idea.
I'd resolve my numerous health issues and take on a youthful appearance.
I'd imagine if this was ubiquitously available to everyone we would see a majority switch to their likeness to their favourite characters from whatever media they prefer.
It might be nice to try out different hair textures without having to put any work into it.
Other than that, the only scifi dream I would have is a proper GUI/HUD reporting system so I can just get the raw data about when things are going wrong.
i mean yeah, i'll take just having the same body but made of nanites please. There are just no downsides to that: i'd be immortal, impossible to damage since the nanites would just flow back into place, i could reconfigure my body at will, and extremely cool shit like extruding tools from my body (either made of nanites or effectively 3d printing them).
Depends, if it's only biological changes, I'd get myself two hearts, and minimize the chances of any disease or aging knocking me out, then become an anthro folf because being hooman is overrated
If cybernetics are allowed, I'd probably get rid of the damn body and just have a virtual one, with my brain connected to some machine deep underground
I'd give myself a nice set of teeth. Not 100% perfect cause I find that off putting, but 90% perfect. Slight imperfections are what make a beautiful smile imo
Ye Ye body that stays perfectly healthy with no maintenance. Would be sick. We are all alive so of course I want me my body to be better at being alive. I want to be able to be poor and "malnourished" but thrive despite that and keep living my vest life without having to participate in capitalism to depend on my wellbeing
Other than the assumptions OP mentions in the prompt, I would actually add a prehensile tail... I think that would be a super fun and useful appendage to have hehehe