The DNA Rebellion

Barely a hundred-years after the groundbreaking work of Crick and Watson, the One-World Government will require DNA samples from all citizens and newborns, legislating long prison terms and heavy fines for those seeking avoidance. The justification for this ultimate invasion of privacy: under a government administered universal healthcare system, genetic data must be studied to prevent disease and help control epidemic outbreaks. In a textbook scenario of misguided intentions, gross mismanagement and the worst of unintended consequences, things begin to turn awry when unscrupulous government employees and mercenary hackers gain access. Millions, possibly all, of the records are compromised.

Angry protesters storm and burn down the One-World Healthcare Agency in Buenos Aires during the DNA Rebellion of 2091.

Clever and unscrupulous entrepreneurs quickly capitalize on the windfall, establishing, at first, gene-splicing clinics within the few remaining territories outside One-World. Parental DNA is altered for favorable traits, such as intelligence, coloring, or certain physical abilities. Some turn to forms of advantageous breeding, seeking child prodigies with special skills they can market at maturity. They mine the database for gene patterns from those successful in various fields of endeavor, and mix and match DNA fragments from multiple sources.

As the first generation of 'batter babies' begins to mature, it becomes obvious that a small but significant percentage of the population has, almost by definition, superhuman capabilities. Every important athletic record is superseded, and the fields of entertainment and business are taken under the control of those who come to be called in contemporary vernacular, 'The Chosen'. As more of the planet's assets and privilege acquire to The Chosen, the public becomes increasingly resentful and turns to take it out on the government in the form of the DNA Rebellion of 2091, an armed attempt to destroy the DNA master database, creating a crisis that eventually topples the One-World government.

Thousands of the generation called The Chosen are slaughtered, many of them innocent natural-borns. Human gene tampering becomes the sole remaining capital offense under the New One-World regime.

Of these things to come, the Oracle is certain