Replicants

[T'lana]

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

By Commander T'lana

Synthetic Biology is the engineering of biological organisms from their basic inorganic components, which are; Sugars, nitrates and phosphates.

Synbio, the portmanteau of Synthetic Biology, is the next logical step in genetic technology. The steps to synbio technology is usually taken by most sentients, beginning with genetic engineering – the splicing of two separate organisms to improve or create a new organism – and cloning – a perfect copy of a parent organism, that is achieved by accessing the DNA of individual cells.

The reason for using the scientific discipline of synbio is due to its seemingly infinite uses. Organisms have the capacity of going beyond what any form of mechanical technology can achieve, from single cells to complex multi-cellular organisms.
DNA or Deoxyribonucleic acid is in essence the software that tells individual cells what to become, so once the secrets of DNA are revealed, the complex nature of organisms can be understood and duplicated.

Synthetic Biology started in earnest on Earth in the twenty first century and continued until World War 3, where the technology was forgotten but reinvented in the twenty second century. There was some dissention amongst the ranks of the scientific community in regards to synbio technology. One of the concerns of this form of technology was what it would be used for and the ethic and moral problems that would arise. The other concern was who would own the patent of synbio technology and the monopoly of such a technology that may occur.

During the twenty first century, synbio technology was monopolized, with the formation of the Tyrell Corporation, owned and operated by Eldon Tyrell, a genetic engineer that continued the work on synbio technology with the creation of Replicants. The last known replicant model was the Nexus 6 and one prototype Nexus 7, which were controlled by augmented humans and was the major contributor to the commencement of World War 3.

The second evolution of synbio technology began with the creation of biomimetic gel, the future incarnation of the twenty first century biobricks.

The second evolution of Replicants began twenty three years after the reinvention of Synthetic Biology. Due to some quirk of fate, these new Replicants were also called Nexus, which was the next phase in robotics. Fortunately the neural networks of the new Nexus Class Androids, called Replicants, were more advanced thanks to the computer systems that designed them.
The United Federation of Planets use synbio technology only when it is necessary, usually for mining in the outer colonies, or other such dangerous work.

The organization that created Replicants and other synbio technologies for this second incarnation was called Rossum's Universal Robots.
R.U.R. was named after the famous play written in 1920 and released in Prague in 1921 by playwright, Karel Capek, which first used the term robot for artificial life forms.

Although organic, replicants have none of the failings of their natural biological creators and are far more advanced.

Models of Replicants

Nexus 1 – Single celled organisms used for the purpose of environmental and ecological restoration.
Nexus 2 – A series of non-sentient organisms created for the purpose of domestic companionship.
Nexus 3 – single celled or multi-cellular organisms used for the purpose of surveillance, reconnaissance and other forms of detection.
Nexus 4 – The first human model replicant prototype, menial task laborers.
Nexus 5 – The second evolution of human model replicants, used for combat, security, sex and menial task labor.
Nexus 6 – This is the most advanced and complex form of human replicant and is almost indistinguishable from normal humans, leading to the reinvention of the Voight-Kampff machine, for empathic response indication. Nexus 6 replicants possess superhuman abilities that far surpass their creators.
Nexus 7 – This replicant type mimics it's creators in everyway, except the ability to reproduce. In fact no replicant model has ever had the ability to reproduce. The Voight-Kampff machine and subsequent empathy test is useless when used against the Nexus 7 replicants. This model is only used in extreme emergencies and only for clandestine reasons; therefore this model is also the first black market replicant. This model is now favored by the Orion Syndicate, in various black market endeavors.

Moral and Ethical issues

Due to moral and ethic issues involving artificial organic life forms; cloning, genetic engineering and synthetic biology are now illegal on Earth and various other members of the United Federation of Planets. Replicant (synbio) technology was considered immoral and unethical due to the organic nature of these machines.

Synbio Synthesizers (the name for the machines that create replicants and other organic machines) can still be found in research laboratories, but only for the synthesizing of single celled organisms for use in medical applications and research. The creation of multi-cellular organisms is strictly forbidden, even for research purposes.

Having said that, there are various Federation and Starfleet outposts and colony words in the outer reaches of Federation space, that still use Synthesizers and subsequently, replicants for various potentially hazardous works and for pleasure. The Federation Council and Starfleet Command do know about this fact, but turns a blind eye so-to-speak, due to the locations of these colonies and outposts.

Replicants are robots that have been constructed by means of Synthetic Biology.

The first ever usage of the word robot was in the 1921 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by the playwright Karel Capek, from the suggestion of his brother Josef Capek.  The word robot comes from the Czech word robota, which means laborer.