They now say using technology to design humans is normal. Parents order what they like. If you don’t like what you get, you fix it. People make adjustments to themselves and others. Societies use different tech to mold humanity to fit their conception of the ideal. This is called modification.

​

East Coast bio-mods aim to perfect each individual’s body and mind. Even before children are born, doctors carefully manipulate the genetic code, enhancing and adding good traits and getting rid of bad ones. Then throughout life, people make adjustments. Personalized pharmaceuticals provide limitless growth opportunities and experiences.

​

West Coast comp-mods take an entirely different approach, based on a collective optimization algorithm. They don’t mess with genetics, drugs, or anything “bodily” (which they’d say with sincere and obvious disdain).  They let nature take its course. Tethered to invisible data networks, comp-mods extend their minds beyond their bodies, leaving physicality to management protocols automated by the comp-sys.

​

Unmodified humans hide in the Midwest.

​

Historians believe severing communications is what stabilized the competing mod societies. It took a few decades. Apparently, isolation brought harmony.