The... I'm going to go ahead and call it a derail has largely focused on the tobacco and its industry, rather than on Amy's specific plan, but I agree, I've been thinking about pointing out that this was something to do while bored and annoyed at way too early in the morning. It might inspire the Kingdom or specific people within it with the power to do something about it, but altering tobacco like that is a very different animal from cleaning up out of control invasive species and pollution, so it's hard to say where Cmp is taking this.
Thank you. I only brought it up because I was
complementing (apparently incorrectly) the author for the idea of just removing the addictive nicotine (I didn't notice the nausea induction line) and letting the industry fade away over time as people choose for themselves to quit the smelly activity rather than crossing the moral event horizon and
forcing people to quit. The only reason I even mentioned the other story
at all was as an example of how to do it horribly wrong. It bore zero relation to this story otherwise. Just that one reference point.
Another morally safe way to do it is to alter the nicotine from the plants to be inert to humans only, which leaves the critters dependent on it for their diet unharmed. They have the ability to do it without risky retrovirii. This admittedly does nothing about artificial nicotine being added in, but if that were done by the companies and this info was released, their token fig leaf of people choosing to smoke would likely vanish more than they could convince the general populace to tolerate. The rate of quitting would likely accelerate actually due to people despising being manipulated.
🛑<--stop sign. I will state, however, that waiting to implement something like this until she has permission to do so would be a good idea. Waiting for Zion to be dealt with first would be likely necessary too. It would be a bit noticeable probably. They have the tech to put filter walls around countries/areas that would add the alteration to any plant entering through them to just disable the addiction causing specific chemical/substance towards humans only in order to not impact the rest of the ecosystem. Offering to do so for any group that wants it would make it hard for the leaders to turn down. If someone asks them to just alter everyone for a similar effect, they can decline by saying it would violate a person's right to choose medical treatment. People wouldn't take it very well if they were just told it was being done whether they approved or not. If that individual wants it for themselves, they can visit a healing pod at any time to get the genetic adjustment for themselves.
Hive bringing up and pointing out the idea and the butterfly effects might be a way of helping her learn to be even more careful than she already is about such things. I could easily see Hive doing just that and telling Amy that she talks in her sleep, adding in the repercussions if done without taking care of the follow-on effects. Teachable events that are prevented before they even start toward being carried out can be a good thing and help with character development, and embarrassment (used correctly and with compassion) is one of the most effective teaching tools known to mankind.
One of the reasons I've seen mentioned for why having the human mind getting the power to do anything it wants is a really bad idea is that it includes our subconscious mind as well. Our, well, background mental OS is a seriously dark place for almost everyone. It's where we make threat assessments for everything around us at all times. Keeping it G-rated, it's where we determine relative attractiveness of everyone and everything around us at all times. It's where our basic emotions like jealousy, love, and fear live. You do not want that getting the ability to do anything without supervision from the main controlling mind.
It also is what keeps us alive and functioning in dangerous environments. It's a necessary function to have. One of the therapist devices might want to mention to Amy that it might be leaking out a bit and talking it out could help her handle her irritation easier, leading to a calmer and more at peace with herself Amy. The smoker was rude, but fantasizing about effectively attacking a sizeable portion of humanity is a tad much.
Especially when the person doing the fantasizing has the ability to actually carry it out. That's likely part of what has the thread members a bit uneasy. A Red Queen type event is something to be avoided. At her level of influence, she's at risk of setting off a "Will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest" event like with Thomas Beckett. She's in a relationship with a seriously powerful monarch. She needs to be more aware of this fact.
