Ask Lemmy

estrogen from the get go, the rest can do whatever

I'm in the process of getting all my teeth pulled for dentures.

I would make changes.

I wouldn’t mind a more tumor resistant body, this one is my ear canal is getting old.

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.

Straighten my spine, make my chest muscles more symmetrical, straighten my hooked nose, make my beard not grow so far down my neck, correct my nearsightedness, fix my teeth.

If adding muscle is an option, I'll take a tight 6-pack, bigger biceps etc.

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.

No body hair, and a higher pitch voice (because my singing is GOD AWFUL). That's all.

I'm honestly fine just being a brain in a jar. Give me access to books and film and video games and I don't think I need a body. Is there a name for what's wrong with me?

I would have 4 arms

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.

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.)

Besides the common stuff, I would add an extra set of arms. Who couldn't use 4 arms?

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.

I'd fix my kidney

would you change yourself from your genetic baseline

Yeah, I'd get rid of Celiac's for one. There are other potential inherited conditions that I'd enjoy not having as well (colorblindness, etc.).

I think I'd keep aphantasia since the opposite (and the inner monologue that is actually heard) seems like it would be hell.

The neurodivergence I'm not sure. I would probably want to keep it even though it does sometimes (often?) cause pain.

Physically, I'd repair a lot of damage done to my body (metal rods and plates hold together parts of me, among other things).

So many ideas popping into my head, but no I wouldn't because I like my body as is. Even with all the defects, I'm still proud of my fat ass.

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.

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

I'd fix my feet, ankles and legs. Not out of vanity, but for function. I long to walk easily again, to be nimble on my feet.

It would be foolish to not doing improvements. Unless you wanna die faster

Clicks button Suddenly I'm Brad Pitt in Fight club

I'd get rid of my chronic depression, genetically high cholesterol and bony hip impingement.

I would like to have the enzymes that would allow me to drink alcohol. :(

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.

I'd rather have a dedicated, hidden tube for breathing so I can't choke on food. maybe have it filter pathogens and stuff too.

and the for plumbing, I'd like an extra pee hole dedicated for cumming and/or designer pee fighting.

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.

I'd have everything the same except there was one hair on my head that I could control like a tentacle.

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.

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.