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No. Not even with that degree of knowledge could one effectively engineer towards a goal. Or, rather, one could engineer towards a goal but only by either acc

No. Not even with that degree of knowledge could one effectively engineer towards a goal. Or, rather, one could engineer towards a goal but only by either accepting or ignoring profound weaknesses and drawbacks. Look at something like Golden Retrievers, for example. They were effectively developed into a distinct breed... and suffer tremendous health complications from it. It's not a matter of the breeders slipping up. It's a matter of genes and genetic activity being complex enough that all 'pure' traits are paired with 'pure' flaws. You cannot acquire one without the other. This leaves aside the more important question raised by the scope of the Dune universe, which is defining what 'optimal' would even mean in such a world. Traits are only optimal or sub-optimal relative to an environment. Being smart and not able to move heavy objects would doom a medieval man, but being stupid but strong would hamper a modern man. That's a facile example and you'd be more likely talking about weakness to certain pathogens, dependence upon particular physical environmental needs (oxygen level, caloric availability, body temperature control efficiency, etc) though, really. If you're going to be planet-hopping and galavanting across the universe, what is optimal in one place can kill you in another and vice versa. The myth that there is a 'strongest' state is just that, a myth. In genetics, diversity always wins. Flexibility and complexity always wins. Being mediocre at everything is a far greater survival trait than being a master at one is if it means you are a total failure on another count. Living things can only fail once.

pmwhite 8y ago
It is a little handwavy, but perhaps the BG worked for generations to achieve key areas of hybrid superiority by honing pure breeding lines in these two families? Does not seem to be what the BG are doing, though. Furthermore, one can now ask if the more perfect specimen for a given environment might be a chimera: this genome for nervous system, that genome for leg muscles, this other genome for internal organs, etc. But your main point stands. The Dune series presumes that such a thing as breeding a superior human is not very difficult to manage on the scale of mere centuries. I am not sure how even define such a thing. And I rather doubt such a specimen would breed true with a similarly superior specimen.

pmwhite 8y ago

It is a little handwavy, but perhaps the BG worked for generations to achieve key areas of hybrid superiority by honing pure breeding lines in these two families? Does not seem to be what the BG are doing, though. Furthermore, one can now ask if the more perfect specimen for a given environment might be a chimera: this genome for nervous system, that genome for leg muscles, this other genome for internal organs, etc. But your main point stands. The Dune series presumes that such a thing as breeding a superior human is not very difficult to manage on the scale of mere centuries. I am not sure how even define such a thing. And I rather doubt such a specimen would breed true with a similarly superior specimen.