History Main / NoTranshumanismAllowed

* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' (2009): Even after helping to destroy the Empire, the FSA grew distrustful of bionic commandos, and the government eventually ordered all bionics "purged". By the time the game begins, Spencer is a death row inmate who is conscripted as a BoxedCrook to hunt down other rogue bionics.

** ''Enforced'' in areas controlled by United Mankind. Their longstanding rivalry with the Abh has made any form of transhumanism anaethema to them and descendandts of those who might have received treatments before their homeworld came under United Mankind control are heavily discriminated against.

* Largely averted in Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/{{Genome}}'', where a large percentage of humans have been modified by in utero gene therapy to a pre-selected Specification. During puberty, the Specs undergo a metamorphosis during which their bodies and minds change to better suit their future career. This is considered normal, although the Naturals (who only undergo the very basic gene therapy to correct common birth defects) tend not to like Specs much, which is reciprocated by the Specs. Interestingly, in his foreword, the author is the one who expresses this trope's views by pointing out that this effectively keeps people confined to their roles without the possibility of any mobility. In Lukyanekno's opinion, this is already happening, to an extent, without any genetic modifications. Rich people's children get better care and education than poor people's children and frequently end up in the same careers are their parents.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'':

* The short story "Literature/{{Segregationist}}" by Creator/IsaacAsimov {{discusse|dTrope}}s this trope from a body-replacement perspective. The story centers around a doctor who disapproves of a growing trend for humans to seek prosthetics that make them more robotic and robots seeking prosthetics that make them more human. He says that he considers transhumanism not as a desire to improve one's self, but as a rejection of one's natural state, and states that if he ever needs parts of his body replaced, he'll seek replacements as close to the originals as possible. [[spoiler:It is only in the last paragraph that it is revealed that the doctor is a robot]].

* In ''Website/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'', [[MechanicalLifeforms the Clockwork Cherubs]] aren't allowed to learn robotics, let alone alter ''themselves'' — a rule clearly put in place to avert TheSingularity. Juliet-178 keeps breaking the rule, though.

* The Techno-mages were shown in ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' to be cyborgs using Shadow nanotechnology. The full reveal didn't come until the unproduced season finale, the script for which was available online briefly. This was further explored in the canon novels, which claimed "the tech" was slowly driving them nutty, until Galen found a solution.

*** The Time Lords themselves may be a transGallifreyan race, augmented by regeneration and time senses. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius "The Brain of Morbius"]] implies that they ''could'' have opted for unlimited regenerations, but chose to limit them to twelve for fear of cultural stagnation. [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]] also implies that Rassilon, who determined the shape of so much of Time Lord society, didn't want them to have true immortality, either ''(he's'' still around, but mostly in an occasionally-reawakened HumanPopsicle sense). That episode (the council offers the Master more regenerations) and [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]] make it plain that the Time Lords are perfectly capable of granting regenerations past number twelve, they just consider it unwise.
*** The Doctor criticizes the implants in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame "The Long Game"]] for being more primitive than expected.
*** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]], the Doctor upgrades nanobots to heal an army of zombies — although the zombies were created by the same nanobots gone wild anyway, and the Doc is just using them to return the zombies to normal, not to make them superhuman in any way.
*** At the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia end of the universe]], the Doctor mentions that humans went through periods of uploading, or being gas.
*** [[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned "Voyage of the Damned"]]: A cyborg character was reluctant to reveal his status, and when he finally reluctantly mentioned one of his implants that could save the cast, [[Music/KylieMinogue Astrid]] told him not to worry, saying cyborg rights were making progress, and they were even allowed to marry now. (DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything)
*** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]], a death has the Doctor save the remains of his future companion's Data Ghost by uploading it into a virtual reality contained within a giant hard drive.
*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]]: [[spoiler:Rory's]] mind is essentially transferred into a plastic automaton body. Despite taking TheSlowPath for about two thousand years, he's mostly treated by the show and characters as pretty much the same guy he was when he was biologically human. [[note]] And then TimeyWimeyBall stuff happens, and his human self is restored to the timeline with his [[RetGone now non-existent]] plastic self's memories. [[MST3KMantra Don't think about it too hard.]][[/note]]

*** The Daleks are the modified Kaled mutant, placed in a travel machine. Cyborg, genetically engineered genocidal monstrosities. Played with some nuance in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks "Genesis of the Daleks"]], however, where the good Kaled scientists plan to continue creating Daleks as the only way to save their species, but without Davros' genetic modifications to make them all psychopaths.
*** The Cybermen’s evilness is a outgrowth of their self-modification. Whether it's because they honestly believe everyone should sensibly want to be a Cyberman, or because converting others is their only way to reproduce, or because they're ruthless conquerors as a result of no longer having human empathy, or a combination of all three, [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the writer]].

*** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment "The Lazarus Experiment"]], the Doctor seems to dislike the villain's attempts to basically regenerate like a Time Lord, not because it wakes up junk DNA and turns him into a monster, which seems to be more of a footnote. His main problem with it is that Lazarus is running away from death and [[WhoWantsToLiveForever states that living forever just makes you old and tired as everything dies around you]]. Since he's at least 900 at this point (though going by the Classic series, he might be closer to 1500), he knows whereof he speaks.
*** At the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia end of the universe]] the transhumans have still regressed back to humanity, and keep going back to the same form.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** Geordi [=LaForge=] has a visor that allows him to perceive radiation outside the normal spectrum visible to humans, yet no one else uses such a device even if it would be useful to them. It's mentioned in some episodes that wearing the visor causes him constant pain.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E6TheSchizoidMan The Schizoid Man]]", a deathly ill villain manages to capture Data and download his own personality into the robot brain. He is rather pleased with his new super-strong and immortal body, but when he offers to do the same for his girlfriend, she breaks down crying, finding the idea monstrous.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E19TheNthDegree The Nth Degree]]", Lieutenant Barclay is raised to literally godlike superintelligence by an alien probe. He starts out by using it to indulge various personal desires and do his job with superhuman efficiency, then goes off on a power trip to where he hijacks the Enterprise and takes it to meet some nigh-omnipotent aliens -- the probe makers -- who revert him to normal human intelligence. But at no time throughout his several days of apotheosis does it occur to him to devote ''one minute'' to studying his own augmented brain, how it got that way, and how he could possibly reproduce the phenomenon in others. As it is eventually revealed that his intelligence was given by the probe for a very specific reason it could be argued that the probe's "gift" has strings attached to keep the recipient from duplicating the effect, but that is never addressed (or even questioned) during the episode.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E17ASimpleInvestigation A Simple Investigation]]" has a cyborg who can [[BrainComputerInterface interface her brain with computers]]; it's referred to as a rare occurrence. And of course, genetic alteration of humans is illegal and the resulting beings subject to FantasticRacism and legalized discrimination because of a war that happened centuries ago caused by augmented humans raised to [[TheSocialDarwinist believe they were superior beings]].
** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E13LifeSupport Life Support]]" features a character suffering progressive brain damage, and having their brain supplemented with computer implants. Once their organic brain is almost completely destroyed, the doctor just lets the character die because nobody sees any point in keeping them alive, despite the fact that in-universe the character is still a sapient, sentient being with all of his original memories. However, the character in question didn't feel like himself with the implants and wasn't really interested in living a shadow life, believing that if the last part of his cerebrum were artificially replaced (even with his memories intact via the positronic implants) the result would simply be an android copy of him rather than actually ''him''. It was made very plain that to keep Bareil alive past that point would leave him with, at best, a drastically altered and emotionally stunted personality -- and there would be more such surgeries to come as still more of his central nervous system failed, so that in the long run he would likely wind up as JustAMachine.
** Several Augments are recurring characters. Due to the ban, it's a black market technology, often resulting in unstable individuals. Julian Bashir is one of the only people this technology has worked on without serious drawbacks.
* In a plot arc of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', they revisit the "augment" point. Apparently examining their genetic code with 22nd century technology, they discover that there really was a flaw in the process. A subtle flaw in their enhanced neurology also created increased aggression. An ironic aspect of all of this is that the Augments really were not ridiculously powerful. Indeed, all things considered they were only slightly superior to most Vulcans, and not in all respects.[[note]]Specifically, they lack Vulcans' telepathic abilities such as mind-melding. As ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' showed, Spock was able to hold his own against even Khan himself.[[/note]] It was simply that they tended to use their enhanced abilities in a very aggressive way. But numerous Federation species possess greater-than-human attributes. Vulcans are the most obvious example. But you also have the Betazoids, who are human-like but possess telepathic powers. Then there are the El-Aurians, who have incredibly long lifespans and [[RippleProofMemory immunity to alterations in the timeline]]. Peculiarly, there is no fear of transhuman traits being acquired via [[HalfHumanHybrid interbreeding]] with alien races, something that's [[BoldlyComing not particularly uncommon]] in the Federation, and those few who object to it are depicted as run-of-the-mill racists rather than worried about the resulting hybrids being "superior" to regular humans. But trying to gain the exact same traits via genetic engineering is considered a taboo.
* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' touches on the genetic augmentation taboo, as it turns out the only way to get the Spore drive to work without basically torturing an innocent alien is to use Augment technology to create a human who can run the drive. This turns out to be a Big Problem because of Federation laws against genetic augmentation (see the whole Khan thing for why), and puts said augmented crewmember and those who helped him into an ethical dilemma as they try to keep their actions secret from both the authorities and the crewmember's spouse.
* ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' revisits this in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E03GhostsOfIllyria Ghosts of Illyria]]" as not only do we revisit the damage done thanks to Khan Noonian Singh with his descendant La'an, we also learn of the Illyrians, who genetically modified themselves greatly, even modifying themselves to eradicate diseases as they are infected with it. [[spoiler:Turns out Una is one of them and lied to Starfleet about it.]]

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

** Also justified for Edward. He doesn't want to get 'cured' because of the automail being bad...he's mainly looking for a cure to use on ALPHONSE, whose soul is [[AnimatedArmor bonded to a suit of armor]]. [[spoiler:And, besides other issues, may suffer a failure of the bonding ritual at any time.]] Alphonse however does not want to be the only one getting back what he lost though.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': Danny received his ghost powers as part of a FreakLabAccident. On one occasion later in the series, something happens that causes him to lose his powers, so naturally he and his friends go back to the lab so he can repeat the process that gave him his powers. By doing so, he successfully gains them back, apparently showing the process is completely repeatable, not a fluke. However, none of Danny's team seem to consider repeating the process on anyone else. Not even on themselves, even though it would obviously make fighting ghosts easier.
** Could potentially be justified in that not everyone's biology is exactly the same. All they know is that it worked under those conditions for Danny. While it's unlikely Danny is the ''only'' person it would work for[[note]]The odds of it working for Danny would most likely have been the same as the odds of it working for anyone else, so people with the potential can't be ''that'' rare.[[/note]], they have no way of knowing whether it will work on all or even most people. Maybe 99 out of 100 people would simply die from being exposed to it, and Danny just had very lucky DNA. But even if that's what stopped them from doing it, one might expect them to at least ''discuss'' the possibility.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'': Played as straight as possible when Hermes starts getting cybernetic upgrades and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope immediately flings himself down the slippery slope]] in a rapid effort to replace his humanity with blatantly evil robotic improvements, and is only redeemed when he becomes completely human again. Apparently, the slightest alteration immediately gives you a superiority complex in their world.

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' as a whole strongly averts this. Pretty much every flavor of modification, from biological to technological, is commonplace in the setting. An average citizen might start out as a nearbaseline human (meaning they ''merely'' have minor genetic and cybernetic modifications), take on the form of an alien species, then become a vec (sapient robot), then a disembodied ai, then revert back to nearbaseline human. However, there are still [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45c534b968f34 baseline humans]] (and baselines of other species), they're just relatively rare.

* The backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' describes how the tyrannical United Powers League arrested all cyborgs, mutants, cyberpunks and other such "undesirables" from Earth at one point and threw them in jail to "purify" the population. Granted, for the most part these ''weren't'' nice people or innocent victims, which is why the Koprulu Sector (where many of them got deported as a kickstarter for deep space colonization) is so full of back-stabbing, treacherous [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Terran bastards]]. It's also implied that this is the reason why they ''survived at all''.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] in Peter Hamilton's ''Literature/NightsDawnTrilogy''.
** Part of the BackStory is that [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke Genetic Engineering]] led to the discovery of a completely synthetic "[[HumansArePsychicInTheFuture affinity gene]]" that conveyed ''[[TelepathicSpacemen telepathy]]''. {{The Fundamentalist}}s had a ''colossal'' freak-out upon discovering that affinity permitted BrainUploading -- and that the creator of affinity did so ''specifically'' to make humans [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions Outgrow Such Silly Superstitions]]. Why go to church to save your soul if DeathIsCheap? Unfortunately for him, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic/Protestant split]] had healed by the time he succeeded, meaning a papal decree of excommunication(AKA "God Hates Freaks") held about as much weight as a ''Presidential declaration of war.'' The only reason it ''didn't'' result in a war was because the breakthrough occurred on a newly-independent space colony orbiting Jupiter. Instead, it resulted in a culture split; the fundies declared themselves "Adamists", named for the biblical Adam, who was "[[IncorruptiblePurePureness Pure]]". The augmented declared themselves "Edenists", [[InsultBackfire mocking their opponents]]. Edenists then developed "bitek" to incredible levels; OrganicTechnology is commonplace, and their {{Living Ship}}s outperform baseline vessels easily. Even their ''space stations'' are organic and ''[[GeniusLoci sentient]]''. To keep from being left behind, the Adamists were forced to develop [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotechnology]] to keep up, resulting in equally prevalent cybernetics. {{Super Soldier}}s are common, often bearing [[ArmCannon modular arms with gun attachments]] and extra forearms for MoreDakka, and even ''[[{{Cyborg}} totally bionic bodies]] [[ClingyCostume with crazy-ass ceramic-gel skin]]''. Dedicated spacers or "cosmoniks" casually let their bodies atrophy in microgravity or "astrophy", [[WeCanRebuildHim replacing organs as they fail]] until [[BrainInAJar only the brain remains human]], taking the RuleOfCool to a new height. The implication is that transhumanism is inevitable.

** Is mostly like this: ArtificialLimbs are considered vulgar, and [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke Sith Alchemy is worse than planetbusting]] (though this could be justified, given that it depends on TheDarkSide). Villains like Grievous use cybernetics that make them more dangerous in physical combat, but only [[WeCanRebuildHim after suffering crippling injuries]].[[note]]Darth Vader's cybernetics don't count, since he actually became ''weaker'' after receiving them.[[/note]] Good guys like Luke Skywalker only use replacement cybernetics that are somewhat more effective than the original body parts were, when it comes up at all. Clone troopers can be mass-produced, but are still only on the level of well-trained regular soldiers, instead of being enhanced to ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Space Marine levels or anything in that vein.

*** The Cybermen’s evilness is a outgrowth of their self modification. Whether it's because they honestly believe everyone should sensibly want to be a Cyberman, or because converting others is their only way to reproduce, or because they're ruthless conquerors as a result of no longer having human empathy, or a combination of all three, [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the writer]].