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     Dave Carlton frowned at his computer screen. Was this really necessary? The tech was coming out anyway, whether he wrote this or not. He sighed. No, it was better to warn the world now before some idiot proclaimed it as the savior of mankind. He began to type-

    Genetic technology is a rapidly expanding field. Our knowledge of DNA has increased tenfold the past five years, and science has capitalized upon that. Now, a company named OxyGen says they have developed a stunning new machine bound to transform the world, perhaps more than they think. They claim it can cure, if not prevent, cancer, diabetes, asthma, anemia, and any other disease with a genetic link. By the end of the month, they will be selling cancer treatment to hospitals worldwide. They say they can even stop aging.
  What is this machine? OxyGen calls it a Genetic Surgery Device. In essence, it can change an organism’s entire genome. And it hinges on an incredibly simple principle. You see, the GSD is a massive retrovirus producer. These little buggers insert their own DNA into the cell, convincing it to make more. OxyGen has taken retroviruses and engineered them to insert the genome they tell it to. They then take the viruses and put it into some medium for entering your body. The viruses then spread all throughout the body, changing the DNA and making sure the body doesn’t reject the new genome. In case the virus malfunctions or you want to abort the procedure, OxyGen has designed the retrovirus to die immediately after receiving a specific electric shock. You simply place your hands on something like a plasma ball that emits the electronic pulse, and every virus dies off, ridding your body of the foreign DNA.
  The end result is your body’s DNA is no longer yours, and during their studies with fruit flies, the changes appear to be highly heritable. But how does this do anything miraculous? Your body daily uses your DNA to make proteins, which make most of the structures in your body. Change the DNA, change the proteins. Change the proteins, change the organism. And when the organism changes, endless possibilities open, including fighting disease. What OxyGen has essentially done is found a way to change the entire structure of any living thing in a very controlled manner. Transmitting cancer-fighting genes and removing the cancer-causing ones to everyone could mean the end of cancer forever. Age, too, is no problem when you tell the cells to age much slower than normal, decreasing the rate of cell death and loss of bodily functions, putting the pursuit of immortality within reach.
  This is where it all shifts. Why stop with disease? Transgender surgery just got a lot cheaper with the GSD. Add an X, subtract a Y, boom. You have a more complete gender switch than clownfish, who regularly can make the change. The GSD also is a pretty effective plastic surgery device, minus the plastic. As soon as it opens to the public, anyone can have naturally blue hair or nails that are red down to the roots.

    And that’s not all, Dave thought with a wry smile. During his OxyGen tour, his jaw nearly hit the floor when the centaur stepped into the room. Then a werewolf, then a man with a fifteen-foot long snake tail. They then proceeded to show him a whole zoo full of unicorns, giant eagles, and all the other fantasy classics. That had been the most terrifying moment of his life, realizing people just saw DNA as a toy, molecular Legos to be built and torn down as they pleased. Your DNA was YOU! Hell, DNA was a living story, woven from culture, war, and history. The GSD was tearing all that apart, and for what? Cheap cosmetic tricks? Better cosplay? OxyGen had no idea what they were going to cause, and Dave wasn't going to be an idle pawn.

    The implications are even greater than that, though. The GSD could literally lead to new species unlike the world has ever seen. If you insert the same skin frogs use to extract oxygen from water into mice, people will flock over the wonder that is the world’s first amphibious mammal. Soon after the FDA approves, the same will happen to people. Pretty soon, people will be adding a little fish DNA to create the first mermaids. Disney will buy GSDs in bulk in order to make Little Mermaid rides where you can experience what it is truly like “under the sea.” And genetic manipulation is suddenly made known to the public. After that, everyone will want to enhance their body. The naturalists will pick bodies two inches tall and with butterfly wings in order to get more deeply in touch with nature, weavers will take extra arms and spider spinnerets, and murderers will turn into werewolves. After all, it’s so much simpler to wash your hands than a machete.
    All crime, in fact, will be much simpler. Avoiding detection, breaking in, and just plain murder are incredibly easy with color-changing skin, the strength of a rhinoceros, and poisonous fangs. Because of the increased danger of criminals, the police and those in gang-threatened neighborhoods will change their own bodies as well. Bulletproof skin, Wolverine-esque spikes, wings for a quick escape, and more will come to all families daily afraid of their safety. And slowly, the lines of reality and fantasy will blur and disappear altogether as more people say, “Who wants to be human when you can fly? Who wants to be human when you can run faster than any animal? When you can be invisible? When you can swim forever and never need air? When you can be anything, anything you could ever want to be?” The public will keep changing their bodies, adding scales, feathers, and fur over and over until what it means to be human will be destroyed forever.
  This will likely produce quite a bit of social conflict. The two likely possibilities are both a sort of caste system; either the ones at the top of the pyramid are the ones who least resemble humans, because they believe the old bodies were useless and weak, or vice versa. Either way, the semi-humans are going to be stuck in the middle of the pack. What's also likely is that they will have no way out, because the elite ruling class will have control over the GSDs. Middle and lower class families will save up money just to get a shot at seeing a GSD, but it will never be enough because the price will keep getting raised to costs only the elite can afford.
  This genetic manipulation will also be a hot topic for terrorists and dictators. From studies done on mice, there is no permanent effect of a larger brain. But shrinking the brain immediately and forever subjects the animal to severe mental retardation. Specifically targeting and shrinking parts of the brain can quite easily turn people into willing slaves. Introduce it to a population and now, with some “suggestions,” they all willingly follow you and never put up a rebellion. A dictator’s dream come true! Terrorists can also capitalize off this DIY brainwashing. Six years after ISIS’s complete takeover of Syria, they are still able to keep their cult alive because of brainwashing and recruiting. This originally took months per person, but now can take hours, leading to a blitzkrieg of bombings and gunmen. And with the transformational processes of the GSD, these radicals can take their jihad to the ultimate level.
  OxyGen will try to avoid this whole problem by never revealing the GSD’s schematics, but you can never discount corporate spies and thieves. Eventually the blueprints will be leaked or the machine stolen, to the detriment of OxyGen and to the boon of all criminals. In fact, as soon as that happens, criminals will be more dangerous than ever, and police, not having the same technology, would be overwhelmed. Of course, the best option to avoid all of this is to not release the GSD and destroy it, but crushing their dreams of finally stepping into the limelight isn’t very high on OxyGen’s list. Either way, as soon as it goes public, I’ll be the first in line for the bulletproof skin.

    There, thought Dave. That should do it. He looked back, added a few sentences for the “about the author”, corrected a few typos, and sent it off to the editor. Five minutes later, the editor was standing in the door, holding a copy of his article with a bewildered look on his face.
  “Is this for real?”
  “Yep.”
  He stared at the paper. “Well I never…” He shook his head and walked out. Dave grinned. Now all he had to do was wait.