AITA for telling my genetic double she can’t be transgender?
EmeraldEmpress123 • 3 months ago
Burner account because I don’t want anyone I know to find this.
Some context: I (34F) am an R&D contractor for Triumphant, and a significant part of my work involves talking to people, mostly other contractors, suppliers, and quality control officers. Think multiple holos every day, packed around the actual work that I do in the lab. And lmty, you cannot afford to get sloppy when it comes to genome editing!
Anyway, as my work is rated as High Impact and I recently became eligible for Emerald Perks, some six months ago I decided to have a GD commissioned to help me manage my business. Paid a lot of money for her, too. I even opted for the cognitive enhancement add-on. (The GD labs must be making bank with the prices they charge. Almost makes me regret opting for botany.) I was sceptical when I picked up my unit—how weird is it to see your mirror image move about and talk autonomously?—but soon I felt I was getting my money’s worth. She settled into her duties like—well, like she was made for it! Within a couple weeks, I could delegate most of the holos to her while I focused on increasing my lab’s output. I could even finally boot up my poor neglected mindfulness bot again. It was so much better than what I’d expected.
Well, until a month ago, when she approached me after my meditation session and told me she was a transgender man.
Now, I’m not a human purist who’d start telling people what they are or aren’t, but I admit I’m feeling a little cheated. In addition to the initial production expenses, I’m also paying for insurance and a laundry list of educational courses for her (per the GD empowerment act that got passed a few months ago, just my luck), all so she can be my face in front of my business partners. And obviously she can’t do that if her voice suddenly drops two octaves and she grows a full beard, can she?
So, I told her she’d have to wait until her guardianship contract ends before she can transition, and she flipped on me. Said this is inhumane, that she has a right to self-determination. I said of course, but this is such a big decision and you need to weigh it carefully before you commit to anything you might regret. I even gave her a week off to think things through, but now she refuses to speak to me.
AITA for wanting a return on my investment?
RandWasRight • 3 months ago
NTA. She has a responsibility to you before she can go off doing what she pleases. Guardian contracts exist for a reason—otherwise, nobody would be incentivised to sponsor GD development.
gaymerboimeatballs • 3 months ago
*he* never signed any contract, it was between op and the gd lab. yta babes 🙂 also psa that men usually use he/him pronouns
Triumphant_Cooper [MOD] • 3 months ago
Yes. Misgendering falls under discriminatory behaviour, which is against Triumphant Media’s Terms of Service. Let’s all be respectful here. 👍
RulesAsWritten • 3 months ago
INFO: Does your contract have a GD defect clause? I know being trans isn’t legally a defect but maybe you could sue on the grounds that it impedes the double’s purpose?
MikeZeng • 3 months ago
This is also covered in the Avowal of Genetic Duplicates Act that OP mentions.
Article 3 establishes that each GD has a right to live, regardless of the extent to which they fulfil the responsibilities outlined in their guardianship contract. Specifically check the wording of AGENDA’s Article 4(6). It clarifies that GD manufacturers cannot be held responsible for deviations from customers’ expectations, on the assumption that unique personality traits are quasi “acts of God” and thus could not have been anticipated by either party.
PedanticExegete • 3 months ago
Does being transgender fall under the category of personality?
MikeZeng • 3 months ago
As yet, there’s no legal precedent one way or the other. I’d be keeping an eye on the Nachtigal vs. Genome Works trial. GW, another GD manufacturer, is being sued because one of the GDs came out as homosexual.
incorrectbuzzer69 • 3 months ago
YTA. What gives you the right to create life in servitude to you?
PedanticExegete • 3 months ago
If OP’s work truly is High Impact like she claims, the benefit of an extra pair of capable hands can be counted in hundreds or perhaps thousands of lives saved. It’s not the easiest circumstance to swallow, but sometimes we have to be pragmatic. NTA.
incorrectbuzzer69 • 3 months ago
Sure, but why doesn’t she hire people to work for her in exchange for, I dunno, actual financial compensation?
RandWasRight • 3 months ago
“Why doesn’t she pay more to get the same result?” Next you’re going to ask why she doesn’t donate all her profits to charity.
Ephesians2_10 • 3 months ago
Cloner freaks will burn in Hell for their sins!!!!!
PedanticExegete • 3 months ago
God forbid a woman have hobbies.
[user deleted] • 3 months ago
I bet you think you’re so special for getting access to Emerald Perks, huh? You’re just a smug corpo sellout who wouldn’t know high impact work if it slapped her in the face.
Triumphant_Cooper [MOD] • 3 months ago
Triumphant Media’s Terms of Service prohibit the undermining of the hard work Triumphant, Inc., and its contractors invest into combating the effects of climate collapse. I know things look bleak right now, but we’re all in this together. 👍
[user deleted] • 3 months ago
triumphant is the reason why we’re in this position to begin with, you fucking bootlicker
embiggensyourmac • 3 months ago
I am curious what kind of genome editing it is that it’s so high-impact? Did they finally decide to put resources into making lab-grown produce taste of anything but lab stink?
CosmicJoy • 3 months ago
I can only speculate on the particulars, but I know there’ve been attempts to reintroduce plant life to arid territories. It’s one of the best ways to combat soil erosion and restore nitrogen levels, and apparently finding things that grow under extreme conditions can make or break any settlement that doesn’t have access to Triumphant tech.
ResurrectionQuest • 3 months ago
Can you tell me more about that?
CosmicJoy • 3 months ago
Feel free to DM me.
• • •
ResurrectionQuest
Hi.
CosmicJoy
Hi, yourself.
ResurrectionQuest
So, you mentioned in this thread that independent settlements outside New Hope are looking for durable plants?
CosmicJoy
You have no posts in your history except for the one on that thread.
ResurrectionQuest
Why would they care what the settlements need?
CosmicJoy
Hmm, let me think.
How about because people leaving for the settlements is a massive drain on their resources?
Nobody that feels happy and content in the city wants to leave. And when the people who’re unhappy do—the poor ones, the ones who work bottom of the barrel jobs—there’s nobody left to pay starvation wages to and get hooked on productivity drugs.
ResurrectionQuest
You sound like you give that speech a lot.
CosmicJoy
You don’t hang out on this stupid website if you don’t have at least a passing interest in soapboxing.
ResurrectionQuest
Some of the posts are worthwhile. They help me learn more about the world, I guess.
I haven’t seen a lot of it.
CosmicJoy
Well, word to the wise: the people who’re still on here are clinging to a relic of a world that doesn’t exist anymore. They get off on nostalgia; otherwise they’d be on any of the other SM apps. The self-selection bias is insane.
Don’t take the things you read as reflections of the rest of humanity.
ResurrectionQuest
Valuable insight from someone with 1,258 posts.
CosmicJoy
Anyway.
Why the interest in durable plants?
ResurrectionQuest
I’m an assistant in a lab that breeds plants for the produce labs.
It’s the same principle, right? The aim is to make them resilient to abiotic stress. The exact kind of stress would be different between the labs and the settlements, but if provided the parameters you guys work with, I could make something that would survive there.
CosmicJoy
Shit.
Plants bred specially to survive here would be worth their weight in
I’d say gold, but gold would do fuck all for us right now.
ResurrectionQuest
Would they be worth helping someone out of New Hope?
CosmicJoy
I mean, only hell fucking yeah!
If you’re legit about it and not a Triumph/ant plant or something.
Pun partially intended.
ResurrectionQuest
I’m starting to have second thoughts about this.
CosmicJoy
Very funny, kid.
ResurrectionQuest
No, I suppose I understand your caution.
How can I prove that I’m serious about this?
Fuck.
Listen, I have to go. My sister’s home and I don’t want her to see me texting.
Ttyl.
CosmicJoy
Damn, didn’t think the pun was that bad.
• • •
ResurrectionQuest
Sorry about that. I’m here now.
CosmicJoy
Everything fine, kid?
ResurrectionQuest
Yeah. My sister’s a bit … controlling.
Part of the reason I want out.
However, please stop calling me “kid.”
I’m not a child asking to be saved; this arrangement is in both our interests, isn’t it?
CosmicJoy
I didn’t mean
No, you’re right. I’m sorry.
ResurrectionQuest
It’s alright.
Now, have you had the chance to think about my suggestion?
CosmicJoy
Right, so
I tapped some contacts in NH. If you can prove to them that you have the resources that you claim, we’ll get you out.
ResurrectionQuest
That sounds fair.
What do you need me to do?
CosmicJoy
First of all, I’m gonna need you to download a messaging app that actually encrypts your messages.
Talking on here’s much too unsafe.
<message deleted>
Send me your user code and then delete it after I’ve added you on there.
ResurrectionQuest
Alright. Downloading now.
You said that the world’s different off this app.
Do you think it’s better?
CosmicJoy
I’m not sure. Maybe you’ll be able to tell.
ResurrectionQuest
<message deleted>
• • •
[UPDATE] Trans GD
EmeraldEmpress123 • 2 months ago
First of all, thank you to everyone who weighed in on my previous post and confirmed that I wasn’t being unreasonable. Second and related, I’ve come with a positive update: a few days ago, my GD asked to speak to me. I assumed it would be another argument, but instead, she admitted she saw my point and said she’d take more time to consider her future. She seemed genuinely apologetic about her past behaviour, so I must have really gotten through to her. I assured her I thought she was making the right choice and that I harboured no bad feelings toward her for how she acted.
I didn’t know if the apology would translate into any meaningful changes, but since then, she’s been working a lot harder and making a much better effort to contribute to my work. She says that she’s “holding up her end” of our contract. I’m really starting to notice all those cognitive enhancements: she’s been taking on more responsibilities in addition to the communications side, and she’s a fast learner in the lab. It’s uncanny to see what I must have looked like to my teachers!
At any rate, things have settled for now, and the second pair of hands is making up for this entire situation. Here’s hoping that we can continue working together and put this behind us!
RandWasRight • 2 months ago
I’m positively surprised that your GD saw reason. Let’s pray she doesn’t change her mind again and continues to be useful.
PedanticExegete • 2 months ago
Happy to see this update. While you could have handled the situation more gracefully, he was threatening to jeopardise the hard work you do for our city. I hope you’ve both learned from this that you should consider each other’s perspectives more.
gaymerboimeatballs • 2 months ago
“consider each other’s perspectives”??? op gaslit gatekept girlbossed someone away from who they were!
PedanticExegete • 2 months ago
We don’t live in a world where everyone gets what they want.
incorrectbuzzer69 • 1 week ago
I came across this on my feed and it seemed relevant: OUTRAGEOUS: Genetic Double DESTROYS Original’s Livelihood—‘It Stole All My Research,’ Shocked Victim Explains
• • •
Rez was the only person in the e-rail car as it rolled into its final station. He got off at a deserted platform shielded from the sun by a blue plastic overhang on the verge of sloughing off. Pale, wiry plants climbed out of the cracks in the asphalt. He adjusted his backpack on his shoulders and rubbed his upper arm, as he had done a thousand times over the past two days, feeling for the bump of the tracker chip that was no longer there. He took a deep breath. There was an earthy tang in the air, and it was both warmer and drier than the filtered, carefully balanced air New Hope breathed.
Rez went through a door frame that hadn’t had a door for a long time, entering the station proper: a rectangular room with benches in the middle and defunct screens hanging on the walls. Cameras pivoted on their stands in each corner, sweeping their bug eyes across the room. Older tech, no biometric scanners or face recognition modules that he could see. Triumphant didn’t have the resources to keep people on a tight leash this far from the city. He squatted, pretending to fix his shoelaces, his eyes turned the way he’d come. Making sure he hadn’t been followed. Nobody else came in. Rez grabbed the ceramic knife he’d stashed in his sock and moved it into his hoodie pocket as he stood up, then hurried to the exit. He trusted CJ on the whole, but it didn’t hurt to have a contingency plan.
They were waiting for him outside, back pressed against a tilted utility pole, a pink and blue cap low over their eyes. A slow smile pulled at CJ’s lips when their eyes met. Their skin was ruddy from unfiltered sunlight, a smattering of freckles across their nose. Rez had gotten a few freckles of his own during the hours spent collecting samples from Triumphant’s experimental crops, his skin unused to the sun. He liked them: they were something that was just his, not Sophie’s.
“Welcome to the outside world, at long last.” CJ pushed off the pole. “Have a good trip?”
“Yeah.” Getting out of the city proper had been easy enough with the permissions Sophie had allotted him to optimise his productivity, and then it’d been a matter of meeting CJ’s contacts, who’d removed his chip and made him a new ID. The news of his escape had broken by then, so he’d had to lie low for a few days until the news cycle moved on to the next thing. “You know, I hadn’t had alcohol before. Your friends gave me some to try.”
CJ snorted. “Yeah, they’ve been getting into molecular mixology. I’m sure you heard all about it. What did you think of the booze?”
“It tasted like the liquid in my duplication vat.”
“Really?”
“No.” It hadn’t been unpleasant, getting tipsy and just … hanging out. Sophie had never shared meals with him, let alone drinks.
CJ shook their head. They were smiling, but their eyes bored into him from under the brim of the cap. “And you’re sure about this? Last chance to back out.”
Rez sized them up in turn. Their worn clothes and dust-caked boots would make Sophie wince, but they held themself like someone who wasn’t afraid of putting their body to use. A lot of the work in the settlements was physical. It’d be a good fit for him, a way to carve himself out of the form he’d been given. “I’m certain. There’s nothing for me back there.”
“Then let’s get your delicate, environmentally controlled ass moving.” CJ headed to the beat-up motorcycle propped across the road.
Rez reached for his holobracelet and only found his thin, bony wrist. He’d gotten rid of the bracelet before leaving New Hope, but not the habit. Some part of him itched to read the latest replies to Sophie’s threads—a morbid obsession, wanting to know what strangers thought of him. It was for the best that he couldn’t.
He’d been thinking about what he’d have said to Sophie, if he’d had the chance. Thank you for creating me, but you really shouldn’t have? Have a good life? I hope your mindfulness bot blows up and kills you? Here, surrounded by an expanse of scorched soil he could cultivate, together with the first person who’d seen him for himself, he knew there was nothing he needed to tell her—or anyone else in New Hope.
“You alright?” CJ took out a second helmet for him. A coat of grime had rendered it matte grey. They turned the helmet in their hand, frowned, and used their sleeve to wipe the visor clean.
“You could say I feel like a new man.” Rez’s mouth twitched into a smile. A laugh that was too large for his body spilled out of him. He walked away from the old station baking in the sun, each step punctuated by a plume of red dust.
• • •
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