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Summer

As late as the early Twenty-Fourth Century, applying intelligence-enhancing genetic modification to animals was seen as an ultimate taboo, even unthinkable.

Some earlier thinkers, during the 21st Century, compared the idea with slavery; their argument was that, if humans were permitted to create a race of servants that were intellectually their equals and yet did not bestow upon those creatures the fulfillment of human rights and freedoms, then what difference would there be, between this and the earlier enslavement and abuses against indigenous peoples?

There were others who cried "abomination!" Such an obscenity was considered, by them, to be a debasement of the human race, and groups were drawn together in a widespread public outcry against "unnatural" contrivances. Non-GMO groups quickly lost their interest in plants and foodstuffs, and they were soon warning the populace against some Frankensteinian genetically modified animal, claiming that even the slightest tweaking could poison the human race, somehow. Mutant corn was unnatural enough, but a true Frankenstein monster--as the prospect of one became ever more a potential reality--made these people truly afraid, and they would tear down civilization itself to stop it if necessary.

Banishments and moratoria were established, and these were widely hailed as lasting triumphs for "human rights," which would be forever etched into history. These moves were celebrated the world over, and national holidays were declared to celebrate how the human race stood up against "self-debasement."

The faith was strong that this was a victory for the eternal sanctity and providence of the human race, and authors spun visions of distant futures in which the human race bravely stood alone, greeting alien hosts and colonizing, spreading, multiplying...all of this hinged on the vision of Mankind as a truly independent and unique entity.

The demon that had threatened society's romantic visions had been slain, and its ghost had been purged. The imagined plagues and--even more terrifying--the moral uncertainty that such a demon might have unleashed, upon humanity, had been locked away forever.

As simply as that, the Human Right had won.

Autumn

However, the human race's mighty triumph, against the Frankenstein monster, was not without long-term consequences.

In terms of genetic science especially, a dark age fell over the human race, with curable diseases being treated by much more primitive devices. Even if not for government regulations, the immense taboo that had formed, surrounding any tampering with genetics, was sufficient that those who had the ability to examine the topic were more likely to invest their abilities elsewhere.

When nuclear war finally did break out, this brought with it a whole new set of problems. Rather than being a gentle light-switch that would bring about the end of the world, the world's decline was characterized partly by a lack of comprehension of its own decline. The survivors seemed, after a while, to not even fully realize that many of the members of their society had vanished, and they were vaguely aware that there was a much higher rate of certain illnesses than there had been before. Children born in slums that were known to contain particle radiation were often born blind and deaf, but this came to be stock material for popular soap operas. In time, many began to deny that there was really a problem.

As disabilities multiplied, though, social and technological development began to stagnate while human society attempted to address those issues, and other mounting problems eventually turned the attention of humanity away from scientific research--which had come to be viewed with suspicion or even as a scapegoat--and they all became more and more inward-looking and politically factionalized.

This is not to say, once again, that society saw the decline as a decline. Small, local currencies were minted, and these were seen as having greater accountability than more widely circulated currencies. As these eventually failed due to poor management, the detractors hailed a return to "normalcy."

However, even as the victors gloated over their triumph over the small currencies, they immediately imposed a return to the "gold standard" as evidence of their commitment to stability, ignoring the faults and the past failures of this seemingly alluring device. There were nay-sayers to the gold-standard, but the slogan of the time was, "Shall we all live on ideas?" After all, one cannot eat an idea.

Of course, that was the true downfall: society had ceased to live on ideas, and as ideas were scoffed and apparently more substantial things treasured and held dear, the innovator class came to be seen as clowns and makers of mischief. "Why fool about? There are hungry people to feed!" "Wasters of time prosper not, and idlers come to nothing." "Fantasy...we don't have the luxury of fantasy, when there are more pressing matters at hand."

These were, of course, seen as true and most valid statements, since they were accurate for an individual. After all, Mozart was a foul-mouthed jerk and a disappointment to his father, and he was a narcissist, a rogue, and a brute. To any reasonable person and any person who perceived himself as intelligent and enlightened, it was self-evident that any trend set by that Mozart would pass quickly into obscurity, and he would be blissfully forgotten by history as one of its many mistakes. It took a while, indeed, before a civilization realized that a naughty, little trill, here and there, and an arrogant flourish, once in a while, made people want to lead, to give, and to inspire.

Even Vincent van Gogh, within his lifetime, was a mad-man, an alcoholic, and a pauper, and the fruits of his work were only understood after they had influenced entire nations to see the reflection of themselves in what he had created. A long while passed before someone stared deeply and soulfully into The Starry Night and wept like a child as a sense of deeper meaning was seeded in that person. The man who gave human society its self-awareness and also its hope for a better future really was--as far as any person who lived in the same time as himself could tell--truly a loser.

What was needed, in the time, was substance, consensus, and to address the needs of the present. Beauty was a utilitarian thing, used for lifting the spirit, and the spirit itself was useful because it helped people to work; therefore, flowers in simple colors were watered, while those that broke up the scenery or inspired one to linger wastefully were regarded as weeds and promptly spaded-up.

In a word, the edifice of civilization had fallen.

Winter

The nuclear waste that infested the slums continued to take its toll.

Service dogs were not considered to be the most desirable remedy for the disabilities that had run rampant since the fall of scientific progress, but families soon became unable to cope without them. Resorting to one was a sad sort of event: rather than being--as before--appreciated for its novelty and charm, having a service dog came to be seen, instead, as desperate, a stigma, and a symbol of despair. Broken people lived among dogs, not men.

Regardless, with dogs becoming increasingly necessary to help compensate for the various ailments that had emerged, they continued to be adapted--literally and figuratively--for the demands of human society. Specialty lineages were reserved for certain psychiatric maladies, blindness, and the feebleness of old age.

The chance association of dogs with hardship, in their own time, caused dogs, themselves, to be seen as a blight upon society. Even as people became ever more reliant upon them, they were resented. In a few countries, dogs were banned outright, but even as ineffective alternatives were tauted as bastions of hope, people who once functioned well with the aid of their animals slept alone in the cold and starved in the streets. In the post-nuclear age, this was a substantial portion of humanity, and to have a huge swath of society left completely, rather than partially, helpless was a tipping point.

A single freak mutation was found--in a border collie descendant--that gave a particular line of dogs opposable thumbs, which widened the number of tasks they were able to perform for the elderly and infirm. Because these creatures were viewed at first as victims of radiation poisoning and beneficiaries of human charity, it was relatively inconsequential, to the press, that the animals could perform such jobs as adjusting the dials on oxygen tanks or helping a disabled child in and out of his or her clothing.

Unfortunately, the mutation left the poor creatures crippled for life, unable to walk on all fours without pain and not fully able to stand erect, for the long-term, without organ damage or early spinal maladies. In spite of their shortcomings, the line was developed into its own breed. Although efforts to improve the health of the breed by selective breeding and clever cross-breeding were only marginally successful, the mounting needs of the populace caused the breed--called the "panda collie"--to surge in popularity.

This particular breed became the first ever candidate for genetic "correction." The mutation itself was in a very complex set of genes that was virtually impossible to tamper with directly, but there was another set of genes that coded for the length of a certain exon in a certain protein that determined the elasticity of certain tendons--which it happened affected the fluidity of a dog's gait--making the substance of the problem remediable with even the most primitive genetic intervention. Therefore, the next generation of the breed preserved the useful outcome of the mutation, while preserving the familiar canine gait.

The method that was used was really seen as giving a useful breed the ability to get around "like a normal dog," which meant getting about on all fours. This was really the true redeeming point of the alteration, not the comfort of the animal. That is to say that, although the breed had become indispensible, it was considered unsightly because the discomfort of walking on its forelimbs resulted in it having to stand upright more often. An upright-walking animal was seen as threatening, and the inclination of the people was to knock it back down.

However, the new breed broke ground by becoming the first true canine beneficiary of genetic alteration, even as scientific progress itself continued to wane. Further genetic tampering was able to quickly disguise any blooming of the capacity for speech in an animal, reducing semi-coherent yodels to stuttered barks and yaps without removing the ability of the gifted animals, in question, to understand a greater number of commands.

Genetic alteration became less of a taboo as it became ever more certain that genetic alteration protected the human race from having a rival, and basic necessity itself, in time, drove the direction and nature of the alterations.