”Well but what if they’re just being nice??” ”I think, my daughter, that is the point.”

Everyone’s gotta be reminded of this sometimes!!

"We don't change much—nothing that would make us unrecognisable, nothing that would push us beyond the realm of our humanity, nothing that changes how I think or act or perceive. Only a small number of genetic supplementations are actually possible, and none of them are permanent."

Sorry...we're talking about "genetic supplemetation" and engineering your body??? And the takeaway is that "oh actually it doesn't really have any lasting change and goes away"????? I guess the author isn't aware of this, but gene therapy is actually a think we already have, and it can, in fact, be permanent. And even if it isn't permanent, wouldn't you think that altering yourself on a genetic level would have some sort of impact on you?????

I would accept this if this book were from the POV of a character experiencing things in real time, but this is supposed to be a message sent form someone who has an awareness of how their story turns out. I think one of the more interesting aspects of humanity (and sci-fi/speculative fiction) is the way in which the changes we make (as a society, as individuals) actually does change the way we "think or act or perceive." The tension between "who I am" and "what have I become" is always interesting imho!

If the whole "hey we've changed ourselves so much that I'm now reflecting on what makes a human a human" thing becomes a plot point later on, I'll eat my words I guess (but also I would still argue that it wouldn't really make sense narratively because of how the book is structured).