Naturalness as Design Criterion

The Taoist sage moves through the world without self-consciousness, action arising naturally from circumstance. Applied to enhancement, this suggests that successful biotech creates improvements that feel indigenous to the user's own being, not alien impositions. An enhancement that requires constant conscious management or creates internal conflict fails the naturalness criterion, regardless of performance gains. This reframes biotech success: not 'how much stronger/faster/smarter' but 'how seamlessly integrated.' Consider neural enhancement—the most successful augmentation would feel like extended natural cognition, not an external tool requiring attention. Genetic modifications aligned with existing biology cause less rejection and psychological friction than radical rewrites. This criterion challenges the enhancement industry's fetish for exotic capabilities; often the deepest improvements involve perfecting natural human function rather than adding artificial features. Naturalness becomes a design constraint that drives elegance, reduces side effects, and creates enhancements users actually want to keep.