Can someone explain "mankind redefined"? (spoilers)

[Hedning]

It's the slogan of the institute. On first glance one might think it refers to their work on synths and super mutants, but it doesn't make sense. The fev project was abandoned after years of zero results. They don't seem interested in ever restarting it, so it's all about the synths now. But they don't consider synths human and their goal with the synths is just to make better tools, not make humans. Not even synth shaun is intended to ever be treated as a human.

They believe that the surface humans are doomed and will eventually go away. Their vision is that humans live underground and they will only send robots to the surface (kind of like they are alredy doing). That's not really redefining mankind though, so what does their slogan mean?

[Dracon]

Its a nod to the idea of The Singularity, a scientific notion that machines would not destroy the world like in The Terminator or other sci fi movies, but rather take over and "upgrade" humanity instead to fit their idea of what we should be.
For the Institute, this means copying everyones minds and planting them into synth bodies. Thus the projects for Nick and his brother in the dlc.
This also is evident in the random events where you meet two of the same people, the synth attempting to replace the individual he has copied. Indeed the synths mind may be an exact copy of the others, and his programming is simply telling him to replace him.
Of course the Institute lives underground, because they feel that the undesirables up on the surface will simply kill themselves off. Thus their need for Corsairs, the "Terminators" of the fallout universe.

[Hedning]

They replace people on the surface to spy and for scientific reasons. I dont hear anyone in the institute expressing wishes to become synths themselves in the future. Even if they replaced everyone on the surface with synths those would not be humans. The institute people living underground would still be the humans and the synths living on the surface, even if improved further, would still not be considered more than toasters.

[Solomon Hawk]

Synthetic humans. Ring a bell to a new TV series?

[leem]

This topic should be labeled spoilers.

Mankind redefined means replace mankind with synthetics humans.

[Herrius Le Crabe Québécois]

The Institute believe the human race to be doomed because of the permanent exposure to radiation (there is some nod to constant background radiation affecting everything and everyone)
one day or another, human dna will degenerate enough to prevent birth (maybe either sterilization via damaged cells or birth defect, not specified) and i remember a scientist in the institute saying even themselve where not immune to this. (one reason for their kidnaping of Shaun was for unaltered dna for their synth program) All they can do is slow down the degeneration via their medical wonder.
Even with how they treat the synth, their (really long term goal) is to have the synth inherits the planet and continue from where the world ended (Institute mostly, since the world halted evolving 210 years ago). That why they work so hard to make synth immune for exemple to radiation, disease etc. you dont want your legacy to be killed of by the first radioactive barrel or a new strand of the plague that could have wiped the human even before the nuclear war. Also, you always want your courser to kick ass, not get down because of a flu.

And the FEV experiment was on the insistance of the old man if i remember one of virgil holotape you can find in the lab. He complained about the lack of result and how he (the old man) alway wanted the experiment to continue. I think it was not for the lulz but for Shaun. The experiment lasted for around 10 years and It was not very long since Virgil ran away after wrecking the labs.
It make me believe the old man insisting on continuing was Shaun, who was already director hoping to find a cure for his untreatable cancer by conventional mean. (fev was experimented on as a mean to make people immune to every natural and man-made disease at first before the war until the military switched his goal for super soldier. Probably the institute had pre-war record of the virus, talking about the potential for his medical miracle (In Shaun's case, cure cancer among other thing) and with what strain they found, started the experiment on it.

[Hedning]

If the reference is indeed to the synths, then please explain their view on synths as being nothing more than toasters. You can't have the view that synths are far from human, nothing more than toasters, but still the future of mankind at the same time. It makes no sense.

Originally posted by Herrius Le Crabe Québécois:

Even with how they treat the synth, their (really long term goal) is to have the synth inherits the planet and continue from where the world ended (Institute mostly, since the world halted evolving 210 years ago). That why they work so hard to make synth immune for exemple to radiation, disease etc.

They make them resistant to be better tools. Synths will indeed inherit the surface, but the future of mankind is underground. Where did you read that the institute people think they are doomed too? Admitting to being tainted by radiation is not the same as saying you are doomed.

[Herrius Le Crabe Québécois]

When they where talking about the surface's people being tainted by radiation and thus will one day die out thank to dna twisting by said radiation, the one talking about this imply the people in the institute didnt escaped contamination and the same fate await them, but it will take longer thank to the medical expertise they have.

I don't remember who explained much of this inside the Institute, i remember the big lines from my Institute run where i read,listened and save scummed to heard every response to anything i could say because i wanted to learn more about them. I really should redo an institute run, being a year since my last ''science guy'' run. I think it was Father or one of the director who subtly implied this grim future because of the radiation.

And for how they treat synth, its not a clear cut of, everyone in the Institute treat synth as tool. Many wish to treat them more fairly or as equal. But most of the directors view them as mindless tools or at best, curiousity. And since Shaun push the mindless idea strongly don't help either. Like many Institute fan, people can imagine that they change some thing when becoming director, even if it will take a long time since most of the leadership is on the tool bandwagon.