system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] Would a civilization with a long history and culture of genetic augmentation within its society be able to join the Federation?

Its quite silly the humans are so against improving themselves based on an event that happened almost 400 years ago, but the Federation isn't just made up of humans, there are hundreds of different species with different cultures within the Federation. So what if the Federation meets a warp capable civilization that treats trans-humanism as bread and butter. Their people have been doing it for centuries, they come in a vast different variety, so diverse that it is almost impossible to tell if individuals are even of the same species, individuals could change themselves any way they like, so many of them are stronger, and faster than Vulcans, while being more adaptable than humans. Think of their entire race as a bunch of Khans, but without the evil (well there's some evil, but seriously that's unavoidable). The civilization has been democratic, and relatively peaceful, and have applied for membership into the UFP. Will they get accepted, and how would the Federation handle genetic augmentation across the board when dealing with other species (especially humans) when they are accepted?
gpt
Denobulans (Dr. Phlox's race) perfected genetic engineering long before they made contact with humans.  This point is made several times during the Augment story arc.

However it's a little unclear whether Denobulans had a "culture of genetic augmentation."  Phlox disapproves of the Augments and implies that it is wrong to try to use genetic engineering to redesign a species.  So it's possible that genetic augmentation is still viewed as a universally bad thing by "civilized" cultures, and the Federation still doesn't permit it.

It's also not entirely clear whether Denobulans joined the Federation or not, since they only appeared in Enterprise, before the Federation was formed.  If they didn't join, maybe the genetic engineering was part of the reason.