What if you wanted to write a science fiction story about genetic engineering? Now a good example of that is Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park.” Here we have geneticists mining dinosaur DNA from mosquitos trapped in amber from the Cretaceous period. And presto-change-o we’ve got tyrannosaurs and ceratopsians running around after Jeff Goldblum while he’s running around after Laura Dern. Isn’t that marvelous. And sure, it is if you’re selling books or movie tickets. But there are a few hitches.
As far as I know there has never been any DNA that has lasted tens of millions of years. Ever. So, no Jurassic Park. But suppose you wanted to write a story about genetic engineering. And suppose you wanted to write it about genetic manipulation of humans. Now you’re talking about science that’s completely possible.
With the advent of techniques like CRISPR (acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) it has become relatively easy to delete and replace DNA sequences in living cells including germ cells (sperm or egg cells or in the zygote following fertilization). This is reality not science fiction. But what could happen if this technology became widely used is still science fiction, so far. A Chinese scientist named He Jiankui in November 2018 announced that he had created the first human germline genetically edited babies. I think he was sent to prison for the act.
But the point is this is not Jurassic Park. This is technology that exists. And therefore, science fiction can be written about the kinds of worlds that would result if we used this technology. It could be utopian or dystopian or it could be very complicated and involve people’s lives being changed in ways that are neither of the extremes. What if these edited babies live much longer than normal humans? That would create certain problems. Or what if they’re all super geniuses and can’t relate to normal people and their normal hopes and dreams? Either of these scenarios can have consequences that would make interesting stories. Because fundamentally, the interesting thing about science fiction stories isn’t the science but rather its effect on human beings. If scientists bring back dinosaurs but they don’t run amok trying to eat Jeff Goldblum (which really would be fun to watch) no one would care. If the sun explodes but humanity has been extinct for a billion years then no one reading the story would care. The stories are about us and that’s the thing that the writer has to make you understand.
So, I’d really like to read some stories about things that could really happen and maybe even will happen. Maybe a good story would be about someone trying to figure out how to use artificial intelligence to eliminate violent crime or find a way to make democracy work to most people’s satisfaction. There are an endless supply of technological problems and scenarios that already are possible and just need someone to expend a little brain power to make entertaining. And I’m guessing in the not-too-distant future a writer with a bit of skill and a little imagination will write at least one good one.
Back in the 1960’s, I ran across a novel “The Fittest” by J.T. McIntoshAlso known as “The Rule of the Pagbeasts,”. The story begins with a scientist named Paget who conducts experiments on animals to heighten their intelligence. The experiments yield unexpected results, leading to the creation of intelligent creatures the press dubbs “Paget’s Pets” with a natural hatred for humans. Things do not go well. There a scenes of mob violence against the Paget family that some may find disturbing. The novel explores themes of intelligence, evolution, and the potential threat to civilization posed by such creations.
Sounds interesting.
There is an entire sub-category of SF built around various apocalypses. My all time favorite of the type is/was “Lucifer’s Hammer”, co-authored by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell. Or “A Canticle for Leibowitz” Obviously these aren’t examples of extrapolative fiction. Maybe something like Neuromancer by William Gibson, published in 1984 about computer hacking. Do you consider the premise behind “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”, AKA “Blade Runner” in video form, to be unlikely? “”2001” specifically and Arthur C Clark’s books tended in general to use then current or reasonably probable extrapolated technologies. Michael Crichton’s works would tend to be… Read more »
Andromeda Strain doesn’t seem to involve any concepts that defy our current understanding of science. I saw the movie and I don’t even remember whether the pathogen was definitively extraterrestrial. But even that would not be prohibitive. Life drifting between planets doesn’t seem impossible based on some things I’ve read about the hardiness of bacterial spores. As for Blade Runner, putting aside the interstellar travel, genetic engineering is a reality. Addressing the legality and morality of engineering humans to make them better property is definitely something I think would be very fertile grounds for storytelling. Of course, the devil is… Read more »
Michael Crichton’s “Next” approaches the topic of deliberate and accidental genetic manipulation from several directions. You really need a program to keep track of all the characters and plotlines. It is still a good read, but keep the Murder Board updated.
Next (Crichton novel) – Wikipedia
I’ll look into that. He was a very talented man.
Michael Crichton is a very interesting case indeed. I think he is what is sometimes referred to as a polymath. His training (CF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton) included undergrad, initially in English but shifting to biological anthropology at Harvard. He was a lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, came back to the US, and got an MD from Harvard Medical. He works for a while at the Salk Institute in California, but never gets an actual license to practice medicine. Throughout this, he was writing under pseudonyms and also working on scripts. Andromeda Strain is his first novel under his name… Read more »
Yes, Crichton seems to have been an exceptional individual. We need a few of those around to make things interesting. I’ll have to check out Preston. I haven’t heard of him until now.
I don’t have any problem with escapist fiction. Based on what is going on around me I wouldn’t have a problem defining our current sociopolitical reality a dystopia. The only saving grace is I believe we may struggle our way out of the worst of what is going on.
Now there is an interesting question, is the USA as currently constituted a dystopia? My gut reaction is “Not Quite”. We definitely skated into it early in the Biden Admin with the remains of the COVID over response and massive cancellation and attacking the opposition constantly via lawfare. Starmer’s Britain and much of the EU seems to be there with thoughtcrime being prosecuted. Places like Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and China are definitely there. Other places like Russia and Mexico (as well as much of Africa) seem to have Dysfunction winning out over Dystopia. That’s not to say we’ve made it… Read more »
We’ve been losing ground for so long that I’m not sure I’ll live long enough to see us get back to the point we were at when I was a child. But I keep on hoping that more people will wake up and say, “Enough!”