{"id":36311,"date":"2026-03-14T05:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=36311"},"modified":"2026-03-13T21:17:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T01:17:43","slug":"refocusing-science-fiction-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/14\/refocusing-science-fiction-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Refocusing Science Fiction \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What if you wanted to write a science fiction story about genetic engineering?\u00a0 Now a good example of that is Michael Crichton\u2019s \u201cJurassic Park.\u201d\u00a0 Here we have geneticists mining dinosaur DNA from mosquitos trapped in amber from the Cretaceous period.\u00a0 And presto-change-o we\u2019ve got tyrannosaurs and ceratopsians running around after Jeff Goldblum while he\u2019s running around after Laura Dern.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that marvelous.\u00a0 And sure, it is if you\u2019re selling books or movie tickets.\u00a0 But there are a few hitches.<\/p>\n<p>As far as I know there has never been any DNA that has lasted tens of millions of years.\u00a0 Ever.\u00a0 So, no Jurassic Park.\u00a0 But suppose you wanted to write a story about genetic engineering.\u00a0 And suppose you wanted to write it about genetic manipulation of humans.\u00a0 Now you\u2019re talking about science that\u2019s completely possible.<\/p>\n<p>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).\u00a0 This is reality not science fiction.\u00a0 But what could happen if this technology became widely used is still science fiction, so far.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Designer_baby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A Chinese scientist named He Jiankui in November 2018 announced that he had created the first human germline genetically edited babies.\u00a0 I think he was sent to prison for the act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the point is this is not Jurassic Park.\u00a0 This is technology that exists.\u00a0 And therefore, science fiction can be written about the kinds of worlds that would result if we used this technology.\u00a0 It could be utopian or dystopian or it could be very complicated and involve people\u2019s lives being changed in ways that are neither of the extremes.\u00a0 What if these edited babies live much longer than normal humans?\u00a0 That would create certain problems.\u00a0 Or what if they\u2019re all super geniuses and can\u2019t relate to normal people and their normal hopes and dreams?\u00a0 Either of these scenarios can have consequences that would make interesting stories.\u00a0 Because fundamentally, the interesting thing about science fiction stories isn\u2019t the science but rather its effect on human beings.\u00a0 If scientists bring back dinosaurs but they don\u2019t run amok trying to eat Jeff Goldblum (which really would be fun to watch) no one would care.\u00a0 If the sun explodes but humanity has been extinct for a billion years then no one reading the story would care.\u00a0 The stories are about us and that\u2019s the thing that the writer has to make you understand.<\/p>\n<p>So, I\u2019d really like to read some stories about things that could really happen and maybe even will happen.\u00a0 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\u2019s satisfaction.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What if you wanted to write a science fiction story about genetic engineering?\u00a0 Now a good example of that is Michael Crichton\u2019s \u201cJurassic Park.\u201d\u00a0 Here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - 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