Speculative biology is a genre of literature in which fantastic live creatures are invented and their adventures play the basic role in plots. Compared with myths and fairy tales, they are more firmly based on scientific research.
Speculative biological works are popular online among amateur biologists and animal fans. They also get professionally written and published.
Origins
Speculative biology is a genre of science fiction which combines the fictionalization of biological phenomena with an attempt to obey the principles of scientific method. It is popular among amateur biologists and animal lovers, especially on websites such as Reddit. It also gets a fair bit of professional discussion, with several books and documentaries being published on the subject.
The origins of speculative biology can be traced to the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859, in which he made use of an idea formulated in his earlier book The Descent of Man: that all modern organisms emerged from non-living matter (in this case microorganisms) through natural selection. The theory, as a whole, has since become a central component of evolutionary biology.
There are many ways in which this theory has been interpreted over the years, and a number of different theories have been proposed to explain why some species have a greater chance of becoming successful than others. In particular, some scientists have argued that natural selection is not the only factor that makes life possible, and in fact may even be the main cause.
However, this view is not always accepted by scientists and remains an issue of debate. Nonetheless, it is an important part of the history of speculative biology.
Another major impact on speculative biology came from the publication of Pasteur’s experiments in 1903, which proved that there was no way for microorganisms to spontaneously emerge. This meant that the idea of evolution could no longer be explained in terms of spontaneous generation, a phenomenon which had been widely accepted for centuries and was the key to explaining why all living things have their own individual identities.
These experimental results, coupled with the fact that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was now well-established, caused a significant shift in popular thinking about the origin of life. As a result, speculative biology became an increasingly common phenomenon in science fiction.
One of the most famous examples of speculative biology is Gerolf Steiner’s Rhinogradentia, a fictional order of mammals that was created in 1957. This work is regarded as a seminal moment in the genre because it was the first major speculative biology project that featured many different species and was illustrated in stunning colour.
Characteristics
Speculative biology is the scientific field based on the study of nature. Its basic concept is the possibility to isolate verifiable facts from untrue ones and use them for the explanation of a given phenomenon. However, this process is not without flaws and the science itself has not a perfect basis.
Despite the fact that speculative biology is not based on reality, it can be used for solving practical problems. For example, it can be used as a method of forecasting the future ecological situation.
A popular form of speculative biology is imagining what animals might look like in the future, especially if the world is radically changed by a catastrophic event. For example, if a planet is devastated by a massive asteroid impact or an environmental catastrophe such as an extinction event, many speculative biologists imagine the creatures that would emerge from the ashes of the disaster.
Some of the ideas put forward in speculative biology are more believable than others. For example, the idea that aquatic habits in primates and terrestrial bats could give rise to specialised predators, such as birds of prey or tapir-like apes, is not only possible, but has already been observed in some animals.
This is because animals adapt to their environment in a variety of ways, such as the ability to survive by filtering water and other nutrients out of the air or using their limbs to eat or hunt. This type of speculative biology has been explored by a number of authors, including Dougal Dixon in his 1981 book After Man: A Zoology of the Future.
Another common approach to speculative biology is the use of a fictional setting. This can be an alien planet, or the natural environment on Earth.
In a world without humans, for example, rats might be giant pack hunters like wolves or they might develop their own version of human society, using their natural intelligence and dexterity to survive and thrive.
The first major book to take on this “what if” question was After Man: A Zoology of the Future, published in 1981 by Dougal Dixon. This book is often credited with launching the speculative biology genre.
Themes
The speculative biology genre is a sub-genre of science fiction that deals with evolution in the future, on other worlds, or in alternate timelines. It usually involves the fate of humanity in such circumstances and may also focus on the development of alien lifeforms.
Speculative Biology is often associated with bestiaries, which are books that combine descriptions of real animals with fantastical ones. It also encompasses astrobiology, which examines the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.
It is possible to distinguish many themes related to speculative biology, but the most common ones include:
Reconstructed Fiction and Cryptozoology
Reconstructed Fiction – a subtype of speculative fiction that focuses on reconstructing fictitious animals or monsters from modern media into more biologically plausible forms. This includes mer-people, dragons, and other mythical creatures that are more “realistic” than they were originally thought to be.
One of the most popular examples is the creation of sapient aquatic humanoids, which have been made to look more like reptiles. Another example is the reconstruction of mythical dragons into a more biologically plausible form, which has been used in many films.
There are also works that discuss a future world without humans, and how animals would have developed on that planet. These stories are often the precursors to the global catastrophic risk and Human extinction subgenres of speculative fiction.
The speculative biology genre has its own unique themes, and the best way to identify these is by looking at how they are used in literature. For example, a lot of the works in the Speculative biology genre are set in alternative Quaternary periods, which are hundreds millions years in the past or far in the future.
Other common themes in speculative biology are the origins of certain animals or plants and their evolution into new species. These stories can be found in many different types of genres, such as fantasy and science fiction.
In most cases, these stories have no antagonists, but if they do, they tend to be the predators of the ecosystems depicted in the story. This is done in order to add a sense of threat to the work.
Methods
Speculative biology is a branch of the sciences that uses scientific principles and laws to answer “what if” questions. Unlike other branches of science, which have a strict set of rules and can be verified by evidence, speculative biology can use creative imagination to make a believable story about the evolution of animals and plants.
Often, speculative biology involves creating creatures that aren’t found in the real world. This can be done in a variety of ways, including by designing new genetic codes or using recombinant DNA technology to create organisms that aren’t currently able to exist.
A speculative biological project can also take on the shape of a fictional book, movie, or web series. These works can be very imaginative and can include a wide variety of spooky and fantastic creatures that would otherwise be difficult to explain in real life.
The field of speculative biology grew up around the time of the publication of Charles Darwin’s work On the Origin of Species, which was a fundamental piece of research that changed the way scientists thought about animal species and how they evolved. As such, many speculative biology projects incorporate the idea of natural selection and how it would play out in a fictional situation.
Another popular branch of speculative biology is cryptozoology, which uses imagination and the study of esoteric history to make predictions about possible extinct creatures. This can include bringing back creatures that have been previously believed to be dead, as well as finding and describing animals that are still hidden in the depths of the earth.
These types of speculative biology are most common online, where people use websites like Reddit and Deviantart to post artwork that explores the potential existence of a reanimated dinosaur or other creature that isn’t currently in the real world. This type of speculative biology is also quite popular in fandoms that feature fantasy animals, as artists will try to create these creatures in a more realistic manner to better fit the plots and characters.
Speculative biology has also come from synthetic biology, which is the field of biology that uses genetic engineering to create organisms that aren’t naturally occurring. In this field, researchers use recombinant DNA to create new species that aren’t already in the real world, such as squids that develop land habitats and rabbits that turn into long-legged counterparts of antelopes.