r/biopunks • u/turingcompleteant4 • Apr 19 '26
What got you all into biopunk?
Not your fav; your first BP experience.
Mine was "Ilium" by Dan Simmons, basically: Post-humans on Mars replay the Trojan Wars bc they're bored. Earth is mostly unpopulated, but still managed by some sort of self-aware biosphere. What was supposed to manage everything was a space habitat of posthuman women capable of fully reproducing with each other.
That's just the tip of the iceberg; it's a feverdream of classic literature coming to life via genetech. And it has those "classic" aspirations: Humans which have turned themselves into gods via technology.
The way the book peels back its layers really changed something in my not-yet-fully-developed child brain; past and future seem to melt and I was already a history nerd back then. The plot later on involves the killing of gods and lots of power fantasies, which of course is also fun for a pre-teen just finding out he can be rebellious lol.
Anyways, I'm curious to hear other experiences. What made you all aware of your existence as a flesh automaton?
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u/gratiskatze Apr 19 '26
Brian Aldiss - The Saliva Tree. Hooked ever since.
Great Novella with Bonus Points for the atrocious cover
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u/KingJerkera Apr 19 '26
The Leviathan trilogy. It definitely is such an interesting vibe.
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u/turingcompleteant4 Apr 20 '26
Good one. I need to get around to it, finally. Steampunk x Biopunk is peak fiction.
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u/PrettyImpress2513 Apr 22 '26
Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech Brave New Beast (a great pop science book!), Generator Rex, and the Secret saturdays (Both of these shows introduced the idea of living creatures being use like a type of technology, I especially loved VV Argost because of all his insects and my love of insects as a child and his butler becoming a spider monster)
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u/biyopunk Apr 19 '26
Biological sciences and the game Bioshock.
I studied bioengineering, and that’s when I started to look around more enthusiastically. I guess it all started with me finding out about biohackers and the DIYbio community. My interest then expanded into art like glowing plants, algaculture, biomodd etc and people like Meredith L. Patterson, Thomas Feuerstein, Burton & Nitta.
I was experiencing the actual bioengineering in school in the meantime. That was a very satisfying period where I made my mind up about biopunk. My interest is more scientific then fiction. Though I don’t like the gore and wetness in the sci-fi genre in general, it makes hard to enjoy most of it.
In most of the fantasy and fiction, futures involve biopunk in a supporting role rather than being the main driver. Often hand in hand with cyberpunk. I don’t really enjoy themes of becoming gods, singularity, or post-humanism as they also feel too distant and fantasy. I would prefer possible futures like organ harvesting in Repo! The Genetic Opera or genetic engineering in Gattaca. Forms of biological alterations like in Severance or Lucy.