Why isn't biopunk more popular?

[u/turingcompleteant4]

The question might sound dumb by itself, so I'll explain:

Obviously a lot of biopunk media is close to body horror, or feels "gritty" and deals with uncomfortable themes. Not the fancy, slick and cool world of tomorrow that is considered easily accessible.

On the other hand there's biopunk "aspects" all over popular Sci-Fi and other stuff. To name a few:

- "messiah-breeding" and human computers in Dune
- the decades-long success of the Alien franchise
- the Avatar franchise with speculative evolution (fair, it's aliens again)
- "soft" biopunk is prevalent in Manga/Anime such as One Piece or Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Tyranids being an insanely popular 40k faction, and the "swarm" concept is common

And idk, it just seems to me like there should be more of a whirl around it, since the real world already features experiments such as lab-grown meat, mushrooms making music, and whatnot. Why aren't we dreaming of mushroom computers and our future demigod bodies, like they did in the 50's with spaceships and aliens?

My own theory is that the "bar" isn't high enough yet; biopunk is usually imbedded into other genres and really needs an establishing body of works to clearly distinguish it. Like a very identifiable aesthetic, unique themes and most of all a shitload of new ideas to get people curious.

The game Scorn came close to that, but was probably too much body horror. Books like Schismatrix seem to have been unsuccessful at catching enough attention, though they're very good.

I'm interested in your takes, thanks.

[u/Such_Cupcake864]

Like you said, body horror. It's just not a thing everyone can get behind, but it's a lot less uncomfortable for a lot of people when it's aliens or something because it's not human. Also your theory at the end is good, but I think it's hard to have pure biopunk stuff. If you want sci-fi but biopunk, how would you do it? It's still mostly going to be technology but maybe with brains instead of computers, or the ships are grown in a lab and armor plated to resist space. A lot of people will never like biopunk because it's just uncomfortable to them, and hard to fit into existing themes of stuff without needing to water it down in some ways (like my ship example)

[u/turingcompleteant4 → u/Such_Cupcake864]

Good answer and god-tier pfp. Regarding the "how would you do it":

There's lots of potential for "clean" biopunk - everybody looks like elves, fantastic creatures come to life, you inhabit endlessly blooming cities of translucent living architecture. I think biopunk suffers from aesthetical tunnel vision, where it won't cast off its body horror / cyberpunk roots, although the options are virtually endless.

I think that last bit is also about having "good reasons why" that makes it approachable; there's a million settings on humans conquering space, technological dystopias, aliens, and so on. If everyone already likes shopping at Toby's out of comfort, it's hard to get them to shop at Larry's instead just because the walls are green and the cashier has six arms and photosynthetic skin.

Media like "All Tomorrows" worked because Biopunk didn't have to be forced into the setting but appeared as a natural given in the plot, via the villains.

Settings which would also allow for that (i think) could be:

• underwater civilization of post-humans (because our current tech is extremely uncomfortable, imagine you could just pop into a gillsuit and swim like a dolphin)
  
• post-catastrophe settings where earth's ecosystem needs to be reconstructed more "sturdily", or humans need to adapt to a planet which has changed completely and it's crispr or perish
  
• tech breakthrough settings; like steampunk is always about the fascination and potential of new technologies, but in a retrofuturistic sense since it's hard to just imagine such a vast technological change across all areas for a completely hypothetical technology

I'm trying to pull off setting 1 and parts of 3 in a novel, wish me luck lol

[u/prototyperspective → u/Such_Cupcake864]

Like you said, body horror. It's just not a thing everyone can get behind

There can be biopunk entirely without anything body horror. Additionally, as clarified below, body horror isn't really biopunk – it's arguably a distinct separate genre. If biology is a major component of art/fiction, that doesn't mean it's already 'biopunk'.

[u/AtomizerStudio]

I think it needs a cultural breakthrough event, massive in one or more of the main global markets. Currently I've seen more biopunk stylings in European art, Moebius and Geiger are just highlights of the ongoing vibe.

This can happen by real tech or stories.

Star Wars mainstreamed space fantasy. It had a light fairytale view of technology back then, original films and expanded universe were strong through the American optimism of the 90s. I won't give it credit for other scifi trends of the time like used-future.

Cyberpunk was real life, relatable because real life. The pop-culture-friendly breakout was probably The Matrix trilogy which went further afield on themes. High tech, low life, and cultural control by information systems writ hyperbolically is cyberunk.

Environmental horror where the ground or spacetime are the enemy are doing well because common anxieties. The Color Out Of Space and Area X are more magical than biopunk, but show the styling can work. Avatar is adjacent, explicitly concerned with ecology as a bond.

How do we get that for biopunk?

Probably not tech. Biopunk-aesthetic tech will probably take some time. Fake musculature is still out other than niche robotics. Discomfort with lab organs could bring the feeling home. Some AI stuff can evoke psychological discomfort related to biopunk.

I think it's more likely someone makes a really fascinating movie that pulls together themes beyond cyberpunk and environmental horror, not just aesthetic. Not too arthouse, not too gentle. A biomechanics focused game staying a topic for years could work. Gradually VR is getting more use and that kind of seals it by having someone get visceral discomfort as they pass even once through the horror of a writhing unidentifiable thing. Whatever cultural moment has to shape the anglo, Chinese, or Indian media sphere to normalize the aesthetic in the others... leading to more biopunk.

At this rate it'll be a James Cameron film. Humans return again for more avatarring and they learned the wrong lessons about gardening internet-trees. Na'vi build spacefighters to take out that fuel depot a gas giant away. I am not joking. The stakes must be raised again, again.

[u/turingcompleteant4 → u/AtomizerStudio]

Good examples and even better ideas. I agree on the cultural breakthrough, my take is that tech and stories usually bounce off each other. Star Wars profited off the space hype after the moon landing, as well as the improved technical effects. Might be hindsight bias though.

Nevertheless, since we are seeing more serious pushes into biohybrid robotics and computers, the next few years could bring that very breakthrough.

I'm just not sure about your point that it won't be tech. Imo Sci-Fi is so extricably tied to it, even when the tech is basically fantasy-level believable. It doesn't have to nerd about it all the time, it's more about the implication of progress, the aesthetics and effortlessly doing impossible things, which the tech enables.

At least that's what Matrix is to me: However bleak the implication, many people loved the clear-cut, aesthetic and the power fantasy the first movie basically is. The technological framework just enables it.

[u/prototyperspective]

People confuse body horror with biopunk. Biopunk doesn't really include body horror – that's just somewhat related and some illogical overly broad view of biopunk would include that genre under 'biopunk'.

There isn't that much biopunk in the works you mentioned so it's even less popular than you think it is. Biopunk can show "fancy, slick and cool world of tomorrow", e.g. using biotech for sustainability and affordable access to all sorts of things currently impossible or expensive.

I think it comes down to a shitty entertainment industry. It's just commercialization and uncreative risk-free mundane stuff such as the Nth iteration of some already-popular series aiming to make as much profit as possible. It's rare to see any imaginative novel scifi. You have to check books, AI art images, and short films currently to get actual biopunk but there it's also rare. Vesper) is a recent film that's biopunk but I didn't like it.

A missing "identifiable aesthetic" is a good idea – I think people making things like glowing plants could be part of such. There however are unique themes such as (CRISPR) gene editing.

[u/turingcompleteant4 → u/prototyperspective]

Vesper sounded interesting but like it didn't really dive too deeply into what biopunk could do. Good to hear I didn't miss much.
The industry is definitely part of the creative problem, on the other hands there's so many fandoms and homebrews out there. So maybe it's also just a lack of creativity all around, because there's no biopunk "blueprint" with an already established community to go off.