Biopunk

This article is about dystopian cyberpunk and science fiction subgenre. For real-life citizen science and advocacy movement, see Do-it-yourself biology.

Biopunk (a portmanteau of "biotechnology" or "biology" and "punk") is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than mechanical cyberware and information technology. Biopunk is concerned with synthetic biology. It is derived from cyberpunk and involve bio-hackers, biotech megacorporations, and oppressive government agencies that manipulate human DNA. Most often keeping with the dark atmosphere of cyberpunk, biopunk generally examines the dark side of genetic engineering and depicts the potential perils of biotechnology.

Description

Cover of Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo, a seminal biopunk story collection.

Biopunk is a subgenre of science fiction closely related to cyberpunk that focuses on the near-future (most often unintended) consequences of the biotechnology revolution following the invention of recombinant DNA. Biopunk stories explore the struggles of individuals or groups, often the product of human experimentation, against a typically dystopian backdrop of totalitarian governments and megacorporations which misuse biotechnologies as means of social control and profiteering. Unlike cyberpunk, it builds not on information technology, but on synthetic biology. Like in postcyberpunk fiction, individuals are usually modified and enhanced not with cyberware, but by genetic manipulation. A common feature of biopunk fiction is the "black clinic", which is a laboratory, clinic, or hospital that performs illegal, unregulated, or ethically dubious biological modification and genetic engineering procedures. Many features of biopunk fiction have their roots in William Gibson's Neuromancer, one of the first cyberpunk novels.

One of the prominent writers in this field is Paul Di Filippo, though he called his collection of such stories ribofunk, a blend of "ribosome" and "funk". Di Filippo suggests that precursors of biopunk fiction include H. G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau; Julian Huxley's The Tissue-Culture King; some of David H. Keller's stories, Damon Knight's Natural State and Other Stories; Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth's Gravy Planet; novels of T. J. Bass and John Varley; Greg Bear's Blood Music and Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix. The stories of Cordwainer Smith, including his first and most famous Scanners Live in Vain, also foreshadow biopunk themes. Another example is the New Jedi Order series published from 1999 to 2003, which prominently feature the Yuuzhan Vong who exclusively use biotechnology.

See also

• List of biopunk works
• Cyberpunk
  • Cyberpunk derivatives
    • Nanopunk
    • Dieselpunk
    • Steampunk
    • Solarpunk
• Seapunk
• Genetic engineering in fiction
• Grinder (biohacking)
• Human enhancement
• Transhumanism

External links

• Hackteria.org, a community for bio-artists