Science and Fiction: Moon, Oryx and Crake, and Spore

Science and fiction are more closely intertwined than they might first appear. Fictional portrayals of scientific concepts — from human cloning to genetic engineering to biological evolution — give audiences a way to engage with ideas that would otherwise remain confined to laboratories and academic journals. When science is packaged within a compelling story, film, or game, it reaches a far broader audience than any textbook could. The works examined here — the film Moon (2009), Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake (2003), and the article "Evolution, Creativity, and Future Life" from Science Is Culture (2010) — each demonstrate this relationship in a distinct way. Together, they illustrate how fiction serves as a bridge between scientific possibility and public understanding, entertaining audiences while encouraging genuine curiosity about what science may one day achieve.

The film Moon (2009) depicts the story of a man on a three-year mission on the moon, mining helium-3 for people back on Earth. He lives alone, accompanied only by a robot named GERTY. A couple of weeks before he is due to return to his family, he begins to experience visions of a teenage girl he does not recognize. These hallucinations cause him to crash his rover, and he wakes up with no memory of the incident. After managing to escape, he discovers a clone of himself — and with that discovery, realizes that he too is a clone, implanted with the memories of the original Sam, who has been back on Earth for roughly fifteen years. In the end, the older clone chooses to remain on the moon, since the clones were designed to deteriorate and he has already begun to do so. The newer clone returns to Earth to expose what has been happening.

The entire film is a fictional portrayal of plausible scientific events. Although it is designed primarily for entertainment, there is a persistent sense that what occurs on screen could, under the right conditions, occur in real life. The science is grounded in the concept of cloning — widely regarded as one of the next significant frontiers in medical research. With the successful cloning of animals already achieved, the cloning of humans represents the logical next step. This film makes audiences aware of the possibilities that science holds. If it were depicting true events, it would be entirely believable. Creating human clones could, in theory, produce a workforce usable for many purposes, and the film presents one vision of what that future might look like. Ethical obligations have so far prevented humanity from taking that step, but the film encourages its viewers to consider the possibility as genuinely real.

Framing the film as fiction rather than documentary allows a much wider audience to engage with these ideas. People go to see a mystery or science fiction film for its entertainment value; they are far less likely to seek out a factual documentary on the same subject. Fiction opens the topic to a broader audience. And while fiction implies that what is presented is not literally true, the ideas behind the events in Moon are scientifically grounded. The film could very plausibly spark the interest of a scientist who might one day make those ideas a reality.

The connection between fiction and science is clear throughout Moon. The concepts of cloning, genetic remodeling, and memory implantation are all presented as things that could one day be probable and true — and it is precisely this quality that captures the interest of viewers. Although fictional now, the film offers a possible glimpse into the future. The ideas are evident; they simply await implementation. By portraying them visually and compellingly, the film invites audiences to want to know more, and by doing so, it builds a genuine bridge between entertainment and scientific possibility.

Oryx and Crake (2003) by Margaret Atwood tells the fictional story of how science gone wrong can ultimately destroy an entire human species. The main character, Jimmy, lives in a remote, alien-seeming location that readers gradually realize was once inhabited by humans. An experimental drug intended to inhibit aging and eventually produce immortal beings has gone catastrophically wrong, causing people to fall ill and transform into unrecognizable creatures. Although Jimmy originally worked in advertising for the company that developed the viral epidemic, his relationships with Oryx and Crake draw him deeper into the catastrophe. The pill he was meant to promote turns out to be the root cause of humanity's destruction.

Through genetic splicing, the characters in the book develop a pill that allows individuals to eliminate the traits they dislike and enhance those they value. In this case, the scientists are searching for a cure to mortality — believing that by eliminating aging, people will live fuller and more productive lives. Instead, the attempt to make aging a problem of the past creates one of the greatest problems imaginable: the near-elimination of the human species. Science is once again the central concern. The field of genetics is employed in a way that makes the described process feel entirely plausible — the kind of thing that might happen if scientists were not required to navigate extensive ethical and moral review before completing their experiments.

Fictional portrayals of science are more socially acceptable precisely because they allow people to glimpse the possibilities science holds when freed from regulation and protocol. This book makes it acceptable to explore, for entertainment purposes, the idea of human experimentation on a mass scale. It also provokes genuine thought about the concept of immortality — a concept that can only seem plausible to ordinary readers in the form of fiction, since no evidence exists that living forever is actually achievable. Because of this, science fiction represents a legitimate and valuable way to represent the possible outcomes of humanity's most ambitious ideas. As the book demonstrates, however, those outcomes are not always positive.

Fiction also makes representations of death, sickness, and viral plague acceptable as narrative devices. In reality, this kind of depiction allows readers to see both sides of science: the side that delivers great advances for humanity, and the side that causes death and destruction. Oryx and Crake offers both perspectives. The genetics that the characters investigate initially provide humanity with extraordinary visions of future possibility. It is only when those experiments go wrong that readers are confronted with the dangers that can result when science spirals out of control. The novel gives people the opportunity to see how powerful science can be when used responsibly, and how devastating it becomes when it is not.