Creativity

Way With Worlds: Race – Adaptable Is It

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Evolve Out

(Way With Worlds is a weekly column on the art of worldbuilding published at Seventh Sanctum, Muse Hack, and Ongoing Worlds)

Sentient races (which I’m adapting in the “species” sense) are almost certainly going to be very adaptable. They are going to learn, change, grow, alter, and evolve – even as individuals. The child of today is nothing like the adult of tomorrow, just as the engineer of today is not the engineer of 200 years ago.

Adaption is, in many ways, the very definition of intelligence: taking in, processing, and using information. The ability to be aware, to think, is what sentience is. Without it, one’s really a machine, even if a biological one.

So if you’re writing sentient races (or species, ugh, I keep hating to differentiate-yet-not here), they’reprobably  going to be adaptable.

When writing your sentient race you’re going to want to make sure they’re adaptable (unless of course they are like machines, which in that case you’ve got another set of issues). Even if they play a role for the gods themselves, the gods probably need a certain level of learning in their creation, if only so they don’t need to constantly keep them from wandering off a cliff.

Really, if you’re a god, do you want most of your divine life to be like a bad version of “The Sims?”

So let’s take a look at the one really adaptable sentient species we know – us humans. We’re a good example for world builders, and the only example we have right now.

The Human Touch

Human adaptability has made it so we, as a species, can change so much, sometimes it’s like we can become different species.

We exist in every environment there is, from grasslands to the cold of space.

We can be hunters and lawyers, doctors and sculptors, martial artists and writers.

We can change who we are. The writer of today bay be a cook in a few years or a programmer after a decade.

And yet we’re all human.

Though I’m aware we humans only have one sentient race (us) as an example, I’d say we make a pretty good argument that sentient races are going to be adaptable. We’ve survived quite a bit, adapting and changing, to the point where the biggest threat to us is . . . well, us.

It’s sort of a triumph.

As we’ve evolved, we’ve developed the ability to evolve. We make institutions and training and education and more.  Our adaptability in turn has allowed us to create tools of adaption.

So I’d say that when designing races, keep adaptability in mind. Every sentient race is going to have some adaptability in order to even e sentient. The ability to be aware and adapt is, I repeat, part of sentience.

I’d also note that it probably just seems more believable. We humans only have us as an example, so we’re going to assume for now that a sentient species will be a bit like us – adaptability included.

Thinking Adaptable

So think what adaption is going to mean for your species – both in general and in specific.

In general this “sentient adaptability means:”

  • The ability to be aware of environment and self, and their interaction.
  • To process that information in order to make decisions.
  • The ability to implement new behaviors.
  • The ability to retain information for reference.
  • The ability to pass on and communicate to others – and to learn from others.
  • The ability to implement technical systems to reach goals and adapt better.
  • The ability to modify the systems above.

Pretty simple, right? But there’s more. Because though I expect races to be adaptable, they’re going to adapt in their own way. The setting they were born from, the way they changed, affects just how they adapt.

We humans are visual and auditory creatures. But how would we adapt and learn if we, say, we’re consciously aware of the electromagnetic spectrum? If we had a better sense of smell? If we could relay information telepathically?

There may also be racial traits that affect what they have to adapt to. A race with a super-powerful immune system wont develop medicine the same way. A race naturally inclined to violence may have trouble with negotiations to prevent a war.

Your races will adapt – but they will adapt in their own unique way. It may even be ways that seem incredibly strange and weird (which could also be really interesting to create).

So don’t just assume your sentient races adapt, ask how they adapt. There may be advantages and there may be limits.

But that’s part of the fun.

Keep Adaption In Mind

When designing sentient races, remember that they’ll almost certainly be adaptable. Maybe not as we humans are, but they’ll be adaptable nonetheless. That’s what sentience is.

I think there’s also a peculiar human-centrism to this. We humans (who are your readers and players) relate to sentients – and thus adaptable – races. If your races aren’t adaptable, and if it’s not clear why, something will seem “wrong” to people. It’s what your readers need and expect.

Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Leonard Nimoy, Pop Culture

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Leonard Nimoy passed away February 27th, 2015.

You could watch the world react on the internet, in posts, on Twitter, on Facebook. You could feel the pain, the loss, the appreciation, the respect. The impact of his life was on display in the impact of his passing on people.

I spent hours almost crying, starting and stopping.

Nimoy was a fascinating person. Actor, director, photographer, poet, artist, and all around decent person. He’s remembered, of course, for his portrayal of Spock, the man who made the human alien and the alien human, but he was a man of great depths.

“The internet’s grandfather” as I heard i put several times.

But in the end, Spock.

Spock the geek icon before we had a word for it. The unexpected sex symbol of Star Trek, to judge by man tweets I’ve seen and conversations I had. Spock the half-alien, bridge between worlds, part of neither, yet an observer with clever insights.

He’s a reminder. Pop culture is important. It matters. He mattered.

Pop Culture Maters

Pop culture matters. Star Trek didn’t just break ethnic and racial boundaries, even if carefully or half-heartedly at times, it also presented different heroes. Sure there was Kirk, the smart but cocky guy. There was Bones, the emotional and dedicated doctor. Scotty had a passion for machines that bordered on romantic.

Spock gave us the idea of intellectual hero; second in command (and in a few cases it seemed the power behind the chair), scientist, philosopher, and warrior when needed. The nuance of his halfbreed character was powerful and deep.

You could see the internet mourn, and read stories of people inspired by this character.

And all this came from a show that lasted three seasons that many would have written off. A show that had ambition, but probably seemed silly to many when it began.

Nimoy mattered. Because Spock mattered. Because pop culture can touch us like anything else and make us better people.

The Galaxy Quest Phenomena

The movie Galaxy Quest embodied this importance better than anything else. If you haven’t seen it, essentially the cast of a Trek-like show discovers they inspired an entire alien civilization. At first it seems ridiculous, but then at time you realize how much this inspiration matters to people in the real world.

Found a whole civilization on Star Trek? How many of our dreams of space travel and a better world come from Trek, or related and similar tales. How many ideas have to be dreamed up before they become real?

Sure I’m not going to lionize much of pop culture. It’s often shallow, disposable, pandering, or stupid. Now admittedly there’s a time for those things, but it’s not often deep, and at times is deliberately shallow.

Of course, how may classics of the past were seen as throwaways or just done to make a quick buck? Classic may be pop culture once we’ve had a time out.

Pop culture, that weird, shallow, strange, casual thing also seems to spawn greatness. Maybe it’s because there’s so much of it, or because freed of the constraints of what we think is good, we sometimes make the great. Or maybe it’s just the monkeys and typewriters things.

And because pop culture is popular, broad, wide, it’s something we can all share. It’s something we can relate to. It’s something we can use, be inspired by, and communicate with. All flaws aside, it has its use.

Tell anyone fifty years ago that the world would mourn an actor who played a half-human alien on a TV series with a questionable future in the 60’s and they probably wouldn’t believe it.

Pop culture’s power is often . . . “well, you never know.”

It matters.

Taking It Seriously The Right Way

In the end, pop culture is something I think we treat with extremes. Heated rivalries and outright personal wars over games and shows. Brushing off attempts to explore real issues. Writing off talented people as one-shots. Creating elaborate plans that remove the soul of the property.

But when I saw the reaction to Leonard Nimoy passing, the power he had, it reminded me that Pop culture, like anything else is a tool. Use it right, it’s powerful.

It is broad and accessible.

It often lacks pretension to greatness which removes pressure.

It has churn, so greatness may arise.

It lets people make money, even if crazy budgets are worrying me.

I’m all for great literature and serious in-depth works. I want more of it. But let’s remember what pop culture can do.

That way when we create it, we create it with eyes open,to maximize what is good.

That way when we consume it we approach it appropriately.

That way we can have fun and think deeply – often at the same time. Trust me, I’ve been inspired by utter crap.

Let’s remember what Trek did, what Spock meant, what Leonard achieved. Every tear is a reminder of what pop culture can do.

Even now in his passing, I’m learning something from him. And as I type this I’m holding back tears.

 
Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Way With Worlds: It Comes Apart – The Persecution Rests

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fence barbed wire

(Way With Worlds is a weekly column on the art of worldbuilding published at Seventh Sanctum, Muse Hack, and Ongoing Worlds)

Last column I covered bias and bigotry in the settings you’re developing. Not a pleasant subject, but one that’s important because believable characters have their biases and often their bigotries – just as we do.

To summarize my handy rules-to-remember on the subject:

  1. Everyone has Opinions.
  2. When opinions “solidify” they become Biases.
  3. When Biases become part of our identity they become Bigotries, sort of black holes of ideals that suck other things in.

Now when bigotries seize control of an individual, a group, a nation, or a galactic confederation, that can lead to outright campaigns against various people. Attempts to extermiate, subjugate, control, or drive out an entire identifiable group. In short, persecutions.

Which is the unpleasant subject of today’s column.

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