Becoming Transhuman III: Of Masks and Wolves

What does it mean to exist beyond the limits of our bodies?

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In my previous two posts I’ve examined depictions of magical and technological transhumanism, by Brandon Sanderson and Adrian Tchaikovsky respectively. Today I’ll close this series out with a few forms of consciousness which don’t quite fit either category, instead rising from alternative science (don’t worry, it’s very different from alternative facts).

Speculative fiction that includes alternative science is working towards the same goal as your typical science fiction or fantasy: exploring the consequences of human interaction with a novel part of the universe and its mechanics. I tend to think of this ‘part’ as a novum — defined by scholar Darko Suvin in the 70s, though he limited its use to science fiction.

Where science fiction says the novum is theoretically possible in science as we understand it and fantasy says it exists only through magic, alternative science says it is possible in a world where science works slightly differently from ours. Perhaps a silly distinction, but these stories often feel more grounded than the ones that simply handwave magical explanations.