Imagination has always preceded science. Artificial Intelligence. Biometric identification. Space travel. Designer babies. Cloning. All these technological feats existed only in some writer’s mind, an outlandish fantasy, until science caught up. It could be argued that nowhere does life imitate art more than in the realm of science fiction.
Often, science fiction is wish fulfillment. Science is the genie in the bottle, and once that genie gets loose, watch out! Take Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for example. Dr. Frankenstein wants to conquer death, perhaps the most fundamental human wish, but his hubris eventually leads to tragedy, including his own destruction.
Humanity has, as of this writing, not succeeded in conquering death, but that’s not for lack of trying. Cryonics and digital consciousness are just two examples of our refusal to go gentle into that good night.
We wish the same for our pets. It is the sad destiny of every pet lover that we eventually have to say goodbye to our best friend. And that is exactly what the main character in my novel Golden Boy refuses to do. Emma Branch is a teen science prodigy who, in trying to save her golden retriever’s life by enhancing his genetic code, accidently transforms him into a human boy. (Hijinks ensue when he becomes the hero of the failing high school football team.) I think of it as a comedic take on Frankenstein where the “monster,” i.e. Emma’s golden-turned-human, goes on a rampage of unconditional love.
There is an actual, legitimate scientific basis for this premise. First, dogs and humans share 90% of their DNA, and second, dogs only express about half. So what would happen if you activated those other genes? We know that the aging genes in both species are similar, so what if Emma figured out how to “turn on” the dormant human aging genes in her dog but goes just a little too far and turns on enough shared genes to make him homo sapiens?
