History Main / CreatingLifeIsAwesome

* The title wizard of Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''The Dark Lord of Derkholm'' creates new life forms all the time, including griffins and winged humans. Some of them contain his own DNA and are treated as family members. Although this creates some unusual parent-child tensions, his creative work is treated as a positive thing on the whole.

* The title wizard of DianaWynneJones's ''The Dark Lord of Derkholm'' creates new life forms all the time, including griffins and winged humans. Some of them contain his own DNA and are treated as family members. Although this creates some unusual parent-child tensions, his creative work is treated as a positive thing on the whole.

* In ''StarTrekTNG'', Data is an artificial person. He's a good guy, and his creator is cast as a benevolent father figure. Unfortunately, his elder brother Lore was decidedly ''not'' a good guy.
** Sapient holograms in the StarTrek universe fall on either side of AIIsACrapshoot.

** There's no debate amongst biologists. Biologists do not define viruses as alive, nor are they the simplest parasitic crystals which are able to replicate inside hosts organisms. That honor belongs to prions, which are normal proteins which have changed shape and stabilized in a very wicked configuration, then go on to stabilize more copies of that protein in the same configuration. Prions would ''also'' fit that definition of alive - and they are nothing more than large molecules with no genome, no metabolism, and no "purpose" except killing their host. Whatever a person's gifts in their field (physics, in this case), it does not make them an authority in another field to attempt an ArgumentFromAuthority by appending their name to an out of context statement, especially in other fields (biology, cognitive science, computer science, and philosophy).

* In ''CardcaptorSakura'', Clow Reed created Kero, Yue, Spinel Sun, and Ruby Moon. We neither get nasty results from them or HumansAreBastards type reactions to them.
* In ''MahouSenseiNegima'', the mage known as "the Lifemaker" got his title for a reason: [[spoiler:the Magical World, with its own entire ecosystem and intelligent ensouled beings numbering nearly a billion, was created by him.]] His creating life is never portrayed as a bad thing... it's the fact that he now wants to end said life that makes him the villain.

In many works, CreatingLifeIsBad. An ultimate show of [[ScaleOfScientificSins scientific]] [[{{Pride}} hubris.]] Western literature has it's roots in a religious tradition in which the act of creation is the turf of God Almighty, along with eating apples and building really high towers. Thus, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein did not only become very influential but it also constantly got interpreted through the lens of this condemning mindset.

* In ''CardcaptorSakura,'' Kero, Yue, and the later Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon were created by Clow Reed. We neither get nasty results from them or HumansAreBastards type reactions to them.

* In ''Film/{{Tron}}'', we have this guy named Alan. He's a rather meek guy, but he also created the title character Tron who is this awesome [[ThePaladin holy warrior]]. And they are really fond of each other too, although Tron's perception of Alan as moving in mysterious ways and everything seem a bit strange to those who know Alan from a very different perspective.
** We also see other Programs created by Encom personnel, like the formidible TurbulentPriest Dumont (created by Encom founder Walter Gibbs). Gibbs, in fact, provides the closest we get to an explanation by shouting at Dillinger that "our spirit remains in every Program we design for this system!"
* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', Tron himself has fallen to tragedy. But that is ''not'' Alan's fault, creating him was still the coolest thing ever. [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Kevin Flynn]] is a benevolent creator of programs that are alive... and who also transform into biological humans when/if they beam over to the human world. While some programs can be considered bad people, the act of creation done by a human is treated as cool and worthwhile in itself. [[spoiler: Clu was the one who turned bad and corrupted others, but the mistake Kevin did was portrayed as being not creating Clu in the first place but rather charging him with [[TotalitarianUtilitarian a well-meaning but inherently flawed agenda]].]]

* In DianaWynneJones's ''The Dark Lord of Derkholm'', the title wizard creates new life forms all the time, including griffins and winged humans. Some of them contain his own DNA and are treated as family members. Although this creates some unusual parent-child tensions, his creative work is treated as a positive thing on the whole.

* In ''StarTrekTNG'', Data is an artificial person. He's a good guy, and his creator is typecasted as a benevolent father figure.
** However, he also created another android, and ''that'' failed experiment goes into CreatingLifeIsBad territory.
*** Data's creator also made Lore who became a psychopathic mass murderer putting him in the CreatingLifeisBad territory.
** Also, the sapient holograms in several series. Whether AIIsACrapshoot results or not varies.

* In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'', both the Traditions and the Technocratic Union create intelligent lifeforms in a benevolent manner. These creations can even become playable characters without any drawbacks caused by their artificial origin.
* In ''{{GURPS}}'' "neogenesis" is a the ultimate biogenesis technology and classified as [[TechnologyLevels TL11]] development, the creation of a truly viable species doesn't occur until [=TL12=].

* ''{{Transformers}}'' in the original series and Marvel comic often do what humans would consider unforgivable acts of playing god. Many robots were created in moments of "We need someone to do X; let's build 'em!" Their society just sees this sorta thing differently from humans. The things that go wrong when humans do it seldom show up - the result is usually perfectly sane, ''and'' treated as an equal from day one. FridgeLogic dictates the necessity of this trope, since how else could robots reproduce? The comic even has an instance of five Autobots who allowed full copies of their data to be made, to be placed in new bodies if Optimus needed extra backup on Earth. No sign of CloningBlues, though unfortunately we don't get to meet the versions of them who are still on Cybertron.

* This is the entire goal of the field of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_biology synthetic biology]]. Specifically, the "ultimate goals of being able to design and build engineered biological systems that process information, manipulate chemicals, fabricate materials and structures, produce energy, provide food, and maintain and enhance human health and our environment". Not exactly Frankenstein.

* Should one consider that a virus is a life-form (and that's a big debate right there) [[hottip:*: A virus is the simplest form of "life" and it doesn't really fit in with a bunch of the traits shown in other life forms, but this is an arguable point because after all it is the most basic form of life.]], then technically self-propagating computer viruses are artificial life-forms as well. They don't inhabit the same plane of existence as we do, but StephenHawking and a few others seem to consider them alive. Which goes on to prove that the first lifeform ever created by man was made for destruction.

* Pretty much the ultimate goal of AI research, although this might have [[BattlestarGalactica some]] [[{{Terminator}} undesired]] [[CrushKillDestroy consequences]].

* Ladies and gentlemen, it's now [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10132762.stm reality!]]
** It is a wonderful breakthrough, but it's not really creating life, since they used bacteria as raw materials, just turning one form of life into another.
*** Well, but the species that it was turned into did not exist in the universe before the transformation. It was created at that moment, so to speak. Furthermore, if creating Frankenstein's monster, who was made from bits of dead humans, counts as creating life, then [[DoubleStandard why wouldn't creating a new kind of bacteria using another bacteria without its genome and an artificial genome assembled in a yeast cell count as creating life?]]
** The genome is just a copy of an existing genome, so this new bacterium is not exactly a new lifeform. The breakthrough is that they synthesized the complete genome from the sequenced genome of that bacterium rather than duplicating the existing DNA directly. It's the important step of making it possible to turn designed genomes (just replace the copy with your own design) into actual DNA. Previously only relatively short sequences could be synthesized and used to splice into existing genomes.
*** They transplanted a genome into an organism where it doesn't naturally occurs. The resulting organism isn't like anything else found in nature. If reshuffling of existing creatures count in the above examples, so does it here, too.

** Considering how GenreSavvy people, especially AI researchers are of this trope, it's pretty improbable

** Computer viruses are similar to real life viruses in that they cannot exist without infecting and exist solely to propagate themselves.
** Biological viruses don't possess an own metabolism, so they are definitely not alive. Same goes for computer viruses since they don't even have minimal decision-making capabilities.

* In [[Disney/{{Pinocchio}} the Disney version of Pinocchio]], the titular character is created by the joint efforts of Gepetto (who built his body) and The Blue Fairy (who gave him life). It is all treated as a good thing.

** Also, the sentient holograms in several series. Whether AIIsACrapshoot results or not varies.

* In DianaWynneJones's ''The Dark Lord of Derkholm'', the titular wizard creates new life forms all the time, including griffins and winged humans. Some of them contain his own DNA and are treated as family members. Although this creates some unusual parent-child tensions, his creative work is treated as a positive thing on the whole.

* In ''Film/{{Tron}}'', we have this guy named Alan. He's a rather meek guy, but he also created the titular character Tron who is this awesome [[ThePaladin holy warrior]]. And they are really fond of each other too, although Tron's perception of Alan as moving in mysterious ways and everything seem a bit strange to those who know Alan from a very different perspective.

* In ''{{Tron}}'', we have this guy named Alan. He's a rather meek guy, but he also created the titular character Tron who is this awesome [[ThePaladin holy warrior]]. And they are really fond of each other too, although Tron's perception of Alan as moving in mysterious ways and everything seem a bit strange to those who know Alan from a very different perspective.
* In ''TronLegacy'', Tron himself has fallen to tragedy. But that is ''not'' Alan's fault, creating him was still the coolest thing ever. [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Kevin Flynn]] is a benevolent creator of programs that are alive... and who also transform into biological humans when/if they beam over to the human world. While some programs can be considered bad people, the act of creation done by a human is treated as cool and worthwhile in itself. [[spoiler: Clu was the one who turned bad and corrupted others, but the mistake Kevin did was portrayed as being not creating Clu in the first place but rather charging him with [[TotalitarianUtilitarian a well-meaning but inherently flawed agenda]].]]

* Snark aside, it might add perspective to remember that ordinary people of all types are [[CreatingLife creating life]] every day. [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean The "horizontal mambo" has (often desired) consequences.]] And the issues above of {{pride}} and [[AGodAmI playing god]] are not absent in this example, only less [[ScienceIsBad dramatized]].

* ''{{Transformers}}'' in the original series and Marvel comic often do what humans would consider unforgivable acts of playing god. Many robots were created in moments of "We need someone to do X; let's build 'em!" Their society just sees this sorta thing differently from humans. The things that go wrong when humans do it seldom show up - the result is usually perfectly sane, ''and'' treated as an equal from day one. The comic even has an instance of five Autobots who allowed full copies of their data to be made, to be placed in new bodies if Optimus needed extra backup on Earth. No sign of CloningBlues, though unfortunately we don't get to meet the versions of them who are still on Cybertron.

* ''{{Transformers}}'' in the original series and Marvel comic often do what humans would consider unforgivable acts of playing god. Many robots were created in acts of "We need someone to do X; let's build 'em!" Their society just sees this sorta thing differently from humans. The things that go wrong when humans do it seldom show up - the result is usually perfectly sane, ''and'' treated as an equal from day one. The comic even has an instance of five Autobots who allowed full copies of their data to be made, to be placed in new bodies if Optimus needed extra backup on Earth.