Designing Species in SFF

The Positron Chicago blog has an interesting report on a panel at Windycon entitled Designing Species in SF & F, and featuring writers Rachel Neumeier, Richard Garfinkle, and Katherine Wynter, as well as biologist Susan Weiner and astrogeologist/paleobiologist Jonathan Sneed.

Among the many interesting points raised:

1. Many imaginary non-humans appear to be psychologically human. What is needed are species that are psychologically non-human.
2. The psychology of a species need not be strictly tied to "naturalism"; they can have minds not bound to evolutionary psychology.
3. Many institutions of the society that may come to define a species can be thought of as solutions to coordination problems (these are my words, interpreting the posts emphasis on solving the prisoners dilemma).
4. As far as terrestrial species that might serve as a basis for intelligent alien life, the panelists cited:
1. Parrots & corvids like crows and ravens.
2. Cetaceans like whales and dolphins
3. Elephants
4. Cephalopods, like an octopus or squid (with the caveat that they are not social or linguistic and don't live long enough).
5. Non fiction recommended reading: Bostrom's "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies" (2014).
6. The post gives many examples of alien/fantasy species that have been done well in SFF. A selection of them is:
1. Kate Elliott's "Spirit Walker" trilogy.
2. Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Unicorn"
3. Martha Wells' Raksura books ("The Cloud Roads" etc.).
4. CJ Cherryh. The "Chanur" & "Foreigner" books in particular. Also "Cuckoo's Egg".
5. Brin's "Uplift" series.
6. James L. Cambias's "A Darkling Sea".
7. Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life".

I recommend you go read the original post.