The Tardigotchi combines an alife avatar (gotchi) with a real microbiological organism (tardigrade) to create a new kind of pet. Physically it has “three main components: (1) a portable sphere,” which includes a microOLED display of the avatar and a biosphere for the tardigrade, “that can be carried around by an owner; (2) a docking station,” for feeding and recharging of batteries; “and (3) software that runs on a PC.” The docking station also “[places] it within Bluetooth/USB proximity of a PC.”

The interaction between the user and the pet mirrors the virtual relationship of Tamagotchis, hence the name. Interaction involves the avatar, as a visual representation of the tardigrade, with the user interpreting the different animations to meet the tardigrade’s needs. As you can see in the video above, the user presses a button to feed the tardigrade after receiving the message from the avatar’s animation and placing it in the docking station. In addition, the Tardigotchi can receive messages, sent by the user, from Facebook or e-mail which triggers an incandescent light to turn on to warm the tardigrade’s enclosure.

Even though the Tardigotchi functions as an artwork, it serves as an interesting experiment in future pet relationships. Especially since tardigrades can survive in the vacuum of space, where “some specimens even recovered after combined exposure to space vacuum and solar radiation,” which makes for a perfect pet for interplanetary travelers. Not to mention that, their ability to survive in space brings up questions of if an organism could travel through space on a comet or how various lifeforms on our own planet might have arrived here (including our primordial ancestors).

This makes for an interesting idea for science fiction to explore, both the questions presented above and the changing relationships between human and microorganism.

A good story includes many things, such as an engaging plot, complex developed characters, well written prose, etc. I have studied many techniques of writing for years (starting with writing workshops when I attended middle school) and for some reason, almost all of the people who helped me with writing never mentioned a need for unity. Certainly, they mentioned that scenes in a story needed to make sense for the plot, but here I refer to unity as something deeper than that. I never really noticed it until I analyzed Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly. At that time, I had read it several times trying to discern why it felt so perfect. Then it hit me: every scene, every moment, linked back to the central theme of the story. It felt very tightly-knit and interconnected. Dick did not waste any time doing anything other than furthering the plot and providing insight into the characters. Absolutely nothing felt out-of-place or unnecessary. Every tiny detail seemed integral, to the point where if one removed a segment of it the entire story would cease to exist.

A lot of the books I have read in the past do not hold up well to this. A fourth of the content of those stories seemed unnecessary. Some scenes could easily have disappeared and the core of the story would remain mostly the same. Often, when reading such scenes, I lost interest in the story because it seemed as though such scenes served as filler. Sometimes a scene, usually fight scenes, only remained in the final draft because they sounded cool. Yet deep down they did not advance anything or aid the rest of the story anyway.

(On board the magical meme train) This meme involves discussing the common themes/motifs in my writing. A difficult thing, for me, to come up with answers for. If anyone examined my past writing and my current writing, they would probably assume two different people had written them. Even my current work, if you separated comedy from my more serious science fiction, you would also get the impression of two different writers. I think that I must have two different voices, as a writer, depending on the subject matter of a story. So I must split up my themes/motifs as such.

For science fiction:

• Control and powerlessness
• Competition
• Isolation or perceived isolation
• Altered states of consciousness
• The emergence of consciousness
• Other/alien perspective (in the sense of being inhumanly strange or an incomprehensible mindset to humans)
• Identity and loss of identity (not identity theft, but more like a metamorphosis of personality/self-identity)

For comedy:

• Helplessness or overwhelming odds
• Utter absurdity or randomness in situations
• Incompetence
• Inversion (turning a concept inside out)
• Unexpected outcomes

I cannot think of anything else right now.