Some of the posts in the thread on “ethical arguments for eating animals” put this idea in my head: what if there were animals who could peform photosynthesis? (I’m aware there are bacteria, as well as some organisms which are not, by the “official” biological definition, plants, like some types of algae, that perform photosynthesis, but I’m talking about “higher” organisms, like what we would consider animals.) I’m not interested here in technical arguments about whether it’s feasible for such a creature to actually exist here on earth or to evolve. And I’m aware that such a creature would need a means of taking in exogenous nutrients, like minerals, as well. I was just wondering if this concept has ever been used in science fiction. Anyone know of any stories, books, or movies, that posit the existence of intelligent life forms that obtain their energy by photosynthesis?
Zhaan from Farscape.
There have been lots of them. The Kanten in Brin’s Uplift series, the Angels in Sheffield’s Nimrod Hunt, the plant creature in John Christopher’s Lotus Cave, and of course, the half-plant/half human in the 1970s TV series “Quark,” just to name a few. There have also been stories in which humans become photosynthetic.
Knights of Sidonia features humans who have become photosynthetic as a result of genetic engineering.
Don’t forget the Czill from the Well World.
The Symbs in John Varley’s “Eight Worlds” stories.
Ficus Pandorata from the TV show Quark is a sentient plant.
Lyekka in Lexx was a plant based life form. However, after all these years, I cannot recall whether actual photosynthesis was mentioned as a plot point.
TCMF-2L
Specimens of future humans ‘Green Men’, from Desolation Road by Ian McDonals have been gene modded for photosynthesis.
Plus the modified replacement bodies used in Old Man’s War by John Scalzi are green skinned and use photosynthesis.
TCMF-2L
How can we have got this far and not mentioned the Triffids from Day of the Triffids?
TCMF-2L
Do the triffids count as intelligent? As a group they exhibit a sort of very limited intelligence, but individually they are just plants.
Triffids aren’t notably intelligent. But they can detect and target humans with their stingers plus they make that strange noise which attracts other Triffids so that suggests communication skills.
I vote ‘intelligent plant’ sums them up. Of course, with non-human, non animal life forms ‘intelligence’ doesn’t have to conform to human standards.
TCMF-2L
anybody else read Top Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner when they were kids?
Larry Niven’s Known Space series has the Outsiders who get their energy from sunlight. They use thermoelectricity instead of photosynthesis, though.
The kids’ book “Top Secret” is about a child who, for his science project, develops a formula that makes him photosynthetic.
The webcomic Schlock Mercenary includes some characters who are humans who were genetically modified to photosynthesize. They have light purple skin and purple hair.
Many science fiction stories feature planet-wide Gaea organisms, all of which could be considered photosynthetic.
Do the pequeninos from Speaker for the Dead count?
Perdido Street Station has cactus-people.
i think Diane Duane has a sort of intelligent tree-people in some of her stories.
There are plant-people on intelligent trolleys in A Fire Upon The Deep. Can’t remember their name.