History Main / CreatingLifeIsBad

** Consent based: The argument that only the person in question has the right to determine whether or not they should exist, not their parents, and creating them without consent (which by definition is impossible without a time machine) is immorally playing God with that person's life.

* Played with in ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/79743/1/love-in-all-its-forms/antumbra Love, in All Its Forms]].'' Luna, tired of her subjects shunning her and her beautiful night, experiments with magic to create a sentient pony-like creature that will love her, much to the horror of her sister Celestia, who thinks to herself that it isn't natural and nothing good can come of it. The creature turns out to be the first changeling, a little foal that Luna names Antumbra. Although Antumbra is a sweet little thing, she must feed on her mother's love to survive, leaving her drained and exhausted. It is not her fault that she must do so, as she was born that way, but Celestia banishes her from the palace in order to keep her from draining Luna completely dry and eventually killing her.

* Played with in ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/79743/1/love-in-all-its-forms/antumbra Love, in All Its Forms]].'' Luna, tired of her subjects shunning her and her beautiful night, experiments with magic to create a sentient pony-like creature that will love her, much to the horror of her sister Celestia, who thinks to herself that it isn't natural and nothing good can come of it. The creature turns out to be the first changeling, a little foal that Luna names Antumbra. Although Antumbra is a sweet little thing, she must feed on her mother's love to survive, leaving her drained and exhausted.

* Type Blue Mu from ''Manga/TowardTheTerra'' manga have ability to create living organisms from organic matter via [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]]. Tony uses this power to show Artella they still can have children, even if doctors have said otherwise.
* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Dr. Gero/[[spoiler:Android 20]] creates several androids and the biological chimera Cell, the latter of whom, [[spoiler:after reaching his perfect form, threatens to destroy the universe and ultimately kills Goku]].

** Consent based: The argument that only the person in question has the right to determine whether or not they should exist, not their parents, so creating them without consent (which by definition is impossible without a time machine) is immorally playing God with that person's life.

Often however you'll see the Luddite throw accusations of "Hubris" and "Playing God" for something as minor as inventing a new species of bacteria to break down inorganic trash heaps, which realistically would be just another GMO. Besides, by these standards, humans have already been "playing God" since the domestication and selective breeding of the wolf over fourteen thousand years ago.

* Within the first few minutes of the first episode of the first season of ''Series/TrueDetective'', Rustin Cohle is pushed into discussion by his partner Marty. When pushed by the latter to talk about himself, Cohle caves in and says the following:

Often however you'll see the Luddite throw accusations of "Hubris" and "Playing God" for something as minor as inventing a new species of bacteria to break down inorganic trash heaps, which realistically would be just another GMO. Besides, by these standards, humans have already been "playing God" since the domestication of the wolf over fourteen thousand years ago.

Often however you'll see the Luddite throw accusations of "Playing God" for something as minor as inventing a new species of bacteria to break down inorganic trash heaps, which realistically would be just another GMO. Besides, by these standards, humans have already been "playing God" since the domestication of the wolf over fourteen thousand years ago.

Often however you'll see the Luddite throw accusations of "Playing God" for something as minor as inventing a new species of bacteria to break down inorganic trash heaps, which today we'd recognize as just another GMO. Besides, by these standards, humans have already been "playing God" since the domestication of the wolf over fourteen thousand years ago.

* ''Fanfic/TantabusMarkII'': Luna [[CreatingLifeIsUnforseen accidentally]] creates a sentient magical construct; after some initial paranoia, she accepts it as her child and moves on. The biggest problem is that her sister is annoyed she wasn't told about this until the Tantabus [[DreamWalker just showed up in her dreams one night]]. However, when Starswirl the Bearded returns from a thousand-year exile, he ''freaks'', because in his time creating life was seen as a great sin. Thankfully he does calm down after having a chance to talk to both Luna and the Tantabus.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' had a being known as "The Lifemaker" and "The Mage of the Beginning", who was the BigBad before [[spoiler:Negi's father Nagi [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu kicked his butt]]]]. However, he wasn't a villain because of his implied creation of [[spoiler:the entire magic world]], but because he seemed to behave as though he was free to do with his creations as he pleased. [[spoiler:Though he ''was'' still trying to help them.]]

* Within the first few minutes of the first episode of the first season of ''Series/{{True Detective}}'', Rustin Cohle is pushed into discussion by his partner Marty. When pushed by the latter to talk about himself, Cohle caves in and says the following:

* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' Toward the end of the game, Dr. Suvi Anwar speculates this was the motivation of [[spoiler:the unknown beings who set off the Scourge, trying to kill the Jardaan for creating the Angara]], noting how many people back in the Milky Way were against creating life, whether organic or synthetic.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''

** Consent based: The argument that only the person in question has the right to determine whether or not they should exist, not their parents, and that creating them without consent (which by definition is impossible without a time machine) is thus playing God with that person's life.

[[caption-width-right:350:''IT'S ALIVE!'']]

* In ''Webcomic/TheCartoonChroniclesOfConroyCat'' it happens in the very first strip.

* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has many artificial beings as characters -- most of whom are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman perfectly nice]] -- but most of them were [[CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen made accidentally.]] The only two who were made ''deliberately,'' Galatea and Gosh, are by far the most dangerous and emotionally unstable of the bunch.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Subverted in ''The Dr. Steel Show'', Episode 2. Music/DoctorSteel begins to excitedly scream "It's working!" as his doll-robot experiment begins to walk around - only to have it stop when he runs out of quarters.
[[/folder]]

** Funnily enough, Goliad also may serve as something of a clone to Bubblegum as her DNA was derived from a baby tooth from the Princess. Stormo on the other hand was made from a lock of Finn's hair and it appeared he managed to inherited Finn's heroic nature as he locked himself in eternal psychic combat with Goliad to keep her from harming anyone.
** Aside from those mistakes, Bubblegum actually has a pretty good track record. Her creations populate the Candy Kingdom, which, [[CloudCuckooLand while not exactly normal]], is pretty nice overall. On the other hand, [[spoiler: leaving her candy life formula where Lemongrab could find it [[{{Squick}} was not a wise move]] ]].
** In the eyes of the Lemongrabs, this trope is averted, as they think that CreatingLifeIsAwesome. When Princess Bubblegum actually starts being nice to them, they begin referring to her as "Mother Princess" and "Mommy," and actually ''enjoy'' the fact that she made them and gave them life. The earls also see themselves as being dads to the strange-looking lemon creatures they create, and are overjoyed to finally have "more family." The Lemon Children appear to be hideous abominations, but the Lemongrabs think of them as their adorable toddler-aged children.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "HOMR", the scientists say they can't play God with Homer's intelligence.

* The game ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'', loosely based on ''Frankenstein''. Each of the major lineages of Prometheans was created because somebody started channeling the Divine Fire and decided to create life, either for purposes of companionship, servitude, just rule, an idea of what was happening on "the other side," or [[ForScience just plain because]]. Every Promethean is essentially a walking CameBackWrong on many levels. Humans instinctively hate them, they rot the environment, and are prone to cause destruction. They have to earn a [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soul]] and become fully human to end the karmic pain from merely ''existing''. Incidentally, part of the process of becoming human requires creating another Promethean.

* A MadScientist in ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' demonstrates [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1841/ the right approach to the life]].

** Every alchemist who tries human transmutation, creating life, or resurrecting the dead suffers this in the 2003 anime [[spoiler:as it is these attempts that create homonculi in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]]. Greed implies that Team Evil has had several of them through the ages, with himself and Envy being the oldest at the moment.]]

* It's toyed with in the backstory of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''. On Kiva two scientists delving into the creation of life accidentally unleashed a WorldWreckingWave that [[ApocalypseHow killed everything on the planet but them]]. The heroic one considers it MyGreatestFailure and a GoneHorriblyWrong - but the villainous one had been aware that this would happen and convinced the heroic one it would be fine [[ForTheEvulz just because he wanted to see it]]. Whether the creation itself is good or evil is never said.
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. Aulë, the patron archangel of smithing, craftsmanship, etc., gets impatient for Men and Elves to show up and decides to make some people of his own, the Dwarves. Unfortunately, he lacks the power and authority to do so, and the Dwarves are empty shells without free will. At first it looks like Ilúvatar (God, more or less) will condemn him for this, but ultimately he stops Aulë from destroying his creations and breathes true life into them instead. Opinions vary on the moral of this, but it seems to be that you must take responsibility for what you create and not destroy it just because it turns out differently than you expect, and/or that what you create ultimately belongs to God, not to you as its creator. His plans appear to have had a great deal of flexibility in any case; this isn't the only time he changed creation to [[ThrowItIn accomodate the creative input]] of the Valar by a long shot.

* Gnosticism. The god who created life is not the ''real'' god and botched up the job royally. (A simplified synopsis.)

* Gnosticism. The god who created life is not the ''real'' real god and botched up the job royally. (A simplified synopsis.)

* There is an ethics-based philosophy called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinatalism antinatalism]] that pretty much has the same reasoning as outlined in the trope description above. This can come in the form of several arguments:

** Suffering based: The argument that creating life is unethical because people inevitable risk pain simply by coming to exist, essentially calling into question [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism whether life's joys outweigh its sorrows]].

** Suffering based: The argument that creating life is unethical because people inevitable risk pain simply by coming to exist, essentially calling into question whether life's joys outweigh its sorrows.
** Environmental based: The argument that the best way to minimise humanity's impact on nature is to minimise the number of humans being born.
** Overpopulation based: The argument that people need to at least limit their reproduction to avoid an OverpopulationCrisis.

** Every alchemist who tries human transmutation, creating life, as a way of resurrecting the dead suffer this in the 2003 anime [[spoiler:as it is these attempts that create homonculi in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]]. Greed implies that Team Evil has had several of them up through the ages, with himself and Envy being the oldest at the moment.]]

* Some arguments against genetically modified organisms consider breeding [=GMOs=] to be creating life and that being a bad thing. Whether if its this trope or not depends on your view about [=GMOs=], and if modifying existing species truly counts as creating new life in the context of this trope.

* Subverted in ''Literature/DarkLordOfDerkholm''. The protagonist Derk is a wizard who specializes in creating creatures like [[CueTheFlyingPigs winged pigs]] and horses, intelligent, talking pigeons, and enormous partially-human griffins. To all the other wizards, Derk is considered a freak and somewhat disturbed, and most of them either don't "get" his projects or think they're weird. However, he takes great pride in them, and considers his five intelligent, talking griffins to be every bit his children as much as his biological son and daughter. Derk is shown to be sympathetic AND generally in the right.
* FrankensteinsMonster, probably the TropeCodifier of this in modern thought, despite the fact that the loaded term "monster" was applied to it retroactively (he is only referred as the "Creature" in the original novel), and that the book never actually portrays the act of ''creating life'' as evil -- instead, it is the act of Frankenstein ''abandoning'' his own creation that drives it to evil actions. Shelley had never argued against creating life, only against humanity refusing to take responsibility for what they create. Nonetheless, genetic engineering controversies are very likely to invoke the FrankensteinsMonster archetype in arguments (an example is how genetically-modified foods are referred to as "frankenfoods"). In-universe, he was not beautiful, though he was meant to be so:

* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' saga, in the second set of novels ("Legends," I think), Raistlin tries to create life in his tower lab. It's not a very big point in the book, and he's not very successful, but there are pitiful, slithery things in the tower that he created. This is probably done to illustrate his evilness and his ambition--the major plot of the trilogy is that he's trying to become a god, after all.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', what Professor Maxon is up to. In the opening, he is disposing of one that died, and goes on a long ocean voyage to repair his nerves. Alas, it works, and he decides to try again, and even marry off his daughter to one.
-->''He believed that he had reached an unalterable decision never again to meddle with the mighty, awe inspiring secrets of creation; but with returning health and balance he found himself viewing his recent triumph with feelings of renewed hope and anticipation. ''

* The ur-viles, artificial life-forms created by the Demondim in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'', believe this- they consider their own existence to be an abomination against the natural order, and serve [[BigBad Lord Foul]] out of a combination of DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife and DeathSeeker (since their bargain with Foul is that if they serve him well enough, he'll destroy them). [[spoiler: However, in the Second and Third Chronicles, the ur-viles reevaluate their life choices and decide that there are better ways to deal with their situation, and pull a collective HeelFaceTurn]].

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' contains many examples of creating artifical life and they mostly end poorly. [[note]] All of them, but two. In ''Kamen Rider Ghost: Specter Re:Birth'' V-Cinema movie, there is no problem with the life itself, just with the creator. [[MonsterOfTheWeek Bugster]] in ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' are an example of CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen.[[/note]]

* In an inessential moment in the otherwise tightly-plotted ''Series/DoctorWho'''s "The Brain of Morbius", Solon rants that he was declared mad due to his belief that he could create life!... but he never actually creates life in the story, just a patchwork body that requires Morbius's will to bring to life. Since there's no evidence he can do this, it's entirely possible that his belief he could create life ''is'' actually just delusion. The ExpandedUniverse book "Warmonger" does feature as its monsters a race of artificial spider abominations created by Solon.