CREATURE DISCOMFORTS: THE AMBIGUOUS OVERLAP BETWEEN FOSSILS AND FICTION

On the first day of Patricia Kelley’s Prehistoric Life course, she would present the class with a series of creature images. Each image might be paleoart, based on fossils, or an image of a fictional creature. For each creature, the students had a question to decide: Is this real? We will discuss a potential value of this exercise, argue that this is a prominent and recurring question in the history of biology and human experience, and speculate on the future of this question for the general public. Students have likely informally asked themselves “Is This Real?” previously in their everyday lives, but without a reliable toolset to interrogate conflicting or ambiguous information. The potential value of an exercise like this is threefold: 1) it gives students the opportunity to observe their own ability to distinguish images of fictitious and paleoart creatures; 2) it gives students practice identifying the known and the unknown in paleoart images: evidence, hypothesis, and artistic license in representational models of extinct life; and 3) it draws attention to the realistic aspects of familiar fictional creatures, which are often inspired by biological observation. They can learn to recognize the evidence-based components of paleoart and also get the benefit of complete organisms in their natural habitats which can feel more real than fossils alone. Whole creatures lend themselves to being characters in scientific narratives. Because many fictional creatures are more familiar to students than many real organisms and contain realistic components, they can be useful for teaching unfamiliar scientific concepts. In the future, we expect people will face novel versions of the “Is This Real?” question with the increasing prevalence of AI-generated art fueling the production of increasingly realistic fake images. Meanwhile, paleobiologists will continue to find new fossilized creatures and develop new hypotheses about extinct animals. Playing “Is This Real?” in the classroom will remain an effective way to stimulate thought as new technologies and discoveries challenge our intuitions. The game reminds us of the qualities we admire in Patricia Kelley as a consummate teacher: a knowledge of pop-culture, an enthusiastic use of play, and a reciprocal engagement with students.