In all three stories, Oryx and Crake, Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there seems to be a
fascination with creating beings far superior than humans. As we read the
books, it appears that the beings created were some evolutionary process. First
it is this super strong creature but who is hideous beyond imagination that
people faint at sight. Second is the weirdly handsome but with there’s
something ugly about him and evil alter-ego of a good man. Finally, we have the
Crakers. They are beautiful, benevolent and completely innocent and oblivious
from the outside world. The Crakers seem to be the final stage of this advancement.
This leads me to question, will we humans evolve some more? And I don't mean personality wise, I mean physically. Throughout our
historical development, our bodies were modified to adapt to the environment
and lifestyles. Yet, these things are constantly changing! The climate shifts,
new advancements in technology and medicine, etc… Even now we have to adapt to
our food since most of them are genetically modified and the ingredients
contain some chemicals or hormones. Of
course the Crakers seemed to be starting from scratch. They do not know what medicine or evolution is! They eat plants, roots and berries, basically what
nature can offer. But they were created with such strong immune systems so that
they don’t get any of the past illnesses and diseases. According to National
Geographic article, there are a few predictions for human evolution. One of
them states that humans will take “charge of their evolution and transcending
their biological limitations via technology….Transhumanism raises a spectacular
array of possibilities, from supersoldiers and new breeds of athletes to
immortal beings who, having had their brains scanned atom by atom, transfer
their minds to computers.” Sounds familiar? Crake’s project was immortality. Perhaps
Margaret Atwood is close to the truth. Maybe we are still evolving, but is it
for the better?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091124-origin-of-species-150-darwin-human-evolution.html
Very interesting topic here. I personally think that, if we keep up changing things around us to make it more suitable for ourselves, then we are going to be screwed in terms of evolution. Evolution is about allowing the best genes to carry on while the weaker models die off. We try to keep all of the members of our gene pool, the good and the bad. And the fact that we are changing the environment around us to suit our needs and relying more on technology for medicine than our natural immune system means that we might become large blobs with chips and wires directly planted into our bodies just to keep us alive. That's my opinion anyway. Still, really good points you bring up.
ReplyDeleteI believe that if we do adapt our environment to what we want it to be, there won't be much of a human evolution! The human evolution is natural and we should let it take its course, who knows the future generations might turn out better than us! I never made the connection between Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, ad Oryx and Crake on the fact of appearance. What a coincidence that all of these books mention looks, since it seems like such a trivial thing to be worrying about in the midst of all their problems. All in all, I do believe that we are evolving for the better, since there’s nothing to do but go forward so why freeze the human evolution and stay the way we already are? Good post!
ReplyDeleteI think that humans will continue changing mentally and physically. We have been changing throughout the years since the beginning of civilization. At the beginning of civilization, during the paleolithic period, humans were very similar to animals, not only physically, but mentally. Humans' behavior was very savage; they did not use words to talk but sounds, they lived in caves. But now we use words to communicate, our behavior is more controlled, even though there is people who is still acting as savages. Also, we now live in houses.
ReplyDeleteI also think that technology evolves with humans. At the beginning, humans were not even able to make fire, but when they found out how to make fire, they were able to produce other things. this make realize that the invention of new things, is also the tool used to create other objects. Humans discover how to make houses, now they are able to make buildings that touch the sky. People and technology will continue to evolve, but as you said: is it for the better?