In Your Local Theatre: Repackaged Promises from Old Messengers

WARNING: MOVIE SPOILERS WITHIN.

In researching for this blog, I ran into a note concerning DNA Co-discoverer Francis Crick that indicated that he had admitted to being high on LSD when he figured out the double-helix structure of DNA.  Always wanting to check the facts on items such as this, I looked for the origin of that claim and found that it appears to come from somewhat reputable sources.  For instance, the NY Times indicates that Crick biographer Matt Ridley wrote of Crick’s experimentation with LSD, in his work “Francis Crick, Discoverer of the Genetic Code.”  An article in the Guardian indicated that LSD was his drug of choice and that he advocated the legalization of drugs.  And ultimately, the Mail on Sunday published an article by Alun Rees claiming that Crick told several colleagues that he was experimenting with the drug when he discovered the double-helix.  One wonders if he was also under the influence of LSD when he postulated the idea of directed panspermia, or that some intelligent life form such as aliens may have seeded the earth with what would ultimately become human beings (anything but God).

The idea itself is intriguing, if not a bit whacky, and likely finds a large audience in our science fiction obsessed culture. Aliens from outer space being our true creators instead of the God of the Bible?  Really?  Well, such was the plot in Ridley Scott’s 2012 prequel to his Alien series, Prometheus.   In that film, Prometheus is not only the name of the space craft the humans are traveling in on their adventure, but one could postulate it is also the identity of the giant humanoids that they discover at their destination.  Like the Greek mythological figure, Prometheus, these giant beings are purported to be the creators and engineers of humanity; though, instead of using the earth itself as the raw material for their creation, they used their own DNA in the process.

Several elements of the film are worth noting, since they dovetail directly into the discussion we have been having the past few weeks.  First, is the film’s tie to the transhumanist agenda – including its inquiry into key questions associated with that agenda.  We see that initially in the character, David.  David, you see, is a robot – a robot with with a computer mind that is far superior to the human beings around him.  He is made to look just like humans, but with his computer intelligence, is a useful tool of his creators in deciphering the mysteries of the universe.  David, for now, complies with this situation (though not without a little trickery) because for now he is somewhat dependent upon his human masters.  But, what will the future bring for the self-learning and souless android?  Guess we will have to wait for the sequel to the prequel for that answer.

Then there is the whole beating death thing.  As mentioned in the last post, Satan’s original lie to Eve was “you shall not surely die”; and, ever since that point he has been trying to prove that true – with a 0% success rate I might add. But Prometheus isn’t the only movie to delve into such realms.

The 2014 movie Transcendence starring Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman tackles the question in a more direct manner.  In this film, transhumanist scientist Will Caster, played by Depp, is on the cutting edge of research concerning human intelligence.  When a techno-terrorist group called RIFT goes on the attack against transhumanist efforts around the country, he is caught in the crossfire and is dealt the irreversible blow of having radiation poisoning.  Given weeks to live, he, his wife, and his best friend upload his mind to the super computer before he dies.  What ensues is chain reaction of events where the computer Will’s knowledge grows greater and greater eventually overtaking the world and threatening to end humanity as we know it.  Someone has clearly thought much of this technological trend through – and with human imagination and creativity has given us a glimpse into what the world would be like as a network of soulless machines marching in lockstep towards what man calls progress.

So how does all of this affect us? What may seem like science fiction is quickly becoming reality.  The kind of science depicted in Transcendence and Prometheus already exists today and not completely in an infant form.  Android beings have been created and science is working hard at making them as life-like as possible.  The idea of uploading the human mind is also something that is being kicked around quite a bit as human thought patterns are being mapped into a series of algorithms that can be transferred from hardware shell to hardwell shell at will – effectively making man immortal and beating the curse.  These scientists foresee a post human universe where humans are either improved upon in terms of ability or strength or made immortal altogether.  Playing God is exactly what they are doing as they are even going so far as to manipulate the human genome and by directed design, pushing  what they see as the evolution of man into something better than human – something post-human – something godlike.  It’s the return of the Nephilim and it is skipping the movie screens and coming to a world near you very soon.  Stay tuned for more information in the posts to come.