I loved Planet of the Apes. I loved Charlton Heston who played the lead role of the poor hapless human astronaut who finds himself ship wrecked on what he at first believes to be an alien planet, where Apes rule over the humans. In the end he tragically discovers, he is back home on his own planet earth, which has suffered an atomic destruction, leaving apes to take over, and subjugate the remaining humans who were unfortunate enough to survive the atomic decimation.
The unfortunate human survivors have no idea that their ancestors were once the ruling species of the planet, wherein their ape rulers had been mere animals. How had their world turned upside down? This was the plot of the movie, leading Charlton Heston's character to struggle to find the truth.
Fast forward to 2011, Planet of the Apes is re-visited in a new movie, where the leading character, a descendent of Charlton Heston's character, has a father suffering from Alzheimer's. He works for a pharmaceutical company, that is experimenting with drugs, that can reverse the effects of brain damage. The experiments are being performed on our old friends, the apes. These experiments result in the apes suddenly taking on extremely enhanced intelligence. However, in spite of the enhanced intelligence, the apes retain their brute instincts. All of this leads the scientist, in his desire to cure his father's Alzheimer's, to violate medical ethics. He begins to experiment on his father, with the unapproved drug, which is still in the testing state with the apes. This leads to disaster.
We are beginning to see many sci-fi movies revolving around the plot of "Transhumanism", in which human DNA is being combined with animal DNA. These movies are no mere science fiction. These scientific experiments with splicing of human and animal DNA have already been accomplished in bioethics labs across the globe. Transhumanism is already here.
What is transhumanism? In brief, it benignly began with the new technologies of prosthetics and implants, (innocent enough) but then led to cognitive enhancing drugs, genetic engineering, or neuro-implants to total artificial intelligence and augmented realities. Transhumanists boast that the newly engineered humans will enjoy a projected life-span of over 120 years with these new controversial technologies. But will it truly be human life .. or a sci-fi interpretation of humanity?
My fear is that we are immersed in a culture of death. Movies are made for entertainment, however, they can also carry an agenda .. which today they do. The movie justified the young scientist's breach of medical ethics, with his benign intentions to cure his father's suffering. These movies are coming fast and furious now, exposing society to what is actually going on in laboratories. The dilemma is ... to what end will science go in the search to eliminate suffering? The idea that the end justifies the means is being more and more engrained in our society ... using the tool of the entertainment industry.
The unfortunate human survivors have no idea that their ancestors were once the ruling species of the planet, wherein their ape rulers had been mere animals. How had their world turned upside down? This was the plot of the movie, leading Charlton Heston's character to struggle to find the truth.
Fast forward to 2011, Planet of the Apes is re-visited in a new movie, where the leading character, a descendent of Charlton Heston's character, has a father suffering from Alzheimer's. He works for a pharmaceutical company, that is experimenting with drugs, that can reverse the effects of brain damage. The experiments are being performed on our old friends, the apes. These experiments result in the apes suddenly taking on extremely enhanced intelligence. However, in spite of the enhanced intelligence, the apes retain their brute instincts. All of this leads the scientist, in his desire to cure his father's Alzheimer's, to violate medical ethics. He begins to experiment on his father, with the unapproved drug, which is still in the testing state with the apes. This leads to disaster.
We are beginning to see many sci-fi movies revolving around the plot of "Transhumanism", in which human DNA is being combined with animal DNA. These movies are no mere science fiction. These scientific experiments with splicing of human and animal DNA have already been accomplished in bioethics labs across the globe. Transhumanism is already here.
What is transhumanism? In brief, it benignly began with the new technologies of prosthetics and implants, (innocent enough) but then led to cognitive enhancing drugs, genetic engineering, or neuro-implants to total artificial intelligence and augmented realities. Transhumanists boast that the newly engineered humans will enjoy a projected life-span of over 120 years with these new controversial technologies. But will it truly be human life .. or a sci-fi interpretation of humanity?
My fear is that we are immersed in a culture of death. Movies are made for entertainment, however, they can also carry an agenda .. which today they do. The movie justified the young scientist's breach of medical ethics, with his benign intentions to cure his father's suffering. These movies are coming fast and furious now, exposing society to what is actually going on in laboratories. The dilemma is ... to what end will science go in the search to eliminate suffering? The idea that the end justifies the means is being more and more engrained in our society ... using the tool of the entertainment industry.
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