Abstract

A Birth of new human species and the evolutionary imaginationOh, Youn-Ho (Ewha Women’s University)This study takes a close look at Frankenstein, a science fiction written in the early modern era by Mary Shelley, and Transcendence, a 21st century film directed by Wally Pfister, to identify how scientific knowledge is utilized to create new human species in the cultural context. Also, the study identifies and analyzes changes in evolutionary imaginations stemming from the development of new technologies and scientific knowledge ranging from evolutionary theory to quantum dynamics and nanotechnology. In this study, the author attempted to take a fresh approach to science fiction to reach a conclusion that cultural plots that cut across the fields of science and fiction are not always fake and fictional but can be reasonable and futuristic. Through this observation and analysis, the author tries to present a new vision for anthropology based on humanities in the 21st century. Human evolution in this context does not merely mean biological evolution. Evolution functions as imagination and knowledge that are important to understand humanity amid rapid changes in our society and technology. The concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest that underpin evolutionary theory take new perspectives and logics depending on cultural, historical and scientific contexts. Human evolution illustrated in Frankenstein and Transcendence may be the realization of human desires for immortality and tragic nature that is intrinsic in science and technology. Evolving into immortal beings has been the longest dream of mankind. Now, it has become a possibility that may come trun in the future.