Comments on: The Avengers Help You Understand Your Fears About Transhumanism

By: Cherise

Cherise — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:13:43 +0000

There has been speculation that Rob Ryan might move Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff to defensive end, but the coach shot that down immediately.“He is a great player,” Ryan said of Ratliff. “Our system can find a spot for any great player. He is going to do just fine over the football.”“He is an excellent player,” Ryan wearing Dallas Cowboys custom NFL jerseys added. “I cannot wait to get to work with him. I already met him. If team members are all like him, we are going to be in great shape.”“A nose tackle Ratliff is small.” Reporter said. Ryan quickly reminded the reporter of the time he spent with Jamal Williams and Kevin Williams at Oklahoma State. Both of those players were much lighter in college, and they flourished under his watch.

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:46:43 +0000

Michael,

I think on this one you need to treat it like a mosaic. If you try to analyze the tiles you’re not going to appreciate the picture. I understand what you are saying here, but I think if you broaden your view a little bit and follow some of these thoughts through to their conclusions they actually support Kyle’s point more than refute it. Take for example your statement about jobs that you conclude with “You don’t fear him as much as you’re jealous of him.” This is a true statement, but when you really examine what jealousy is you find that it is the fear that there isn’t enough of X, what ever X is, to go around. In my opinion you basically summed up Kyle’s second fear with Tony Stark, just in a really concise manner. We are jealous of him.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:55:30 +0000

There are a few problems with this. First of all Thor is not human and before you start wiping out other god-like heroes, Superman is not human either. How is he relevant?
The Hulk does control the idea of lose of control of extra-human abilities caused by the accidental absorption of radiation. I expect a bunch of Tokyo hulks anyday now, but since zchernobyl didn’t produce any, I’m not so worried.
The Iron Man scenario exists already with artificial hearts, prosthetics, etc.
Captain America may represent steriod-shooting baseball players.

Overall I don’t think these outlines realy represent what you’re likely to find as the fears of transhumanism. You’re likely to find:

The Bully: the person who has better enhancement than you and uses it to push you around.
The Jobs: the guy who is richer, smarter, and a bigger jerk than you but is still worshiped by millions. You don’t fear him as much as you’re jealous of him.
The Pet: as in teacher’s pet. This person is better than you just enough that he seems to beat you out for everything you try to do: get the girl, score the highest, make the team, etc. This person is more annoying than anything and his super power is charisma and good looks.

If you want to see examples of the evolution of these last two spend a little time hanging out on the Harvard campus. You’ll see the mutant product of a beauty-queen trophy-wife and elderly business genius. These mutants possess incredible intelligence, stunning good looks and enough family wealth to have been given every advantage possible while growing up. They will soon enough rule the world.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:30:47 +0000

While we’re talking about superheroes and transhumanism, is anyone else seriously ticked off by movie-Spiderman? Guy gets bitten by a genetically altered spider, has a severe fever and wakes up with superpowers. Yay for him, but it’s made clear that the facility had a whole ton of those spiders around. He never sends a note to the facility, never leaves a phone call, just decides to put on a costume and wrassle a few people and sucks to the consequences.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:09:37 +0000

I read the Hulk regularly thru the late 60s and into the early 70s. In those days, the story was that Hulk just wanted to be left alone. His violence was ALWAYS in response to attacks by others. Hulk wasn’t a monster, the humans and others were.

In your terms, Hulk does not represent “science out of control”,he represents what happens when people let their fears get out of control.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:37:38 +0000

“You may fear the God and hope for the Soldier but worry The Monster is reflective of how science might actually be.”

Meanwhile the Robot gets closer and closer, unnoticed?

Speaking of Ironman, I remember in the cartoons (not sure about the comics themselves) that a common theme/threat was Ironman’s suit being hijacked by the villain-of-the-week while Stark was still in it. That is probably a reasonable analogy for the prisoner-in-your-own-body fear that you also see in nano-bot SF.

By: Laogai

Laogai — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:24:00 +0000

Poison Ivy?

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:32:09 +0000

1. Kyle, they would’ve changed quite a bit. The She-Hulk persona is more extroverted, but not radically different from Jennifer Walters, to the extent that even in those comics where she retains the power to change forms, she elects to remain in her augmented form.

3. Aquaman?

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:30:25 +0000

You point is very interesting. There are several archetypes that are repeated through out the comic book world. Another interesting thought is the X-Men. They naturally genetically mutate and become an advanced race. I think it’s interesting that the X-Men address discrimination as well as showing the struggle of not wanting to have the powers. Although many of the characters have very similar archetypes you already mentioned above, it does add an interesting spin that we evolve without purposely enhancing ourselves.

By: Kyle Munkittrick

Kyle Munkittrick — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:47:07 +0000

Teresa: I agree, and in all honesty, deliberately left out the Wasp hoping for a comment like yours. Both transhumanism and comics often down play or completely forget women. It’s a problem, but not necessarily a gendered one. Though male heroes represent the archetypes, the archetypes themselves are not gendered (unlike, say, Jung’s). Three quick points:

1. I use these characters as generics to explore how we view science and what are worries are about changing humanity. Would my argument have changed much if I used She-Hulk?

2. If you dislike my argument or something about my argument, that is a reason to ENGAGE the argument, not to whine about feeling excluded.

3. There has to be a hero who represents Jessica and Liath’s hopes. Thoughts?

By: Liath

Liath — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:55:08 +0000

Jessica, I think what is needed is a super hero scientist. She would be battling all the devastating effects of civilization on the biosphere. Climate change, oxygen depleted dead zones in the oceans, massive die offs. We could follow the adventures of Ms Jessica first in comics, then movies, a play perhaps, and in the end a much beloved tv series. Her first big adventure could be to find a way to prevent coral reef destruction.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:23:23 +0000

Wow – great post! I’m really interested in how fiction can help or hinder people’s understanding of science.

By: Teresa Matador

Teresa Matador — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 02:50:43 +0000

Ah I see the device you’re using, but these characters are all male and 50% of humans are female. It doesn’t make me want to engage with your writing when I feele xcluded :–(

By: Kyle Munkittrick

Kyle Munkittrick — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:21:03 +0000

Frank, you’re welcome to republish a blurb, just not the whole piece. Everything before the “read the rest of this entry” is cool to republish. Thanks for checking in and for assuaging my fears about butchering the Captain’s good name!

By: demonpiesheep

demonpiesheep — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:01:47 +0000

Cool! me and my brother wach the avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes,and a pretty funny thing happened before i read this article.my brother called the hulk a “monster “and is constantly asking me “are you sure the green one is on the good guys side”it makes me sad because the hulk is awsome and he deserves more respect.

By: Frank Sherman

Frank Sherman — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:48:38 +0000

Kyle

I write for the site Comicbookmovies.com under the screen name Hawksblueyes. I found your views/take/opinion fascinating (to say the least) and for the most part, spot on. There is much more to what makes up Captain America’s character than what you went into, but as you said, you are new to comics and are mainly basing your statements off of films.

Would you mind terribly if I posted your thesis on CBM.com? I would love to see what the self professed “comic geeks” opinions on it would be.

Frank Sherman