1 | %% The titles of short stories are formatted using double quotes (" "), so please refrain from trying to italicize them. |
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3 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wonder_stories_cover_1931_04.jpg]] |
4 | [[caption-width-right:300:"The Man who Evolved" as it appeared on the cover of ''Wonder Stories'', April 1931]] |
5 | "The Man who Evolved", first published in 1931 in the ''Wonder Stories'' magazine, is a short story by Creator/EdmondHamilton and one of the earliest examples of an [[DevolutionDevice evolution-speeding machine]] in fiction. |
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7 | [[TheProfessor Doctor John Pollard]] invites his two friends, Arthur and Hugh, to show them the coronation of years of work — a machine which uses cosmic rays to accelerate evolution ([[ScienceMarchesOn this sounded less crazy in 1931]]). As narrated from Arthur’s [=POV=], Pollard uses the machine to [[EvolutionPowerUp evolve himself]] — in 50-million-year steps — to discover once and for all what mankind will be like in the future. |
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9 | Despite starting out well — the first dose of cosmic rays turns Pollard into a physically perfect, [[SuperIntelligence superintelligent]] demigod — the experiment takes a quick turn for the ugly when Pollard evolves further and [[MyBrainIsBig his head enlarges monstrously]], while his body and [[SuperSupremacist sense of morals]] shrivel away. |
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12 | !!This short story contains examples of: |
13 | * ArtisticLicenseChemistry: At some point, Pollard shows off his increased intelligence by making ''gold'' out of common chemicals. Since gold is an ''element'', it can’t be made chemically if it’s not already there. |
14 | * ArtisticLicensePhysics: Pollard’s machine collects and concentrates cosmic rays but “removes from them their harmful properties”, which makes as much sense as removing poisonousness from cyanide. |
15 | * BrainCriticalMass: Pollard gains PsychicPowers (see below) when his brain gets large enough. |
16 | * BrainMonster: Pollard's brain growth and the shriveling of his body reach their logical conclusions when [[spoiler:he becomes a giant brain with tentacles, and then a pure brain with no visible organs.]] |
17 | * ChemistryCanDoAnything: As noted under ArtisticLicenseChemistry, evolved!Pollard makes gold out of common chemicals, which should be impossible. Unless it’s a subtle sign that [[WhatWeNowKnowToBeTrue physics and chemistry as we know them today are wrong…]] |
18 | * EvolutionPowerup: As is common in this type of stories, it shows evolution as something that can happen to an ''individual'' instead of something that by its nature takes place over multiple generations. |
19 | * GoalOrientedEvolution: Future evolution seems to be preset, and in fact Pollard's goal is to find out where it will lead. [[spoiler:In a twist on the trope, evolution turns out to be cyclical.]] |
20 | * GoneHorriblyRight: Pollard's goal is to evolve into the future forms of man. He succeeds -- and becomes a supergenius with PsychicPowers and a God complex, then a BrainMonster whose recognizable are dwindling to nonexistence, and finally a [[spoiler:blob of primordial ooze]]. His metamorphosis drives one of his friends mad and his lab is destroyed in the process. |
21 | * HollywoodEvolution: The story is built around this. |
22 | * MyBrainIsBig: After his second session in the machine, Pollard gains a huge head while the rest of his body shrinks. Further session increase his brain size even further [[spoiler:until he becomes just a giant brain.]] |
23 | * PhlebotinumDuJour: This is not the only story in TheThirties to use cosmic rays -- then a relatively recent discovery -- as a scientific gimmick. |
24 | * ProfessorGuineaPig: Pollard uses his untested machine on himself. |
25 | * PsychicPowers: Pollard gains MindReading and [[PeoplePuppets control over others’ actions]] as his brain grows, which is why his friends can’t forcibly stop him from continuing the experiment. [[spoiler:Pollard’s “pure brain” form is implied to have [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] and a variety of non-physical senses]]. |
26 | * SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Pollard’s evolution progresses in 50 million year steps, and at least the first two “stages” of his transformation are recognizably human. That’s a ludicrously long period for humans to remain around, considering that 5 million years ago we were practically chimps.[[note]]For the punctilious: all right, not chimps in the modern sense, but a non-zoologist wouldn’t see much of a difference[[/note]] |
27 | * SerialEscalation: Pollard goes through his machine no less than ''six'' times, each time coming out far smarter — and somewhat less human — than he went in. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, when the last step devolves him into protoplasm]]. |
28 | * ShrunkenOrgan: For reasons left unexplained, Pollard’s nose, ears and mouth shrink as his brain enlarges, until they’re mere pinpricks. {{Inverted}} with his eyes, which for equally mysterious reasons grow until they’re the size of saucers [[spoiler:but later [[DoubleSubversion also shrink, and then vanish entirely]], when Pollard becomes a giant brain]]. |
29 | * SuperIntelligence: Pollard’s evolved forms, natch! |
30 | * SuperSupremacist: Pollard’s third “stage” states normal humans are no more than animals to him, and he intends to take over Earth and use it as a laboratory. The protagonist stops him by [[spoiler:convincing him to evolve further. It works; the next stage is beyond such desires]]. |
31 | * UltimateLifeForm: Pollard’s goal is to become this, not out of a desire for power, but due to scientific curiosity. [[spoiler:Subverted in that evolution leads back to its own beginning]]. |
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FollowingContext Literature / TheManWhoEvolved
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