Eddie presents several interesting questions in the terms of post-human ideas, especially in the idea of modifying oneself. Does the use of NZT-48 make him more or less than human, given his almost supercomputer like abilities on the drug? Eddie starts off human like Nili, but has improved himself using chemicals rather than machinery. Is this form of post human easier to accept than cyborgs or does this make the viewer more uncomfortable despite the fact that Eddie chose, like Nili, to do this to himself?
ENGL 360 | Future Perfect Human
Prof. Myra Seaman | Fall 2016
This form of the post human may be more easily acceptable aesthetically speaking, because Eddie Mora is still a human being in all facets of life, biologically speaking. I would argue that the drug makes him a more evolved human, because the drug gives him the ability to use and access all of his brain power, where before he used NZT he was only able to use 20% of his brain faculties. This implies that the rest of the human population is incapable of accesing the full use of their brain, which is debilitating. Using NZT seems like an evolution of the human that only creates the more evolved human, because as we see at the end of the film he is no longer on NZT, he has found a way to come off of it and keep his ability to use his full mental capacity. I think this form is easier to accept because NZT allows humans to become the smartest versions of themselves, and once Eddie is able to figure out how to get all of the bugs/side affects out of NZT, that was causing him to become very ill if he didn’t stay on them consistently then it is a sustainable state, and I don’t see anything wrong with a society that is full of rational, creative human beings. One may argue that billions of extremely smart people is a bad thing because some people are bad and some good, but at the same time this has been the theme throughout history. There will always be good and evil, this is just an evolutionary step where people can become smarter.
I would agree with James that Eddie seems more palatable as a posthuman because he is, at his core, human. The abilities he gains on NZT-48 grant him superhero-like powers. However, Eddie-on-NZT is not a superhero like Spiderman, imbued with fundamentally unnatural abilities. Instead, NZT expands his natural state, allowing him to process more information in a shorter amount of time. While this class will of course focus on NZT-Eddie as a posthuman, I do not think that the average viewer would see him this way. We recognize him as posthuman because we have studied what makes one posthuman, and so I think that the class might feel comfortable with describing him this way, but the average viewer would likely see this as more of a story about stimulants. Without having taken this class, one likely would read the movie through the lens of addiction, as Eddie cannot continue taking NZT without experiencing serious side-effects, nor can he stop taking it without suffering or dying. Yes, Eddie’s story is one of post humanity, but, as we expect it to be a story of addiction, his journey is somewhat unnerving because of his reliance on a drug to gain these abilities.
I definitely agree with James, Eddie is still human and is just a seemingly more advanced human. I do think this form of chemical improvement is easier to accept, because we already have a reliance on pills to make our lives better, and so a pill that can allow you to process information faster (especially in a world reliant on the ability to instantly have access to information) is something that I can easily believe. I also agree with Hannah in that the average viewer would most likely watch this movie and interpret it as being about addiction and his reliance on this drug instead of on the posthuman aspect of the film, which isn’t an incorrect conclusion to come to.
I too, like the previous comments, see this movie in a lens of simply maximizing human capabilities. NZT-48 is a stimulant drug that enables humans to access 100% of their brain power. In a way, this seems natural. If humans have the capacity to use every shred of their intelligence, why shouldn’t they?
However, I see the post-human concern with NZT. The human, in a sense, becomes a computerized process of informational networks that are readily available at the blink of an eye – or even quicker. What makes humans humans in a sense, is the ability to think rationally and make mistakes, learn from them, progress, grow, make more mistakes, decide not to make those mistakes again etc, and is replaced by an immediate correct, or “best” answer, that only computers can produce.
An interesting moment in the movie is where Melissa says no human can function at that high a level without expecting to crash – like a computer. True, these people have made conscious decisions to take the drug that gives them superhuman capabilities, but I can understand the post-human dilemma present.
This question resonates with me because I had already seen this movie before this semester and had never even considered the association of it as futuristic or posthuman. Now watching it in the context of this class, the connection of course becomes much more blatant. This shows that this form of posthuman is easier to accept simply because pills have become such a normal and accepted part of society. With the modern day prevalence of drugs, whether legally or illegally, people do not tend to view it as becoming anything different than humans, just enhancing humans’ natural features. Thus, though the perception of Eddie versus Nili declares Eddie as much more human, realistically they are both thoroughly posthuman and unnaturally advanced.
I agree with everyone above that said Eddie seems more human than other characters we’ve come across. He is “other” or “post-human” only temporarily, once he stops taking the drug he returns to his original human state, perhaps a little worse for wear. Also, having watched the TV show, he is lying at the end when he says hes stopped taking the pills.
I don’t think this form of post human is easier to accept because Eddie, like Nili, chose it for himself. Instead, I feel it is easier to accept because we already have a lesser form of this type of post humanism commonplace in society. We can take drugs to change our brain structure; from anti-depressants to ADHD medication. While these don’t go so far as to make us super intelligent, they do modify personalities.
This is an interesting dilemma to consider. Technically, there aren’t any traditional technological enhancements that we have come to think of when we consider post-humanism. Instead, NZT is a substance that brings the human mind to its fullest potential. I have mixed feelings about Eddie being called post-human in this narrative, but ultimately I don’t believe that it is along the same lines as the precogs we saw in Minority Report.
If we accept that the use of NZT is something that is transcendent, then what about the drugs we have today? Do performance-enhancing drugs make the user any less human? Do steroids make the user more of a man than others? Essentially, nutrition itself is used to enhance our capabilities, but food only can provide so much for the mind.
I like your concluding thoughts on how in society today, we are already using enhancing entities such as steroids and nutrition/food. I didn’t think of it like this before and it helped offer a new angle to my thinking.
I wonder though, is there a sort of line we draw with certain substances? Steroids are generally banned world-wide because it enhances a human’s capabilities, like NZT does, but we (somewhat) accept or at least tolerate other forms of chemical substances (vitamins, Adderall) that enhance human functioning. Is there a line and where do we place it?