Evilutionary Biologist: Difference between revisions

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** In the book, there's a footnote that explains that he's [[Last of His Kind|the last of his specific race of elves]], but that he's gone on the record was saying that it's pretty much a good thing that they aren't any others left.

** As far as ''Magic'' goes, it was probably inevitable that Green/Blue would be the Biologist guild, since Green is the "Biology" color and Blue is the "Fuck with..." color.

** Then there was Yawgmoth, a firm believer that strength came from conflict. And then he created a biomechanical hell named Phyrexia where [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]].

*** As of New Phyrexia, three of the five Phyrexian factions are this to varying degrees. Jin-Gitaxias of the Blue faction is one to the greatest extent (the name of his faction, The Progress Engine, is saying something). The leaders of the Green Vicious Swarm, Vorinclex and Glissa, are all about "encouraging" natural selection instead, via extreme predation and survival of the fittest. And the White Machine Orthodoxy wishes to either unite all beings into one ''[[Body Horror|(by stitching them all together!)]]'' or to transform them all into "perfect" soulless dolls. The two factions not concerned with this are the Black Seven Steel Thanes (who are too occupied trying to slit each other's throats over becoming the new [[The Chosen One|Father of Machines]]) and the Red leader of the Quiet Furnace, Urabrask the Hidden, who just wants everybody else to leave him and his servants in peace.

** <s>Fabius Bile</s> [[Fan Nickname|FABULOUS Bile]], and like most things in that universe, is this trope turned up to eleven. His master race are superpowered versions of the existing [[Super Soldiers]], with the difference that they're all homicidal megalomaniacs, and he's turned the population of entire planets into shambling mutants with his experiments.

** To a greater extent, Tzeentch, the Master of Change. His entire existence is based on evolution, so his followers enjoy having random "gifts" happening at any moment (read: every moment). Which leads into...

* Dr. Mara Omokage, in ''[[GURPS]] Bio-Tech'' and ''[[Transhuman Space]]''.

 

* ''[[BioShock (series)]]'' has two example: Yi Suchong, the scientist responsible for the mental conditioning of the Little Sisters and {{spoiler|Jack}} as well as the creation of the Big Daddy. The other is Dr. Bridgette Tenebaum, who made the Little Sisters what they are and is trying to [[The Atoner|atone for her mistakes]] by saving them.

* Palet from ''[[Breath of Fire]] III'' {{spoiler|[[Necromantic|wanted to revive his dead mother]]}}, and was very willing to break the laws of nature to do so.

* In ''[[Command & Conquer]]: Tiberian Sun'', Kane's primary plot is to build and launch a world-altering Tiberium missile that will spread Tiberium across the entire planet. He states that this will trigger the next step of humanity's evolution as a species.

* Jaqueline Natla from the original ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' (but not the remake) who wanted to use Atlantis' powers to create a predator for humans, thereby giving evolution "a kick in the pants".

{{quote|''"Evolution's in a rut, natural selection at an all time low. Shipping out fresh meat will incite territorial rages again, will strengthen and advance us. Even create new breeds."''}}

* This trope forms the basis of the plot of ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] IV'', where the [[Big Bad]] is {{spoiler|a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] that let his extremism evolve into a Nazi Germany-style pogrom, including developing a nanotech-based bioweapon that kills based on preselected genetic criteria. It kills by destroying the cells of a infected person that doesn't measure up; liquefying the flesh of the person involved. Slowly. At first it's thought that it's a plague, until the main protagonist finds out the truth behind this, and another weapon that destroys ships by [[Made of Explodium|somehow]] igniting the atmosphere within, turning spacecraft into impromptu furnaces) during a covert mission to the [[Big Bad]]'s stronghold/spaceship. It doesn't exactly help that the [[Big Bad]] is a member of the same military that the protagonist is, and is actually higher in rank}}. The purported reason behind all this is that "humanity has gotten weak" without the perpetual warring of the first three games, and needs to be "pruned to be able to face the next adversary." Naturally, the protagonist has to stop this out of moral indignation, not to mention the fact that the [[Big Bad]] is deliberately inciting another war through his use of this stuff.

** The nanotech bioweapon doesn't liquify the flesh of the person involved... not directly, anyway. Instead, it alters the cells' RNA so that the person's ''own immune system'' attacks them, liquifying the flesh.

* Dr. James Watson, one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, once stated "... if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn't we?" Though this is probably a more altruistic opinion than many of those listed here, and more towards technological [[Transhumanism]] and not doctrinal social eugenics.

* Subverted in Dr. Warwick E. Kerr, the Brazilian entomologist whose hybridization of honey bee strains created the Africanized "killer" bee. Although his notorious creations were deliberately crossbred to be superior to conventional bees, and have become a serious menace to humans and to other bees, Dr. Kerr's research methods and intentions were entirely honorable, and the hybrids' escape into the wild was an accident.

* [http://theconversation.edu.au/no-modest-proposal-bioengineering-humans-for-global-warming-6446 They're still out there,] though this is a team of ethicists trying to argue that this kind of science wouldn't be so evil. They're advocating genetically modifying humans to be smaller to consume less, have cat-like eyes to need less light, condition stomachs and taste buds to make them vegeterian, make women smarter so they get pregnant less, and so on.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Tropes On Science and Unscience]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Creation Tropes]]