Goal-Oriented Evolution: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:evolution_super_6518.jpg|frame|The Evolution Of [[Superman
A common subtrope of [[Hollywood Evolution]] that commonly shows up along with [[Evolutionary Levels]], evolution is depicted as, or believed by a character to be, being directed toward a goal, most commonly [[Ascend to
In most cases, humanoids and/or some other form of sapient creature is considered to be the goal if superpowers or energy beings aren't part of [[The Verse]] the trope is occurring in. In many cases, the creature is described as being in specific [[Evolutionary Levels|stages or levels]] of evolution.
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== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'': Advancement in the traditional evolutionary sense and digivolution are seen as the goal of the Sovereign Zhuqiaomon, his Devas and Impmon.
* ''[[
* ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'': The chimera ant queen transfers the "most worthy" DNA of whatever she eats to her progeny, resulting in every batch of eggs giving more powerful (and human-like, since humans are ''obviously'' the best food) ants than the last, culminating in the King being the supreme being.
* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'': The Diclonius, maybe. {{spoiler|The conspicuously nameless government agency claims they're our evolutionary superiors, genetically programmed to take over the earth in cold-hearted genocide. The protagonists quickly find out that, at least, they're not cold-hearted at all.}} So it's embraced by some characters.
* ''[[
* ''[[Stardust Memories]]'': One theory is that evolutionary levels are contagious on a mass scale--if a world has primitive life, and it's visited by humans, that primitive life will rapidly evolve to fill all evolutionary niches required in order to produce human-like creatures. Unfortunately, [[Body Horror|it may hit an evolutionary dead end during the attempt]] . . .
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== Comics ==
* [[Marvel Comics]]:
** ''[[X
** '''[[Planet Eater|Galactus]]''' is, [[Depending
** '''[[Evilutionary Biologist|High Evolutionary]]''', a man who has made a career of accelerating the evolution of various species — which, naturally, all happen to be anthropomorphic afterwards.
*** At one point, a ragtag group of Avengers goes in to bust up the High Evolutionary to stop him from being... evil or something. The climax involves the villain and an Avenger both hyper-evolving into major godhood and right out of this realm. The kicker was the Avenger was Hercules, who already ''was'' a [[Physical God]].
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''[[Starship Troopers (
{{quote| "We humans like to ''think'' we are nature's finest achievement, but I'm afraid that just isn't ''true''."}}
* In the 1986 film version of ''[[The Fly]]'', the afflicted remarks "I seem to be stricken by a disease with a purpose, wouldn't you say?"
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== Literature ==
* ''[[Literature/The Adventures Of The Rat Family|The Adventures Of The Rat Family]]'' by [[Jules Verne]]: There's an explicit hierarchy of life-forms (with rats somewhere around the middle, above invertebrates and fish but below birds and most other mammals), and the aim of every living thing is to evolve into the highest form of life, which is of course Man.
* ''[[The Time Machine]]'', by [[
* ''[[Slan]]'' by [[
* ''[[Childhoods End]]'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke
* ''[[
* ''[[Literature/The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch|The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch]]'' by [[Philip K. Dick]]: Set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], the novel features "evolutionary therapy" becoming popular among the rich. It makes your [[My Brain Is Big|cranium large and bubble-like]], and even increases your intelligence, although in rare cases it can backfire and ''de''-evolve you into a monkey-like state. The best part? It works by stimulating the ''gland that controls evolution''.
* One of [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s short stories tells of astronauts that start to evolve into huge-headed telepathic freaks after being exposed to otherworldly radiation. They're saved from this predicament by their test animals, who have been exposed longer and evolved past them and into energy beings. This trope was nicely averted in his book ''Galápagos''. The evolved humans resemble seals, and natural selection lowers their intelligence to that of animals. It's a bit misanthropic, though.
* ''[[The War Against the Chtorr]]'': It's stated that since Chtorran lifeforms have a billion-year evolutionary head start they have a massive advantage over Earth lifeforms.
* ''[[Tomorrow Town]]'' by [[Kim Newman]]: Parodied, one of the claims made by the futurists who have set up shop in the titular town is that they have evolved beyond their 1970s contemporaries, or '[[Fantastic Racism|yesterday men]]' as they are called. Of course, like most things to do with their "futopia", they're quite, quite mistaken.
* Played with in the fiction portion of ''[[Discworld
* Averted in [[David Brin]]'s ''[[Uplift]]'' verse. Most clans believe that a species can't even develop sentience without genetic engineering (the exceptions being the mythical [[Precursors]] and maybe humanity).
== Live-Action TV ==
* [[
** ''[[Star Trek:
*** Spock explains:
{{quote| "The actual theory is that all lifeforms evolved [[Evolutionary Levels|from the lower levels to the more advanced stages]]."}}
** ''[[Star Trek:
** A later ''[[Star Trek:
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager
** ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':
** In [[Doctor Who/Recap/S1 E2 The Daleks|the first Dalek story]], the Thals had mutated into something hideous, then back again into good-looking space elves in leather trousers because that was, supposedly, the most perfect form.
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'''Observer:''' Convenient? Why, our brains are fully functional from our bodies for up to fifty yards. }}
** Also referenced in the final host segment of the last episode of the Comedy Central years (a ''2001'' parody), when the SOL crew evolves into energy. They decide to regain their bodily forms at the beginning of the first episode of the Sci-Fi Channel years.
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'': [[Insufferable Genius|Sheldon]] [[You Fail Biology|fails biology forever]] because he believes "[he] is farther down the evolutionary ''line''" than the rest of humanity, and has [[We Will Not Have Appendixes in
** Explicitly shown in one episode when Sheldon states Amy's science (neurobiology) is basically the same as Bernadette's (microbiology):
{{quote| '''Sheldon:''' Your doctorate is in neurobiology. I fail to see the distinction.<br />
'''Amy:''' I'll make it simple for you. I study the brain, the organ responsible for Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Bernadette studies yeast, the organism responsible for Michelob Lite. }}
* ''[[
* ''[[Babylon
== Tabletop Games ==
* In the ''[[Magic:
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'': "Pages from the Mages" [[Played With]] this. The spell "Evolve" changes a normal animal into an intelligent and more or less human-like form. [[Don't Explain the Joke|The punchline]] is that glorified name aside, the spell just permanently transforms the target halfway to its caster (presumed to be a human smart enough to use a 8-level spell), using his own blood sample(!) as a component.
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* In ''[[EVO Search for Eden]]'', this is both the object of the game and one of its central mechanics.
** Though, to be fair, life on EVO's planet was specifically created to evolve this way, as to sire a proper mate for Gaia, who is humanoid.
* ''[[Sid
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'': {{spoiler|Alfimi}} was created to be the "apex of human evolution".
* ''[[Star Ocean the Last Hope]]'': The [[Big Bad]] seems to think that it's possible to create a "better" evolution that will save humanity from violence and sadness. Even worse, the heroes believe that it's necessary to "make our hearts worthy" in order to evolve.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'': It's theorized the Zunanma were subconsciously evolving to be more like their "gods". The gods thought this was bad but the only solutions they could think of were abandonment or annihilation and Zunanma didn't like either.
* ''[[
* ''[[Marathon
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
* ''[[The Simpsons (
* ''[[
* ''[[The Spectacular Spider
* ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'': The titular [[Super Mode|Ultimate Forms]]. The 'fast' part is at least justified in that the entire series revolves around a piece of [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] that can spontaneously rewrite a person's DNA. [[Word of God]] claims that the Ultimate forms are actually the ''projected'' evolution of a species based off of a simulated planet-wide civil war lasting millions of years.
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