Goal-Oriented Evolution: Difference between revisions

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'': The biology teacher in the beginning thought the [[Playing with a Trope|Bugs were more evolved than humans]].

* 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?"

* ''[[Mission to Mars]]'' heavily implies that the life that was seeded on Earth by the Martians was intended to go through the exact path that we saw in our history, complete with the destruction of the dinosaurs, the Ice Ages, and the ascent of humankind, complete with genes that are able to activate the technology that was sealed inside the Face.

** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'': The episode "The Omega Glory" also used the 'path evolution is supposed to take' idea in order to show a planet who ''evolved the American flag and Constitution in parallel to Earth''.

*** Spock explains:

** ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'': A humanoid named "John Doe" encountered by the crew was part of a minority of his species that were "evolving" (actually, undergoing metamorphosis, but they called it "evolution") into [[Energy Beings]].

** A later ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' episode, ''The Chase'', reveals that all life in the Alpha Quadrant had descended from microbes seeded by a race of precursors billions of years ago. Somehow, because the microbes came from the precursors' homeworld, they were able to develop into multiple humanoid species on hundreds of different planets. At the same time. Who can interbreed with each other. It makes more sense than any other explanation no matter how much [[Fridge Logic]] is applied.

* ''[[Space: 1999]]'': The show features one of the oddest theories of evolution: ''everyone'' is evolving, and will eventually become perfect (apparently ignoring that pesky old mortality). Even worse, there is a mirror universe where evolution works backwards, and people gradually turn into piles of primordial soup, and traveling to this dimension will cause you to start evolving backwards as well.

* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'': In keeping with its nature, the show thoroughly mocked the "evolution is improvement" idea with several episodes featuring the super brain-powered Observers. A race so evolved that we "are as amoeba" to them, they have evolved beyond bodies (which still have to carry their brains around in their hands) and communicate only with their minds (by using the mouths on the bodies they've evolved beyond).

'''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 the Future|smaller incisors and pinky toes than everyone else]]. You'd think an theoretical physicist who has been shown to be interested in <s>all</s> most areas of science would actually bother to learn how evolution ''works''. Given that he explicitly does internet searches to find out anything about biology (like why his stomach might be hurting), he probably doesn't know half as much about biology or medicine as he thinks he does. Not that it would stop him believing that he's superior anyway.

** Explicitly shown in one episode when Sheldon states Amy's science (neurobiology) is basically the same as Bernadette's (microbiology):

'''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. }}

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'': Over the course of 3 million years the inbred and irradiated descendents of Lister's cat somehow evolved into [http://media.photobucket.com/image/red%20dwarf%20cat/Smeghead/1-13l.jpg this].