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The Man Who Evolved

108 statements
20 feature instances
8 referencing feature instances

The Man Who Evolved	type	TVTItem
The Man Who Evolved	label	The Man Who Evolved
The Man Who Evolved	page	TheManWhoEvolved
The Man Who Evolved	comment	The Man who Evolved, first published in 1931 in the Wonder Stories magazine, is a short story by Edmond Hamilton and one of the earliest examples of an evolution-speeding machine in fiction.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 (this sounded less crazy in 1931). As narrated from Arthur’s POV, Pollard uses the machine to evolve himself — in 50-million-year steps — to discover once and for all what mankind will be like in the future.Despite starting out well — the first dose of cosmic rays turns Pollard into a physically perfect, superintelligent demigod — the experiment takes a quick turn for the ugly when Pollard evolves further and his head enlarges monstrously, while his body and sense of morals shrivel away.
The Man Who Evolved	fetched	2023-10-28T09:45:39Z
The Man Who Evolved	parsed	2023-10-28T09:45:39Z
The Man Who Evolved	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Man Who Evolved / int_14607695	type	Super-Intelligence
The Man Who Evolved / int_14607695	comment	Super-Intelligence: Pollard’s evolved forms, natch!
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The Man Who Evolved / int_17fe889f	type	Goal-Oriented Evolution
The Man Who Evolved / int_17fe889f	comment	Goal-Oriented Evolution: Future evolution seems to be preset, and in fact Pollard's goal is to find out where it will lead. In a twist on the trope, evolution turns out to be cyclical.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_1994ba0b	type	Gone Horribly Right
The Man Who Evolved / int_1994ba0b	comment	Gone Horribly Right: Pollard's goal is to evolve into the future forms of man. He succeeds — and becomes a supergenius with Psychic Powers and a God complex, then a Brain Monster whose recognizable are dwindling to nonexistence, and finally a blob of primordial ooze. His metamorphosis drives one of his friends mad and his lab is destroyed in the process.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_2e406a1	type	Hollywood Evolution
The Man Who Evolved / int_2e406a1	comment	Hollywood Evolution: The story is built around this.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_442e3d95	type	Professor Guinea Pig
The Man Who Evolved / int_442e3d95	comment	Professor Guinea Pig: Pollard uses his untested machine on himself.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_54bdd7a1	type	Phlebotinum du Jour
The Man Who Evolved / int_54bdd7a1	comment	Phlebotinum du Jour: This is not the only story in The '30s to use cosmic rays — then a relatively recent discovery — as a scientific gimmick.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_63389669	type	Brain Monster
The Man Who Evolved / int_63389669	comment	Brain Monster: Pollard's brain growth and the shriveling of his body reach their logical conclusions when he becomes a giant brain with tentacles, and then a pure brain with no visible organs.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_874176be	type	Psychic Powers
The Man Who Evolved / int_874176be	comment	Psychic Powers: Pollard gains Mind Reading and control over others’ actions as his brain grows, which is why his friends can’t forcibly stop him from continuing the experiment. Pollard’s “pure brain” form is implied to have telekinesis and a variety of non-physical senses.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_c60a9136	type	Ultimate Life Form
The Man Who Evolved / int_c60a9136	comment	Ultimate Life Form: Pollard’s goal is to become this, not out of a desire for power, but due to scientific curiosity. Subverted in that evolution leads back to its own beginning.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_c94f1109	type	Artistic License â€“ Chemistry
The Man Who Evolved / int_c94f1109	comment	Artistic License – Chemistry: 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.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_ce104b8e	type	Serial Escalation
The Man Who Evolved / int_ce104b8e	comment	Serial Escalation: Pollard goes through his machine no less than six times, each time coming out far smarter — and somewhat less human — than he went in. Subverted in the end, when the last step devolves him into protoplasm.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_d30f7e04	type	Brain Critical Mass
The Man Who Evolved / int_d30f7e04	comment	Brain Critical Mass: Pollard gains Psychic Powers (see below) when his brain gets large enough.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_d525f857	type	Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale
The Man Who Evolved / int_d525f857	comment	Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: 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
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The Man Who Evolved / int_d9917a4a	type	Evolution Power-Up
The Man Who Evolved / int_d9917a4a	comment	Evolution Powerup: 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.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_e2e55e86	type	Super Supremacist
The Man Who Evolved / int_e2e55e86	comment	Super Supremacist: 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 convincing him to evolve further. It works; the next stage is beyond such desires.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_ea9f0351	type	My Brain Is Big
The Man Who Evolved / int_ea9f0351	comment	My Brain Is Big: 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 until he becomes just a giant brain.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_ee3efdfe	type	Chemistry Can Do Anything
The Man Who Evolved / int_ee3efdfe	comment	Chemistry Can Do Anything: As noted under Artistic License – Chemistry, evolved!Pollard makes gold out of common chemicals, which should be impossible. Unless it’s a subtle sign that physics and chemistry as we know them today are wrong…
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The Man Who Evolved / int_fc225bec	type	Artistic License â€“ Physics
The Man Who Evolved / int_fc225bec	comment	Artistic License – Physics: 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.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_fda71c6e	type	Shrunken Organ
The Man Who Evolved / int_fda71c6e	comment	Shrunken Organ: 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 but later also shrink, and then vanish entirely, when Pollard becomes a giant brain.
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The Man Who Evolved / int_name	type	ItemName
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Brain Critical Mass	processingUnknown	The Man Who Evolved
Chemistry Can Do Anything	processingUnknown	The Man Who Evolved
The Man Who Evolved	hasFeature	Evolutionary Levels / int_915fa8ff
The Man Who Evolved	hasFeature	Mutant Media / int_915fa8ff
The Man Who Evolved	hasFeature	Science Marches On / int_915fa8ff
The Man Who Evolved	hasFeature	Short Story / int_915fa8ff
The Man Who Evolved	hasFeature	Transhuman Treachery / int_915fa8ff
The Man Who Evolved	hasFeature	Ultimate Life Form / int_915fa8ff

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