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Journal Central

This article explores the desire for human enhancement and the resulting paradoxes through the film Prometheus(2012). As the first prequel to the Alien series, this film raises new questions about the issues of human enhancement and the underlying aspects of humanity through the creators-creations relationships between Engineers and humans, humans and androids, and androids and Engineers. Peter Weyland, in his first attempt to overcome the human limitation of mortality, creates the android ‘David-8’. David behaves like a human and mimics emotions but harbors a desire to transcend humanity. He uses human genetic information to create new life forms, ‘Xenomorphs’, presenting the most alien and destructive form of ‘transhuman’ that human enhancement can bring, thus revealing the inherent dangers of that desire. The film delves into the complex relationships between creators and creations, warning that the attempt to transcend human limitations may actually threaten the essence of humanity. Prometheus poses questions about human enhancement and presents a philosophical reflection on how technological advancement might change the nature of human existence. The film goes beyond merely enhancing abilities to ask why humans should overcome their vulnerabilities. This fundamental question about human existence and identity also serves as a warning about the future that human enhancement may bring. Through the creation of the Xenomorphs as a result of human enhancement, the film symbolically shows the destructive consequences that human desire can produce, suggesting that this desire can turn humans into even more alien and destructive beings.

Human Enhancement, Prometheus, Alien, Android, Vulnerability, Transhuman