"The Man who Evolved" as it appeared on the cover of Wonder Stories, April 1931
"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.
This short story contains examples of:
- 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.
- 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.
- Brain Critical Mass: Pollard gains Psychic Powers (see below) when his brain gets large enough.
- 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.
- 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…
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Hollywood Evolution: The story is built around this.
- 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.
- 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.
- Professor Guinea Pig: Pollard uses his untested machine on himself.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- Super-Intelligence: Pollard’s evolved forms, natch!
- 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.
- 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.
