Lucy narrates the saga of the character played by Scarlett Johansson towards the divine condition through science, which is consonant with the radical transhumanist aspiration to create a posthuman being. Thus, the present text proposes to analyze the film in order to emphasize the advantages of transhumanism for the humankind.

At the beginning of the movie the viewer watches a hominid drink water from a river, so Lucy asks the question: “Was life given to us billions of years ago and what did we do with it?” The answer to this question comes in the form of Daily scenes from Taipei, capital of Taiwan. We see people in cars and motorcycles heading to work showing the routine of most of the human species who work incessantly to stay alive just like the animals that appear on the screen copulating, hunting and caring for their offspring. These three characteristics show that the fact that humans have a brain that is more efficient than other living beings does not make them as special as they think, and that humans still look a lot like other animals.

Lucy is like most of humanity, but this situation changes when she accidentally absorbs a large amount of an experimental drug that causes an exponential increase in intelligence. The drug is a synthetic version of an enzyme whose name in the film is CPH4 and the fact that it was manufactured shows one of the flags of transhumanism that is the use of science and technology to make human evolution move faster than the biological evolution. The drug can be seen as a transhumanist version of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that opens the eyes of those who taste it by removing the veil of illusion and seeing the person who ate. So, both the fruit of knowledge and the drug are keys that unlock the human mind so that the human being can see a knowledge that was all the time in him, but was not known. From the moment she gets smarter Lucy has a single goal of becoming immortal, thus attaining apotheosis not by the grace of a benevolent god, but by his own effort. As it evolves it gradually loses the characteristics of the human species that are posed as mere obstacles. Feelings such as love, fear, hunger and pain simply disappear and she has an almost robotic expression. His will is directed solely toward being and knowing more, quite unlike the purpose of the mobsters led by Mr. Jang.

While Lucy seeks knowledge and eternal life, Mr. Jang and his minions want CPH4 just to profit from selling the drug on the European market. They fail to see that the drug can make them immortal because they are more concerned with making money and exerting power over other humans. Mobsters still operate in the range of 10% brain capacity, the fallacy used in the movie to differentiate normal humans from Lucy, characterized by desires such as power and wealth. Wherever criminals pass, they leave a trail of destruction like at the University of Sorbonne where they destroy the statue of the university’s founder in a shootout with French police, while the protagonist takes the last step towards immortality. This is the climax of the movie, for it is the moment that Lucy transcends all temporal and spatial limitations. She happens to be at all times and everywhere and at some point she sees Australophitecus afarensis of the same name as her own, which appears at the beginning of the shoot taking water, so they both touch with the index finger just like the act. in the fresco Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam in a demonstration that Lucy is responsible for the evolution of humans and their transformation into something that can be understood as posthuman. Lucy becomes a deity who desires and causes humanity to progress and become superior to what it once was. Thus, wanting to eat from the fruit of knowledge is not for the now deified protagonist a sin, but something necessary for the human species to evolve. By touching a being of the species afarensis Lucy separates this from the other animals and by giving a pendrive with all her knowledge to Dr. Norman, alluding to the delivery of the fruit of Eve’s knowledge to Adam, she gives the human being the opportunity to be beyond. than it is now. Lucy wants all mankind to reach apotheosis.

The movie Lucy shows that science can turn human beings into beings whom my contemporaries would regard as gods, the viewer realizes that wealth and dominion over others are such primitive things that they should be rejected. Transhumanism presents itself as the possibility of making the blind see, the deaf to hear and the handicapped to walk. Therefore, it is a movement that seeks to fulfill the unfulfilled promises of religion. Lucy takes transhumanism to its fullest extent than her own transformation into a posthuman being. Finally, she says, “Life was given to us billions of years ago. Now you know what to do with her. ” Then seek knowledge and you will surely find eternal life, for in the end it is one such as the tree in the midst of Eden.

Bibliography:

Books:

CAMPBELL, Joseph. As máscaras de Deus: mitologia oriental. São Paulo: Palas Athena, 2008.

HARARI, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus — uma breve história do amanhã. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2016.

_____________________. Sapiens — Uma breve história da humanidade.Porto Alegre, RS: L&PM, 2015.

MORRIS, Ian. Guerra: o horror da guerra e seu legado para a humanidade.São Paulo: Leya, 2015.

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111 Commentaries on the Pentateuch. Disponível em: http://www.angelfire.com/ultra2/pp2000ad/

Bíblia Sagrada. Disponível em: https://www.bibliaonline.com.br/

Crítica ao filme Lucy. Disponível em: http://www.ccine10.com.br/lucy-critica/

Da imortalidade aos deuses. Disponível em: https://escribacafe.com/da-imortalidade-aos-deuses-9761b54b60ed

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Quantum Computers Explained — Limits of Human Technology. Disponível em: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHMJCUmq28

Tecnologia wi-fi ajuda a reverter paralisia em macacos. Disponível em: http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/geral-37941667

The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg [1909]. Disponível em: http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/loj/

Um novo olhar para a ciência. Disponível em: http://filosofiacienciaevida.uol.com.br/ESFI/Edicoes/43/artigo162084-1.asp