Transhumanist Videos

Videos on Transhumanist Topics

Unfortunately, the non-commercial documentary films listed here are pretty expensive to rent or buy. Check if they are in your local libraries and video stores, and if you are students or faculty, check if your library might buy the ones you are interested in. There may also be student activity funds available to rent the film to be shown at a WTA event.

	Movies Meta-Sites
	The Future in General
	Reproductive Technology and Genetics
	Health and Life Extension
	Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
	Nanotechnology
	Speculative Fiction

Movies Meta-Sites

Extrotech Movies Page

A Futurist Goes to the Movies

AAAS Science Videos

Internet Movie Database

The Future

Synthetic Pleasures (1996)
Explores how all things synthetic, from plastic surgery and indoor beaches to cryonics, are slowly becoming more natural to us.

Futurewatch
This 6-part series focuses on the social and scientific breakthroughs that are continually changing the way we live, and grapples with the resulting ethical, moral, and spiritual dilemmas. Each program features a panel of authoritative voices in their respective fields. 6-part series, 39-41 minutes each. The Series Includes: Animal Farm; Heaven Can Wait; Memories Are Made of Chips; The Sex Files; Spies, Lies, and Videotape; Human Designs.

Living in the Brave New World
As technology becomes increasingly complex and pervasive, it is impacting the very essence of what it means to be human. Narrated by the influential futurists and media gurus Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, this unsettling two-part series explores how technology is disrupting not only the workplace and home, but the mind and body as well. Where is the Digital Revolution going? And what will become of those who are left behind? 2-part series, 41-52 minutes each. The Series Includes: Technoscience: Blurring the Line Between Man and Machine; Technoculture: Finding Our Way in the Terra Incognita.

Things to Come (1936)
H.G. Wells' classic vision of world war, world government and technocracy.

Brave New World
Should human cloning be allowed? Will computers ever be able to think? Has technology already gone too far? If questions like these are food for thought, then this accessible five-part series hosted by ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent Robert Krulwich is a banquet. Interviews with renowned scholars, specialists of all kinds, and an engaging cast of everyday people shed light on some of the fundamental changes going on in the world today-changes involving dynamic fields such as computer technology, neurobiology, and genetic engineering. 5-part series, 42-45 minutes each. The Series Includes: Wired for Speed: Technology and the Accelerating Pace of Life; Man and Machine: Redrawing the Boundary; What Is Family? Defining the Tie that Binds; Why Not Clone a Human? Ethical Challenges of Biotechnology; Brain Disorders: Seeking New Remedies

Reproductive Technology and Genetics

Genetic Engineering: Dreams and Nightmares (2001)
In this three-part series, the University of Leeds’ David Cove—coauthor of A Primer of Genetics and former Cambridge lecturer—addresses the mechanics of DNA replication and the subject of genetic engineering with clarity, precision, and objectivity. Computer animation, time-lapse photography, fluoroscopic and microscopic imaging, diagrams, and Dr. Cove’s good-natured presentation style help make the complexities of genetics easy to understand while promoting a balanced discussion of controversial issues. 3-part series, 14-21 minutes each. The Series Includes: Genetic Engineering, Part 1: How DNA Works Genetic Engineering, Part 2: How Genes Are Engineered Genetic Engineering, Part 3: Applications and Issues.

Genetically Correct: Ensuring Perfect Babies While controversy rages, genetic engineering continues, as geneticists forge ahead with research on new technologies that will virtually ensure a perfect child. No matter what your stance on the issue, it is difficult to deny the benefits involved in knowing beforehand whether a child will carry the burden of a genetic disease. Many medical researchers are addressing this issue. In this program, Dr. Mark Hughes discusses his pioneering IVF techniques that diagnose potential genetic diseases in embryos only days old. A Discovery Channel Production. (53 minutes, color) Part of the Series Making Babies: Science and Reproduction

The Ethics of Cloning (1997)
The technology of cloning has raised a host of moral, ethical, and religious questions, and this program examines many of them. The "dangers" of cloning, from shrinking gene pools, to the development of a "super race," to fears that cloned DNA could introduce genetic flaws into the population, are examined. A theologian discusses how cloning changes our notion of soul. Harold Shapiro, chairman of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, comments on the recent ban on the cloning of humans, and a cloning expert discusses government regulation versus the freedom of scientific inquiry. A panel discussion in which experts debate ethical issues concludes the program. (29 minutes, color)

Computers and Biotechnology (1997)
This program examines the use of computers to explore the properties of DNA. Genetic engineering is defined and studied in the realm of plants and animals. Experts examine the moral implications of issues related to genetic engineering. (28 minutes, color) Part of the Series Cybernation.

The Life Revolution: On the Frontier of Biogenetic Engineering
In 1972, two scientists talking shop over a corned beef sandwich hit upon a technique that was to become the third great scientific discovery of the 20th century, alongside splitting the atom and exploring space. It was called genetic engineering, or gene splicing, and the phenomenal results of their discovery launched The Life Revolution. This 12-part series examines the nature of genetic science, which promises to transform the air we breathe, the food we eat, the fuel we burn, the diseases we get, even human beings themselves, by cutting up and redesigning the very stuff of life. The promises and the dangers of genetic engineering, and its scientific bases, are the subject of The Life Revolution. Each of the programs focuses on a particular aspect of this revolutionary new field, and each has been hailed-as has the entire series-as a model of scientific documentary videography. 12-part series, 26 minutes each. The Series Includes: Cutting and Splicing; DNA Evolution: Man Takes a Hand; The Human Genome; DNA Techniques; Designer Plants; Depleting the Gene Bank; Sowing the Seeds of Disaster; Growing Synthetics; Cell Wars; Recombinant Technology; Superanimals, Superhumans?; Whither Biogenetics?

Evolution: Man Takes a Hand
This program provides an explanation of how the twin techniques of gene splicing and cloning are helping to unravel the secrets of variation. Genetic engineering is altering the branching pattern of natural evolution-which proceeds by mutations within a species and sexual recombination within that species-into a network, in which genes are moved within the laboratory from any species to any other species. The program explains the irreversible and unforeseeable results of gene splicing and the scientific and governmental regulations under consideration-realistic scientific and moral questions, uninformed though highly imaginative hysteria... and the actual effects of cloning; it explains the sequences of DNA, how we are learning to read them, the masterminding message in the DNA of many different species, how cells activate only certain genes; and it follows the scientific and economic history of interferon and interleukin-2. (27 minutes, color) Part of the Series The Life Revolution: On the Frontier of Biogenetic Engineering

The End of Evolution: Breaking the Link (1996)
In this program, genetic teams in England and Finland study how defective genes can be altered to halt transmission of disease through the generations. In England, geneticist John Burn discovers a woman’s lethal cancer gene, inherited from her father. She undergoes early treatment that saves her life. Thirty genetic diseases exist in Finland. Steve Jones traces a defective gene in one family, which has caused brain damage in their child, to the couple’s paternal ancestors. In an insular Pakistani immigrant group, another gene is identified that causes a life-threatening blood disorder. Both the Finns and the Pakistanis are beginning to marry outside of their own groups in order to weaken the offending genes. A BBC Production. (50 minutes, color) Part of the Series In the Blood

Cloning: Miracle or Mistake? (1997)
How long will it be before a scientist clones a human? In this provocative magazine-style program, Dr. Ian Wilmut, of Dolly fame; Don Wolf, from the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center; Richard Strohman, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley; and additional experts on bioethics, law, genetics, philosophy, and anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and the University of California, Davis, examine the facts, the fears, and the likely future of cloning. Possible applications, inevitable legal ramifications, and probable abuse of genetic technologies associated with cloning are investigated. The program also debunks concerns over the creation of Xerox-like zombies and raises startling questions about paternity. (21 minutes, color)

The Man-Made Man: Medical Replacement Parts (1997)
For the first time in history, the parts of our bodies that wear out in middle age can be replaced. In this program, viewers meet a 31-year-old man whose life is saved by a temporary mechanical assist device that allows him to remain alive while waiting for a heart transplant. We also meet a woman threatened with leg amputation who is saved by experimental genetic therapy that stimulates the growth of blood vessels. A policeman’s own knee cartilage is grown outside of his body, then reinserted to repair his deteriorating kneecap. Ethicists discuss high-tech failures and the physician’s responsibility in advising patients. (57 minutes, color) Part of the Series Innovation: Engineering of the Human Body

Health and Life Extension

Biomedics (1997)
The focus of this program is on how technology is helping doctors improve diagnosis and treatment to provide better health care for humans through biomedics. Topics discussed include the development of hip implants and digitized instruments. (26 minutes, color) Part of the Series Cybernation

Hormone Heaven?
A world without teenage angst, PMS, and mid-life crisis; a life without hair loss and wrinkles: are these products of wishful thinking, or genuine scientific possibilities? In this program, scientists from the University of Wisconsin and the Life Extension Institute in Palm Springs strive to answer that question through their intriguing research. Clinical studies into hormone supplements for youthful vigor and hormone replacement therapy for healthier bones are described by medical professionals as well as by enthusiastic patients themselves. Research correlating cortisol production with stress is included. A BBC Production. (50 minutes, color) Part of the Series Body Chemistry: Understanding Hormones.

The Science of Staying Young: Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity (1996)
New research about how our brains work, about the diseases associated with old age, and about nutrition is leading scientists to redefine what it means to grow old. This program examines this research, looking at a study of a new way to prevent the onset of age-related dementia, the effects of the hormone DHEA on aging, and at therapy aimed at helping Alzheimer’s patients re-activate their memories. (22 minutes, color)

Never Say Die: The Pursuit of Eternal Youth (1992) Each year billions of dollars are spent on efforts to stop the aging process. This program examines many of these efforts, some legitimate and some truly bizarre. Among the different techniques examined in the program are: plastic surgery for a middle-aged woman; a look at progeria, the genetic disease which accelerates aging but which may offer clues to actually extending life; the Pritikin Longevity Center which uses a demanding exercise program and Third World vegetarian menus; a retirement community in Arizona where staying young is a state of mind; the German health spa in Baden-Baden and its therapeutic waters; and advocates for living longer through megavitamin supplements, as well as efforts to reanimate people through cryonic suspension. The program concludes with the latest research efforts into aging and explores the very real possibility that, in the near future, life expectancy could rise well past 100 years old. An HBO production. (60 minutes, color)

Living Past a Hundred
Over the course of the 20th century, the life span in the West has doubled. What will be the impact of increasing longevity on society, the environment, and the global economy? Combining commentary from leading scientists with case studies of centenarians from the U.S. and around the world, this documentary examines elements that influence life expectancy—diet, fitness, physical and mental health, sexuality, and even plastic surgery—and considers the long-term implications of increased longevity. (57 minutes, color)

Hormone Therapy: Fountain of Youth? (1998)
This program probes the controversial issue of hormone therapy for older patients. In segment one, ABC correspondent Robert Krulwich investigates the effects of somatropin and DHEA through case studies and discussion with Professor Caleb Finch, author of Longevity, Senescence, and the Genome. In segment two, Krulwich interviews two doctors specializing in hormone research and debates with them the potential risks—such as the accelerated growth of cancer cells—versus the perceived benefits of youthfulness. In segment three, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel questions the scientific validity of hormone therapy and the ethical and moral issues that attend it. (21 minutes, color)

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
An early vision of a bad global AI Singularity.

Robots Rising
Today robots are disposing of bombs, cleaning up nuclear waste, clearing minefields, exploring both the sea and outer space, and even doing spy missions. How far off is the perfect android? And-perhaps most important of all-could robots take over the world? In this program, robotics experts from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA, and MIT discuss how they design and engineer robots. Nanotechnology and self-replicating machines are also addressed. In addition, clips from Star Wars, Terminator 2, RoboCop, and other movies offer insights into humanity's robot fantasies and nightmares. A Discovery Channel Production. (53 minutes, color)

The Matrix (1999)
Fight back against a bad, bad AI Singularity.

Technoscience: Blurring the Line Between Man and Machine
Was the performance of IBM's Deep Blue against Gary Kasparov an example of supersonic calculation or the first step toward artificial intelligence? Does the acclaimed performance artist Stelarc, striving to become a cyborg-like hybrid, represent the possibility of a strange new race? This startling program tracks advances in robotics at Stanford University and Honda Motors, biotechnology as applied to synthetic skin and organs, workplace computerization, surveillance using Xerox's "tab dogs," and nanotechnology, including atomic-scale machinery and designer genes, and speculates on their ultimate impact on society. (52 minutes, color) Part of the Series Living in the Brave New World

Real Life, Artificial Life
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein portrayed the human quest to create artificial life. This program examines how far we have progressed since then—to today’s human-like robots. In labs across the U.S., Europe, and Japan, researchers are designing incredible animal- and human-like robots with the aid of computers. Several researchers provide a definition of artificial life and discuss how new technologies are allowing them to replicate biological models. Yet, the ethical implications remain unresolved. This program examines those implications as it heralds the progress being made toward creating more sophisticated forms of artificial life. (57 minutes, color)

Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2 (1991)
The classic fight back against a bad AI Singularity.

Artificial Intelligence, Real Problems
The next step is for computers to be able to mimic the human mind—that is, perform in accordance with that combination of memory, intuition, understanding, emotion, and subjective selectivity we call intelligence. While artificial intelligence experiments are becoming increasingly sophisticated, industry is turning yesterday’s copywriters’ dreams into reality. Undoubtedly, today’s sci-fi will be ordinary tomorrow. (26 minutes, color). Part of the Series The Computer Revolution.

Man and Machine: Redrawing the Boundary (1999) What is a human? What is a machine? From artificial retinas to artificial intelligence, science and technology are beginning to blur the distinction between the two. In this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent Robert Krulwich talk with Michael Schrage, of the MIT Media Lab; engineer and inventor Danny Hillis; inventor Ray Kurzweil, author of The Age of Spiritual Machines; professor of cybernetics Kevin Warwick, reputedly the world’s first true cyborg; and others about the present state of human/machine hybrids—and future advances that may lie just over the horizon. (45 minutes, color). Part of the Series Brave New World.

Circuitry Man (1990) and Circuitry Man 2 (1994)
A more humorous and upbeat take on post-apocalyptic AI and robotics. The adventures of an android programmed for love battling a post-human "plug-head" baddie.

The Next Frontier
How will people and computers work together into the future? Life without computers is already unimaginable: computers collect information, store it, distribute it, and manipulate it. Computers accelerate calculations by factors of thousands or millions—sometimes the effect is good, at other times bad. Computers make office work more efficient, while dehumanizing it. Military applications—and military fantasy—are of course major areas of computer innovation, spearheaded by the Development of Advanced Research Planning Agency; DARPA is developing new artificial intelligence software and expert systems, speech comprehension, machine vision, computer vision, and natural language comprehension. (26 minutes, color). Part of the Series The Computer Revolution.

Bicentennial Man (1999)
A sappy approach to the challenges of being a robotic AI.

Nanotechnology

Nanotopia: The Future of Microtechnology
In 1959, noted American physicist Richard Feynman offered a $1000 prize to anyone who could build an electronic motor no larger than half a millimeter on any side. He awarded the prize within eight months. Today, some scientists predict the imminent development of molecular computers the size of specks of dust. This program examines that and other technical possibilities, as it takes viewers on a guided tour of the cutting-edge laboratories of nanotechnology. There, scientists working on similarly astounding projects offer their predictions about future technological developments. Discussions include how nature provides scientific inspiration. Detailed scientific models and sophisticated computer graphics illustrate how these new microtechnologies will work. A BBC Production. (50 minutes, color)

Speculative Fiction

Science Fiction
Used both as escape literature and as commentary on social, political, and moral questions, science fiction has proved to be one of the most popular genres in publishing history. This program investigates the rapid evolution of sci-fi through H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's 1984, John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, J. G. Ballard's The Drowned World, Philip K. Dick's Blade Runner, Pat Cadigan's Tea from an Empty Cup, William Gibson's Neuromancer, and Jeff Noon's Pixel Juice. Selected readings are included, as well as an interview with Arthur C. Clarke. A BBC Production. (29 minutes, color) Part of the Series Culture Fix