Superhuman

For other uses, see Superhuman (disambiguation).

Superhuman can mean an improved human, for example, by genetic modification, cybernetic implants, or as what humans might evolve into, in the distant future. Occasionally, it could mean an otherwise "normal" human with unusual abilities, such as psychic abilities, flying abilities, or exceptional proficiency at something, far beyond the norm.

Superhuman can also mean something that isn't human, but considered to be "superior" to humans in some ways. A robot that easily passed the Turing test, and could do some things humans can't, could be considered superhuman. A very intelligent or strong alien could be considered superhuman.

Superhuman people

Further information: Human enhancement and Posthuman

Any attempt to temporarily or permanently overcome the current limitations of the human body through natural or artificial means may be referred to as human enhancement. The term is sometimes applied to the use of technological means to select or alter human characteristics and capacities, whether or not the alteration results in characteristics and capacities that lie beyond the existing human range. Here, the test is whether the technology is used for non-therapeutic purposes. Some bioethicists restrict the term to the non-therapeutic application of specific technologies — neuro-, cyber-, gene-, and nano-technologies — to human biology.

According to transhumanist thinkers, a posthuman is a hypothetical future being "whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer unambiguously human by our current standards."

Artificial super-humans

Further information: Artificial intelligence

Super-human is one of the stages in classification of progress in artificial intelligence, and denotes where an entity of artificial intelligence performs better than most humans do in a specific task. Examples of where computers currently are super-human include backgammon, bridge, chess, reversi and scrabble.

In fiction

Speculation about human nature and the possibilities of both human enhancement and future human evolution have made superhumans a popular subject of science fiction.

Beings with supernatural abilities are also common in fantasy fiction, but are very rarely referred to as superhumans in that genre.

Science fiction

The concept of the superhuman is quite popular in science fiction, where superhumans are often cyborgs, mutants, aliens, telepaths, the product of ongoing human evolution or genetically engineered. The greatest publicity of the concept is, of course, comic book superheroes, such as Superman (an alien). The term is often used in discussions of comic book characters because the terms Superman and super hero are registered as trademarks. Superhuman characters in various comics, role-playing games and other entertainment media have also been referred to as metahuman or posthuman.

One type of superhuman described in science fiction stories, particularly during the Atomic Age, derives from the concept of mutation or further human evolution. In such tales, a human being would evolve into or give birth to a being that either has powers not yet exhibited by 'baseline' humans, or else motivations entirely different from those human beings, or both. In some stories, these humans are either unable to get along with "normal" humanity, or will ultimately supersede them entirely, causing the eventual extinction of the descendants of contemporary baseline humanity.

These metahumans are designated as a "new species" (or "successor species")of humanity. In some fictional franchises, such as those of the The Tomorrow People, Babylon 5 or the X-Men, they refer to themselves through use of the binomial nomenclature Homo superior, to distinguish them from Homo sapiens. Progress is inherently built into this science fiction subgenre, as it is assumed that they are the natural product of ongoing evolutionary adaptation to a new environment.

However, other stories turn this notion on its head, showing the disadvantages of a supposedly superior ability or quality; for example, in Briar Patch by Dean Ing, a group of ancient hominids were portrayed as a largely pacifistic, telepathic and highly empathic species who could not stand to inflict pain, even while hunting; they were eventually overwhelmed and exterminated by the less sensitive but more ruthless Homo sapiens.

Indeed, persecution and interspecies 'racism' from non-metahuman humanity is a problem in the fictional universes of The Tomorrow People, X-Men and Babylon 5 alike. Military exploitation and abuse of telepaths, anti-mutant Sentinel technology and the repressive tolerance of Psi Corps in the latter universe suggests some continuity with real-world versions of prejudice and discrimination.

Many other types of superhumans are also portrayed in science fiction. For example, the Dune series contains several varieties of superhumans, ranging from those produced by selective breeding to chemical enhancement or lifelong training in as yet uninvented mental and physical disciplines, a nearly-immortal human-sandworm hybrid, and artificial lifeforms such as the Face Dancers. The Dune prequels also describe nearly-immortal brain-in-a-jar cyborgs called Cymeks and advanced artificial intelligence. The CoDominium universe has superhumans produced by artificial and natural selection and by genetic engineering; for example, the alien Moties have been bred for thousands of generations to be far better than humans at their caste's specific job, such as Engineer or Mediator. Many other fictional aliens, such as Vulcans, Kzinti and Mork from Ork have greater than human abilities or powers, sometimes simply for the purpose of making them seem more advanced or more "alien", other times simply for dramatic reasons (particularly if they are the antagonists of the story).

Classification in fiction

In Marvel Comics the term superhuman is part of a "power classification system" and applies to aptitude (usually physical) far beyond the range attainable by normal humans. An athlete is a normal human in extraordinary physical condition, such as a weight lifter or boxer. Peak human is applied to physical abilities that are nearly, but not quite, beyond the limits of the best of humans. Enhanced human refers to superhuman abilities some distance beyond the limits of humans, such as being able to lift a small car but not a tank, and is a term for "light" superhuman abilities. Then comes the level of the "superhuman." Characters with a superhuman attribute are far beyond normal human abilities.

These categories are very rarely referenced in the actual stories themselves. Instead, they are usually reserved for descriptive articles such as the The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Other examples in fiction

• Warhammer 40,000 includes many superhumans, such as the Space Marines, who are among the most powerful soldiers in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
• Final Fantasy Series is a video game in which many of the characters possess superhuman qualities, such as Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart, Sephiroth, and many others.
• The Hampdenshire Wonder (1911) by J. D. Beresford, the story of a child born with an intelligence far above that of normal people, and is because of his huge brain deformed. The novel seems to have been an inspiration for similar books such as The New Adam, by Stanley G. Weinbaum.
• Odd John (1935) by Olaf Stapledon is an early example of the genre and contains the first known use of the term "homo superior".
• Gladiator (1930), a novel by Philip Gordon Wylie about a man who resembles an early Superman.
• Slan (1946), by A. E. van Vogt, features two types of beings, one with psychic powers.
• Ludens featured in Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's Noon Universe are an example of a superhuman race.
• More Than Human (1953) by Theodore Sturgeon involves a group of superhumans.
• Children of the Atom (1953) by Wilmar H. Shiras. a novel about gifted children who have to hide their abilities from the rest of the world.
• Xenocide (1991) by Orson Scott Card involves a group of superhumans with highly superior intelligence and obsessive-compulsive disorder-like symptoms.
• The Powerpuff Girls is a show featuring 3 superhuman girls, who obtained their powers from Chemical X.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a popular television series that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar. In the show, Gellar plays Buffy Summers, a vampire slayer chosen by 'the powers that be'. As the slayer, she is gifted with superhuman strength, martial arts moves and various other 'powers' that allow her to fight the forces of evil.
• Heroes, a television program in which many humans have evolved into 'superhumans'.
• Philip K. Dick wrote many short stories such as The Golden Man (1954) that explored the concept of 'homo superior'
• The David Bowie song Oh! You Pretty Things, including the verse, "better make way for the homo superior."
• Kwisatz Haderach Paul Atreides Dune, novel by Frank Herbert
• The cybernetic engineered SPARTAN-II supersoldiers from the Halo video game universe, they are genetically selected as children, kidnapped and harshly trained as commandos, then at adolescence undergo a dangerous augmentation procedure to acquire their superhuman abilities such as: bone marrow indestructibility, extreme muscular superstrength, natural night vision, neural interfacing, and near-precognitive speed and reflexes. They are also outfitted with the MJOLNIR exoskeletal battle suits which amplify their abilities.
• Prototype (2009) - Alex Mercer in Prototype has the ability to transform and morph into other people, and even by changing his genetic code at his will
• The Video Game, BioShock features an underwater dystopian city where the main inhabitants are genetically modified psychotics called splicers.
• The television series Misfits aired on e4 focuses on teenage social workers who receive superhuman powers following a strange storm. Many others, as well as the main characters, in the series receive superhuman powers from the storm.

See also

• Human enhancement
• Human evolution
• Hysterical strength
• Metahuman
• Mutant (fictional)
• Paranormal
• Parahuman
• Posthuman
• Subhuman
• Superhero
• Superhuman strength
• Superman
• Supersoldier
• Supervillain
• Transhuman
• Übermensch
• The Real Superhumans
• SuperSoldier
• Superpowers
• Naturoid

References

-Smallz and Tubbz