Against Stupidity

In one of my posts on The Gods Themselves I wrote about the title of the novel. The title, I wrote, refers to the Hard Ones and this is unfortunate because as these gods are monstrous, knowingly sacrificing our universe for their benefit. In this aspect, a parallel can be drawn between the film the Planet of the Apes and The Gods Themselves.

Last week I wrote about how in Isaac Asimov’s novel, the Hard Ones control everything in their universe; in Dua’s words, “They are alive, the Hard Ones. Only they. They don’t talk about it much. They don’t have to. They all know it” (153). The Soft Ones are like children looking up to the Hard Ones to teach them, but the Hard Ones possess all the knowledge of and make all the scientific decisions in the para-universe. They are like gods, introducing our universe to the miracle of the Electron Pump and controlling the fate of humanity.

On the planet that the three astronauts land on, which is the same one but several thousand years in the future, apes rule. The apes possess all the knowledge; they control the planet while the humans are subservient, ignorant creatures. It is easy to draw a parallel between this and The Gods Themselves in which the apes and the Hard Ones are roughly equivalent as are the future humans and the Soft Ones.

Similar to the Hard Ones’ decision to sacrifice our universe for their own gain is the apes’, specifically Dr. Zaius’s, choice to ignore, even hide, their knowledge of human history. The Hard Ones want to sacrifice our universe so that they can have an unlimited energy source, while Dr. Zaius hides information about human history to preserve the faith. In these two science fiction works, however, the actions of the “gods” represent different things. In the novel, I believe that Asimov is commenting on the role of scientists and stupidity. Sometimes, discoveries may endanger humankind but scientists refuse to acknowledge this because of “sheer thickheaded stupidity” (68). The primary purpose of the movie, on the other hand, was to comment on the debate between evolutionism and creationism. Some people may believe that the movie aims to mock evolution. The process of apes evolving into humans and then humans involving into apes seems contrary to what most people would associate with evolutionary progress and Darwin’s notion of “survival of the fittest”. I do not know whether to agree with this perception of the movie or not. I am, however, going to go out on a limb and state my perception of the movie as criticizing the stupidity of humankind. I arrived at this conclusion from Taylor’s negative comments about mankind and his laments at the end upon realizing that the human race, instead of being far superior to the apes of the future, has destroyed itself. I think the following statement in the scroll best summarizes the film’s take on the nature of humankind:

Beware the beast man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him, for he is the harbinger of death.

Through their own stupid actions, such as fighting wars and killing each other, men destroy themselves and their culture.

In both The Gods Themselves and The Planet of the Apes, knowledgeable “gods” and other inferior creatures co-exist. The gods are willing to sacrifice or keep down the inferior creatures in order to ensure their own survival. But with the roles of the gods being such, I think both works attempt to serve as a warning to all people “against stupidity”.